Barry Magee - 1960 Olympic marathon bronze medallist - 1961 World Cup 10000m champion

FOREWORD FROM BARRY MAGEE
As one of Arthur Lydiard’s original boys it is indeed a privilege and an honour to be associated with Keith Livingstone’s H.I.T book. The Master Coach’s world-changing principles of training are still applied with great success in the modern era by the greatest athletes in the world. Now this book explains why these principles have always worked so well, as we are taken through the science of each phase in a very easy-to-understand manner.

I had 12 years of direct coaching under The Master, and trained and raced with fellow Lydiard Olympians Halberg, Snell, Baillie, Puckett, and Julian, to name just a few. We were each transformed by Arthur’s revolutionary new training methods into world-class athletes.It was indeed a thrilling and exciting time to run.

Murray Halberg and I were the first two athletes to do the full track schedule that Arthur had spent years in developing, and which proved so successful for the next 30 years. Male and female Kiwi runners shocked the world time after time with amazing performances from the middle distances to the marathon. The athletics world could not understand how so many world-beating athletes could come from a country with less than 3 million people. Eventually the principles were used all over the world.

In the mid 1960’s I myself began coaching the Lydiard way with immediate success. In the years that followed I coached a young man called Keith Livingstone and perhaps from that association, has come this book. Before he died, Arthur Lydiard had left me with his personal approval as the one man who fully embraced and understood his coaching principles. Over recent years I have often been asked when I was going to write a book to explain more about Lydiard’s training methods that could either enlarge or simplify the system by presenting it in a new way to the modern day coaches and athletes of the world.

Well - lo and behold, Keith Livingstone has done a superb job and in my mind, a much better one than I could have done, with extra information to help coaches and athletes to fill in some of the cracks and to give us more understanding of how and why this brilliant system works.  H.I.T. does exactly that! Coaches around the world would have to be very foolish if they do not read and use this book to the maximum.

In my opinion, Lydiard holds all the KEYS to running success.  “HIT” shares many of the KEYS that have been lost, forgotten or misunderstood. I totally recommend Dr Keith Livingstone’s book to anyone who is looking for the complete training system to complement what Lydiard has left us.

Barry Magee
1960 Olympic marathon bronze medallist
1961 World Cup 10000m champion

Lorraine Moller - 1992 Olympic Marathon Bronze Medalist - Co-founder of Lydiard Foundation

FOREWORD FROM LORRAINE MOLLER
Like Keith Livingstone I grew up on Lydiard. For young Kiwi runners it was unquestionably The Way. One who had the good fortune to be the recipient of Lydiard’s influence remained a convert for life, not from some faddish following or blind devotion but because his system made complete and utter sense and showed consistent results. Countless Lydiard-trained runners like me enjoyed a range of abilities from middle-distance track to marathon, significant athletic longevity, and the attainment of personal dreams. 
 
Lydiard himself never expected athletes to accept his way without question; he often said that if your coach cannot explain to you the reason for doing a workout then you need a new coach. That is because “Lydiardism” is a system based on sound principles and each element of the training is a logical and necessary step up the pyramid to excellence: stamina, strength, lactic acid tolerance and racing speed are all building blocks one upon the other, and understanding their inter-relationship is essential to sound coaching. Each phase of training is based on correct sequencing and timing, and the synergetic effect created is more than the sum of its parts: physiologically and mentally the athlete is fully prepared to break his or her limits on the day that counts.

Each cycle of training builds upon the next so that one can reasonably expect personal best performances year after year. 

In our fast-paced culture we have been conditioned by many influences, especially media to look for quick fixes and the short-term pay-off. Lydiardism offers neither of these. Like most things of value in life this system is based on long-term commitment and the pursuit of the highest in athletic achievement. No method has withstood the test of time and had more success attributed to it in the athletic world. 

HIT captures the genius of Lydiard and delivers it to athletes and coaches in a comprehensive and complete form. Keith Livingstone, a long-time aficionado of Arthur Lydiard, has produced the definitive work on Lydiard training since Lydiard himself, and brilliantly conveys the art and science that has built champions of all abilities and events with clarity, humour and historical reverence. The Lydiard Foundation has proudly adopted this book as its official text for all Lydiard coaching courses.

Lorraine Moller
1992 Olympic Marathon Bronze Medalist
Co-founder of Lydiard Foundation