Introduction to Arthur Lydiard
Arthur Lydiard, born in 1917 in Auckland, is renowned for inventing jogging, a method of building physical fitness through gradual increases in stamina. This simple yet effective approach has been adopted by millions worldwide and has been instrumental in training New Zealand’s top track athletes, propelling the country to the forefront of world middle-distance running.
The Birth of Jogging
Lydiard’s journey began when, at the age of 27, he realized his fitness was declining. A six-mile run with a friend who was a disciplined athlete revealed his physical limitations. In his 1983 book, “Jogging with Lydiard,” he described the experience: “My pulse rate rose rapidly. I blew hard and gasped for air. My lungs and throat felt like they had been scorched. My legs were like rubber. My whole body felt the effects of the run and the effort expended to get me to the end of it.”
Experimenting with Training Methods
Determined to improve, Lydiard watched local runners but found their training methods too intense and discouraging. He decided to experiment with his own approach: “that long, even-pace running at a strong speed produced increased strength and endurance – even when it is continued to the point of collapse – and was beneficial, not harmful, to regular competition.”
Lydiard’s training methods were revolutionary. He started with short races and gradually increased the distances he ran, eventually setting his sights on the marathon. He discovered that marathon training improved his performance in shorter races, a revelation that transformed New Zealand runners into the best in the world.
The Super Coach
By the 1950s, Lydiard was New Zealand’s top marathon runner and had attracted the attention of younger runners like Lawrie King, who went on to become a national champion. This informal group of runners, including Barry Magee, Ray Puckett, Jeff Julian, Murray Halberg, John Davies, Bill Baillie, and Peter Snell, became some of the greatest New Zealand track athletes.
Pushing the Boundaries
Lydiard didn’t just mentor his athletes; he pushed them to push themselves. As Peter Snell described in his book “No Bugles No Drums,” “I remember getting into Hendon Avenue, very close and yet so far from home. My legs were too sore to even walk and I draped myself over a fence and told myself I was going to make it at all costs. In that company I wasn’t going to let anyone down, least of all myself.”
Rome 1960
Five athletes trained by Lydiard competed at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Despite not being part of the official coaching staff, Lydiard’s importance was recognized, and a public appeal raised funds to send him to Rome as an “independently traveling unofficial coach.”
Legacy
Lydiard’s legacy is profound. His methods not only transformed individual athletes but also the entire landscape of running training. As Garth Gilmour noted in “Run – the Lydiard Way,” “Peter Snell was probably the most brilliant runner the world has ever seen, John Walker and Filbert Bayi included.”
Introduction to Arthur Lydiard
The New Zealand administrators could no longer ignore Arthur Lydiard. For the next few years, he continued to take New Zealand athletes to the top of world running. Murray Halberg, Peter Snell, and John Davies were among his most famous pupils. Snell was the dominant force in world middle-distance running in the early 1960s. His success at the Rome Olympics was followed two years later when he ran an incredible 3 minutes 54.4 seconds mile on a grass track in Wanganui. One week later, he broke the world records for the 800 metres and the 800 yards. Additionally, in 1962, he broke the world record for the indoor 880 and 1000 yards; and he comfortably won the mile and the 880 yards (with a new Games record) at the 1962 Empire Games in Perth.
Worldwide Influence
After the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where Snell collected two more gold medals and John Davies won a bronze medal in 1500m, Lydiard received recognition not from New Zealand, but overseas as the greatest athletic coach and the man with the “answers.” He was first appointed to Mexico as their national coach in 1966. He had moderate success there when Joan Martinez finished fourth in both 5000m and 10,000m at the Mexico City Olympics. However, his second golden era was in Finland, where he arrived in 1966 as their national distance running coach. There, his focus was to “coach coaches,” and among them who listened was Rolf Heikkola, the coach of Lasse Viren. In his autobiography with Antero Raevuori and Rolf Heikkola, Olympic Champion, they wrote:
“In many respects Arthur Lydiard’s work was biblical in nature: when the master left, his disciples went on, carrying the message all over the country. Coaches picked up every single crumb of knowledge that Arthur Lydiard had let fall. They applied this knowledge to Finnish athletes. They were forging the new future of Finnish distance running.”
After the famous fall in the middle of the 10,000m at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Viren got up quickly and won the race in the world record time. He went on to claim three more gold medals. Pekka Vasala also recognized the value of Lydiard’s principles and implemented them successfully to win the gold medal in 1500m at Munich. Lydiard was awarded the White Cross of Knighthood by the Finns, the only non-Finn to have ever received this honour.
Coaching Philosophy
Lydiard’s coaching philosophy was revolutionary when he first introduced it. When he first started training his ideas were ignored at best and considered dangerous by many. The question was asked, “How will a 400m runner benefit from running 15 miles?” Lydiard couldn’t give an answer in physiological terms, but he knew it worked—and it did. By the mid-1960s, the rest of the world understood. His principles of training are now employed by leading coaches and athletes all around the world, in track and field and many other sporting spheres.
Impact on Health and Fitness
Arthur Lydiard’s influence on health and fitness is profound. Dick Quax, the Olympic silver medalist in 1976 and the former world record holder in 5000m, commented that Lydiard, besides training great athletes to perform at their best, has also taught the rest of the world better fitness and health practices. “We recognize all the great surgeons who are talented people and do a marvelous job. But they’re the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. What Arthur did was get people out doing light jogging for their health and you can’t put a figure on how many lives that has saved.”
When Lydiard started speaking about the virtues of mild to vigorous exercise for ordinary health, doctors were still prescribing bed rest for recovering heart patients. Today, exercise as part of recuperation is routine. The jogging phenomenon has swept the world, past fad and fashion, to a lifestyle choice for millions of people.
Legacy
Like none other, Arthur Lydiard’s philosophy of running touches everyone that pulls on a pair of running shoes. He devised the principles of training employed by leading coaches and athletes all around the world, in track and field and many other sporting spheres; he invented the simple exercise of jogging which has infected millions with its benign bug. In the Runners’ World (magazine) Millennium issue, Arthur was named one of the five influential figures of the century in running. With literally millions of trainers everyday pounding the pavements of the planet, Arthur Lydiard’s influence on personal health and fitness reverberates all over the world.
