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If you want to be a successful runner, you have to consider everything. It’s no good just thinking about endurance and not to develop fine speed.

Arthur Lydiard

New Zealand’s Arthur Lydiard is one of the outstanding running coaches of all time – possibly the greatest. He dramatically changed the sport of running in two significant ways: training and popularity.

First, Lydiard developed and spread the idea of a periodized running program. He started runners with aerobic running up to 100 miles per week – that many years of trial-and-error lead him to believe was the sweet spot for aerobic development. Then he would progressively transition runners toward more anaerobic training specific to their target event. He did this before the words aerobic and anaerobic were popular training lexicon.

His program was so successful that, incredibly, Lydiard sent three local athletes to the 1960 Rome Olympics: Peter Snell (800m), Murray Halberg (5000m) and Barry Magee (Marathon) and all three made in on the podium! Snell and Halberg won gold and Magee a bronze. Four years later at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Snell would win gold in the 800m and the 1500m – a feat that has not been repeated at the games!

Success stories like the 1960 and 1964 Olympics made people was to learn what was going in New Zealand! Lydiard was invited to speak in different countries. And the audience listened to Lydiard because was a no-nonsense and skilled orator and story-teller that would capture the audience’s imagination when describing his program.

Further, Lydiard was in tremendous shape himself. In the late 1960s, Finland hired Lydiard as the national distance running coach. Here is what happened when he arrived, a quote from Matti Hannus‘ book Flying Finns – the story of the great tradition of Finnish distance running:

Arthur Lydiard arrived in Finland on March 20, 1967 [as Finland’s national distance coach], and he was not about to waste his time. At the Kuortane Sports Institue – on a freezing cold later winter morning – the cream of the Finnish running corps did not believe their eyes when the short and stocky New Zealander emerged from the door, wearing a pair of shorts! And he meant business, it was a 30k run around Kuortane Lake at such a speed that the road was burning! Embarrassingly, but true, Lydiard, almost 50 years old, returned from the jaunt among the leaders, in front of several internationals.

When someone summoned up enough courage to marvel at the 100-mile-a-week regime LKydiard was recommending, he dryly commented: “As a youngster, I chose myself, as an experiment, to run 250 miles a week. It was too much but it did not kill me. There is nothing better than experience.”

From the book Flying Finns – the story of the great tradition of Finnish distance running by Matti Hannus

Second, along with the great American track & field coach and co-founder of Nike Bill Bowerman, Lydiard played a HUGE role in popularizing the sport running starting in the 1960s. Lydiard coined the term “jogging.” He first used jogging to help rehabilitate cardiac patients. Then jogging spread across New Zealand and then later across in the U.S.A. with the help of Bowerman.

I can go on and on about Lydiard. A biography of Lydiard is not the focus of this post. If you’re interested in that, check out Arthur Lydiard: Master Coach by Garth Gilmore. Nor am I going to summarize the complete Lydiard training system. If you’re interested in that, I highly recommend Healthy Intelligent Training by Keith Livingstone.

The focus of this post is Lydiard‘s approach to Hill Training.

Lydiard Hills

Lydiard used four types of Hill Training:

1. He would have his runners do their “long” run on a very hilly course – a more typical use of hill training.
   
   However, the other three techniques are a little different – and there is an accompanying video below:
   
2. Steep Hill Running: Run up a hill moving forward slowly but lifting the knee very high. This improves the endurance of the upper thigh and hip flexor muscles, which often weaken near the end of runs. Ideally, you would do this on a very steep hill about 50-60m in length. Walk down slowly in between reps. Repeat for a total of 3 sets. Over a few weeks build up to 5 sets.
   
3. Hill Bounding: Run up the hill with long bounding strides aiming ton develop thrust by fully extending the leg behind you to. “Like a deer going over the fence,” Lydiard would say. This will improve your hip extension and lengthen your stride to increase your general speed. You can use the same hill as Steep Hill Running, but if you have the option of a slightly less steep one that would be good. A grass or dirt surface is preferable to road. On each rep, you would start by running up the hill for about 20m to get a bit of momentum, then switch to “bounding” by fully extended the leg behind you. Do this for about 30-40m. Walk down slowly in between reps. And take an extra minute or so of rest at the bottom of the hills before the next rep. Repeat for a total of 3 sets. Over a few weeks build up to 5 sets.
   
4. Hill Springing: Run up the hill moving forward slowly like steep hill running, but spring up as high as you can vertically with every step. This will develop strong and supple ankles “like a Ballet Dancer.” The same guidelines as Hill Bounding apply here. So if there is a slightly less steep grass or dirt hill nearby use that. On each rep, you would start by running up the hill for about 20m, then switch to “springing” by pushing yourself upwards. Do this for about 20m. You will not cover as much distance per step as with Hill Bounding, so it’s a good idea to shorten the length. Walk down slowly in between reps. And take an extra minute or so of rest at the bottom of the hills before the next rep. Repeat for a total of 3 sets. Over a few weeks build up to 5 sets.

In the video below provided by the Lydiard Foundation, we can see video demonstrations of Steep Hill Running, Hill Bounding and Hill Springing.

Note that Hill Bounding and Hill Springing are very demanding exercises on your calves, Achilles’ tendons and high hamstrings. Do NOT dive right into the exercises unless you have prior experience. Below I provide a template on how to incorporate these drills into your program.

A Good Transition

Lydiard used these hill techniques when transitioning his runners from aerobic base work into harder anaerobic training. These hill exercises develop the runners’ hips, legs and ankles in a powerful way. When the runner would begin their more anaerobic oriented training in the next training phase, their muscles and tissues would be ready for the challenge.

With some runners, Lydiard would do these hills exercises mixed in with Strides and easy jogging six-days-a-week! That is a lot. And surely Lydiard himself would not recommend this to most runners. Below I provide some guidelines for using Lydiard Hills as part of your transition program.

Lydiard Hills Transition Program

If you currently have or recently have had an Achilles tendon injury or high hamstring injury like Proximal Hamstring Tendinopathy, do NOT do any type of Hill Training including Lydiard Hills until you have clearance from your doctor and physical therapist.

First, make sure you complete a Running Base Building Program. The programs I suggest combines Base Runs with Fast but Not Hard drills to develop your general endurance, general speed and technique simultaneously.

Second, we would transition some of the time spent you spend Base running or Fast but Not Hard drills into Hill work. But, we would be sure to keep the right amount of both of these elements to maintain what you have developed. Note that many runners experience an initial decrease in the pace of their Base runs when starting Lydiard Hills. This is normal and expected.

Keep in mind, that using Lydiard Hills as a transition program is meant to strengthen all of the running muscles using running-specific movements. The hill sessions are not intended to become lung-searing anaerobic sessions. You will experience difficulty no doubt. But you want the challenge to be more similar to something you’d experience doing strength training with weights or kettlebells. The hill provides the resistance – or, to be more precise, gravity provides the resistance. And you will exaggerate specific movements to increase the demands on certain muscles.

Hill Bounding and Hill Springing place loads on your muscles and tissues that are far higher than Steep Hill Running. For this reason, I don’t suggest that you include both Hill Bounding and Hill Springing in the same session. And it is a good idea to do Steep Hill Running before bounding or springing to get your body ready for the more demanding drills. So we would have two sessions:

• Steep & Bound
  3-5 sets of Steep Hill Running and 3-5 sets of Hill Bounding
  
• Steep & Spring
  3-5 sets of Steep Hill Running and 3-5 sets of Hill Springing

Now let’s take a look at how you incorporate this into your weekly schedule

Three-days-a-week Program

If you are running three-days-per-week, we would include Lydiard Hills only once per week and use a two-week cycle:

1. Medium Base Run with 5-10 x Strides at the end
2. Rest
3. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Bound
4. Rest
5. Longer Base Run
6. Rest
7. Rest
   
8. Medium Base Run with 10-15min Diagonals at the end
9. Rest
10. Medium Base Run with Steep & Spring
11. Rest
12. Longer Base Run with 5 x Surges throughout the run
13. Rest
14. Rest

Four-days-per-week Program

1. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Bound
2. Rest
3. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Spring
4. Rest
5. Medium Base Run with 5-10 x Strides or 10-15min Diagonals
6. Longer Base Run
7. Rest

Five-days-per-week Program

1. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Bound
2. Medium Base Run
3. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Spring
4. Rest
5. Medium Base Run with 5-10 x Strides or 10-15min Diagonals
6. Longer Base Run
7. Rest

Six-days-per-week Program

1. Shorter Base Run with Steep & Bound
2. Medium Base Run
3. Shorter Base Run  with Steep & Spring
4. Shorter Base Run
5. Medium Base Run with 5-10 x Strides or 10-15min Diagonals
6. Longer Base Run
7. Rest

Adjustments

If you find Hill Bounding or Hill Springing too demanding for you – this may due to the coordination required is too difficult, the muscular load is too high, or soreness the next day doesn’t go away after 1-2 weeks – then go ahead and remove them from the program.

In this case, you would stick to Steep Hill Running and replace the Bounds and Springing with Strides on the flat instead.

• Steep & Stride
  3-5 sets of Steep Hill Running and 5-10 x Strides

So you replace all the Steep & Bound and Steep & Spring above with Steep & Stride.

How many weeks is the Program?

Good question. I don’t know. That’ll depend on you.

I’ll take 4-8 weeks of following one of the above programs before your body adapts to the Lydiard Hill drills. There is a broad window because most of the adaption will come from your muscles and tendons. The adaptation period, of tendons especially, varies widely from person to person based on their underlying structure and athletic history. However, I will mention that runners who take longer to adapt to Lydiard Hills will be the ones that benefit the most!

You’ll know if your body has started to adjust if you:

• Feel less soreness the day after the hill drills
• Can complete more Steep Hill Running reps before the thighs start burning
• Can increase your horizontal or vertical propulsion during Bounds and Springing without trying harder
• Notice initially that your Base Run pace slows down – due to the demands of the Hill workouts – but then progresses back to your normal Base pace or faster