Arthur Lydiard, the greatest distance running coach ever passed away on December 19, 2004.  At the time of his death, the 87-year old was touring the US doing what he loved the most - talking about his philosophy of training endurance athletes.

Lydiard was truly a pioneer.  He radically changed the way that people trained.  Some of the "innovations" attribued to him include the weekly long run, periodization, hill running and bounding, and working on basic foot speed all year around. 

He coached many successful athletes including Kiwi Olympic Gold Medalists Peter Snell and Murray Hallberg.  Lydiard is also credited with inspiring the training of 4 time Olympic Gold Medalist Lasse Viren.

In addition to being a fantastic technical coach, Lydiard was known as a very inspirational coach.  Some classic Lydiard quotes include:

• "Champions are everywhere, all you have to do is train them properly"

• "It wasn't that I was a great coach; I was simply running more than anyone else."

• "If your coach can't tell you why you're doing a particular workout, get another coach"

For your own customized training program, check out a Run Quick training program.