First some quotes from Renato:
"In cross you cannot use high continuous speed, that depends on the level of your Anaerobic Threshold, expecially when it's muddy. You need muscle strenght (and Sergey is stronger than Kenyans, but not than Bekele), high strenght-endurance, not very high aerobic power. So, a training of volume is very important, as the training of strenght"
"About Sergey Lebid, his normal long run is at a pace of 3:45 per km, with only last 15 min faster. Regarding intervals on track, he usually goes for short repetitions (from 200 to 400m) at good speed (28 / 62) for many times, with very short recovery. What he never did before our collaboration was the so called "Italian Medio", that is a long continuous run from 6 to 15 km at a pace of 95% of PB in 10000m. In the case of Lebid (that has a 28:08 not "real", because can run in 27:20 when in shape)a "Medio" can be, for example, 12 km at 3:00 / 3:03 pace. We have to consider that Sergey uses to compete frequently, almost every week, and the competitions are his "Medio" training. When instead we are during the track season, and Sergey goes only for few competitions, he needs to put in his training long intervals (from 2000m to 1000m) that never used before. He started to use these distances in St. Moritz, training with the Kenyan Mark Bett, a my athlete having 12:55 and 27:02 of PB. After using this type of training, Lebid was able to beat all the National Records from 3000 to 10000m, being very competitive in meetings like Monaco and Berlin.
When he is at home in November - December (before European Championships), he uses a lot of hills and long run on very hilly courses. He is very strong in his muscles, but is not able to stay with the leaders if the beginning of the race is very fast. I think that this problem is due to a lack of long-fast run, and is at the same time physiological and psychological problem.
For increasing his kick, one of the workouts that he prefers is 400 fast (61) / 200 recovery in 45 / 300 fast (45) / 200 recovery in 45 / 200 fast (27) / 200 recovery in 45 / 100 sprinting (1600m in 4:40), that he repeats 5 times with 4/5 minutes recovery."
Sergey normally runs a lot of km not fast, going for short distances on track. This is a system that doesn't allow to increase the specific endurance too much : we need to use long and fast distances for increasing this quality. That's the reason because he is very good when the course is muddy. The mud reduces the opportunity to run fast, and always is an advantage for athletes not very strong in long endurance at high speed. This happened in Oostend 2001, when Sergey was 2nd with a lot of mud, but for being competitive in dry conditions (like probably this year) he needs more specific endurance, his very good strength endurance is not enough
So what Is the right base period preparation for ST runner to excel at XC? IF Aerobic power is not that important (~LT) (wich is the strength quality for ST runner) is it rigth to lower the intensity little and same time do some short fast intervalls like Lebid?