Lydiard training doesn´t deal with mileage and intensity at the same level of interest and that´s why the Lydiard training does different training blocks: the marathon aerobic mileage block, the hill block, the anaerobic block.
It´s true that in order to do the mileage aerobic training requires volume training, mileage training, quantity, long training sessions. It´s true either that in order to train intensity, quality, speed requires fast training, quality, some percent of anaerobic training.
However the distance training approach as EXTENSIVE process that is, deals with both mileage and intensity variants included and both as important simultaneously and as important at every moment of the season periodization. Eventually the training of both variants requires some soft training MODULATION, but the way, not one of both variables can´t be neglect for the interest of the other . In this item the Lydiard training diverges from the modern training concept of specificity. If you pay attention to Lydiard training in one block is predefined by aerobic and another is defined as anaerobic. Rarely one workout training is direct relate with the specifics of the distance event. Modern training diverges from this Lydiard outdate training concept because every moment of the training process is seen as one step to specificity. Specificity is one training concept that is miss in the Lydiard training , the training is seen not like should be, seen as every training session target is the total contribute to the SPECIFICITY of the distance event. SPECIFICITY is the key of modern training, and not like in Lydiard that every single workout tries to get one isolate goal.
SPECIFIC training is the type of training that produces direct improvement in performance capacity.
In modern training, the response of training is specific. It´s why one Lydiard long training session of 2 hour can be aerobic training but isn´t specific at all for the 800m event. It´s generic training. Also, Lydiard mileage training, or intervals the Lydiard way can be everything less specific training.
SPECIFICY is the must of modern training, the number one discrimination from past training to modrn training. Modern coaches, that do modern methodology, like Renato Canova is one, james lI is another, they say so. On Lets Run.com board, Renato Canova many times says that specificity is they key to modern training. Read and try to understand what he means by SPECIFICITY, something that the Lydiard fellow miss to understand.
Beyond moderate performance competency, only SPECIALIZED CONDITIONING will produce further performance improvements. It´s why specific training is so important.
Aerobic training or the Lydiard aerobic block is a bogus, because every athlete shows a wide variety of adaptations to the same relative training intensity.
The Lydiard training needs to be reformulated from A to Z in order to fulfill the modern distance training methodology.
What I write is just theory. But what the Lydiard adept writes on LRC isn´t theory at all, it´s training on the field.