I have been attending Marius Bakken's site for several years, and then later also posting on this one at Letsrun.
Also I am older than Antonio and have been running, many events and competitions, all my life.
I know Antonio Cabral and his valuable contributions from Marius' site and now also from this one. However I have never discussed opinions with him or anyone about Marius' training and didn't see much of his thoughts of that training until reading this messages here today.
Regardless of these things, I have and have long had much the same opinion regarding the training of Marius.
Of course Marius is a very talented and also a very smart and generous runner. However I have no interest in Marius's training. I think his training is totally down the wrong path, not necessarily for overall conditioning, but for racing, and also for reaching his peaks and top performances at the right events and the right times of year. I have long felt this way, from the comments and also the results of Marius, and nothing to do with Antonio. However, as Antonio has said, these things are very easy to see!
It is telling that Marius is secretive with his training, and also with the specifics of his training. I think this causes no problems or interest of anyone else, but however may problems for Marius, as it protects his predilection from any scrutiny, introspection, or change that would otherwise help him to see the wrong directions, and also better directions to revise and to change.
When you look at the very best coaches in the world, such as Renato Canova, and also I consider Antonio Cabral to be one the very best coaches -- who will not settle for going down a wrong path but instead speaks his mind FOR THE BENEFITS OF THE RUNNER and all runners -- you will see these coaches have developed by sharing and also continue to generously SHARE their training and ideas with others, with very few if any limitations.
Also notice in Ethiopia, with Kostre, Tulu, Geb and Beleke et al, their training is shared openly through their country, and not hidden from one person to another.
I disagree with the statement that Marius' and El G's training are similar. In the case of El G it is his race specific practice that he works on constantly and continuously, and only any LT or whatever as a support for that BUT not as the prime center of his training. It is only a background support.
I wish Marius all the best with his running and would love to see him accomplish great things. Also I am thankful for his generousity with his site and his helpfulness to the rest of us.
The posts and messages by Antonio are amazing. I esteem this man greatly. We are so lucky that he has the interest and motivation to be here and to share his insights so willingly with the rest of us.