pretty good wrote:
Not a bad base but in the fartlek lydiard runners would do alactic (very short, under 10 second) sprints. These are all out with long rest. Done once a week.
Lydiard would NOT have time trials in the base phase... This would be done in later phases, and generally not twice a week (he believed in 2 race efforts a week in the peak phase).
His runners would do 1-2 runs a week at 75% heart rate, which are believed to give most benefits of a harder tempo run with less chance of going over anaerobic threshold.
Try implementing these, and taking a few weeks to get to goal mpw with all easy running.
Yes and no. The newer editions of Lydiard's books have these time trials listed in the base phase. I've spoken with Barry Magee in regards to the 'conditioning' phase and he even included 'time trials' or 'steady tempo efforts' in this phase.
I'm looking at page 48 in Lydiard's Run to the Top (1962) and it says run this schedule until 18 weeks before the first race:
M. Ten miles at half-effort over hilly course
T. Fifteen miles at quarter-effort over easier running course
W. Twelve miles fartlek training
T. Eighteen miles at quarter-effort over an easy course
F. Ten miles fast over a flat course - about 3/4 effort.
S. Twenty to thirty miles over an easy course at quarter-effort
S. Fifteen miles over an easy course at quarter-effort
I think as long as you keep things aerobic and are consistent this kind of work is great. What the problem is when you start calling things by different names (time trials, tempos, steady-states, etc.) and they become something that they should not be.
I would recommend picking up the book Healthy Intelligent Training by Keith Livingstone. I think that's a great read and can help you out with your 3000 meter training! It's more of a 'modernization' of Lydiard.
Hope that helps!