I am very astonished to see which workouts El Guerrouj was doing during his first cycle of training:
. 30-45 min of continuous running @ 2:50-3:10/km (marathon pace)
. 50-60 min of continuous running @ 2:50-3:10/km (marathon pace)
. 4 x 2000 m in 5:10 with 2 min recovery (between 3K and 5K pace)
. 6 x 1000 m in 2:30 with 2 min recovery (~ 3K pace)
+ strength, power, drills ...
This very different from what is usually described as base phase because it emphasizes a high level of quality instead of volume. In fact, each workout is either a sub-threshold tempo run or an interval training session. There are no such things as easy runs.
Any thoughts on this ? Would it work on average runners too ?