HRE wrote:
It's to show a priciple. He always said that his schedules were just guidelines and you needed to adapt the ideas to your own circumstances.
Exactly! These are principles and just because they worked for one person does not make them universal. The things you should be taking out of Lydiard is that:
1. A big aerobic base will help you reach your maximal potential because the majority of work in the races you will be running are aerobic.
2. Quality of that mileage should still be of importance and they shouldn't be long slow distance which is a term Lydiard developed for patients with cardiac problems, NOT athletes striving to reach the elite level.
3. Neuromuscular work should be done year round either once or twice a week to maintain speed and efficiency.
4. The anaerobic system develops much quicker than the aerobic system so not too much time should be spent on it because not only will you reach its maximum in a given cycle quickly but other negative effects will occur if you continue to work too hard.
Good luck with figuring things out. Hope that helps (even though I don't know as much about Lydiard as Nobby, he's really the guy you want to talk to).