Thanks for your intelligent post PTF.
"It seems you feel as though the VDOT tables and other popular training systems somehow impose psychological limitations on our potential...and that this hampers us unnecessarily. Is this correct?"
Yes, I believe that the VDOT tables do exactly the opposite of what they were intended to do, i.e. Daniels' and Gilbert's numbers exaggerate the importance of VO2max and understate the trainability of running economy, effectively adding to the aerobic development dogma which largely ignores the role of neuromuscular coordination. The higher VDOT values are unfeasibly high because they are extrapolated from the common economy curve calculated from an average of all the runners tested. It makes them look like physical freaks, when in fact it is their fitness levels which are freakish.
"It also seems you feel "neuromuscular coordination" is a bigger component in running performance than commonly believed. Is this correct?"
Yes. Consider Haile Gebreselassie's performances last year at the age of 35. His cardiovascular development was somewhat past its peak, but becasue of the way that we continue to develop neuromuscular coordination skills we can continue to improve long after our bodies begin to age. However this aspect of athletic development has been largely ignored by many exercise physiologists since the days of A.V. Hill back in the early 1920's. Hill sent most exercise physiologists off on a tunnel vision mission by concentrating almost exclusively on the cardiovascuar system and ignoring the good work that had been done in neuroscience. Hill's dogma continues to this day. But things are gradually changing, largely due to the influence of Tim Noakes, whose central governor hypothesis should be compulsory reading for all exercise physiology students.
"And finally, it also seems that you believe that "neuromuscular coordination" can be improved more than people think. Is this correct?"
Yes, there are obvious limits to cardiovascular development, but with neuromuscular coordination, there is no known limit to how much we can improve our running skills. If you look back in the history of the sport people have always talked about how the current World Recorod holders were " close to the limits of human performance". They were alwasy wrong, but people are still saying the same thing about Bolt and Bekele.
"These seem to me to your major points. It also seems as though you are arguing from a "right and wrong" stance when all you are trying to do is add to or improve on what is already known. But that's just my opinion."
I'm challenging the dogma. That's a polite way of putting it.
"All that said...why is it that the great runners "neuromuscular coordination" is so much better than others? Is it their training, genetics, lifestyle...etc...?"
Does one improve "neuromuscular coordination" simply by touching on a very wide variety of paces during training...or are there other ways? How about for runners in excess of 50 years old...such as myself?"
The two main issues are power and endurance. There is some overlap between the two in the form of speed endurance which can be gained by improving the power generated from ground contact. My recomendation to improve this aspect is to do jumping on the spot many times very quickly and powerfully. I believe that this is more effective than Lydiard's hill bounding or the current vogue for plyometric striding. With the hill bounding technique, too much time is spent on the ground and with the plyometric striding too little time is spent with effective technique.
Although jumping on the spot is not totally specific to forward movement, the skill is easily transfered to fast running paces.
Yes I believe that training at all paces is necessary, so sprinting is important even for the Marathon, and Marathon pace and close to it is a great conditioner for shorter distances. Although Marathon pace and close to it are obviously very important in Marathon training, this type of training takes years to develop.
I believe that long slow distance also improves neuromuscular coordination, because it teaches you how to concentrate for long periods of time, so that when you race, you can hold your stride length for longer periods of time. This development happens very quickly, as soon as you have recovered from the long slow run, the improved concentration can be put into effect in other training or racing.
My philosophy about improving with age is that you should look at the best runners in the World and recognize their superior fitness and be inspired by it, because even though you can't have the cardiovascular system you had when you were 25, in relative terms, you can be a much better trained athlete.