Adapting Lydiard into one weekly / 2 week training cycle repeated year round

The issue of high school kids and three racing seasons was something I thought about a lot when my kids were running in high school. We were lucky, they had a really good coach who has been there forever and had plenty of success. I never worried about whether he knew what he was doing and he understood the demands of all those races and never became an interval freak, But sometimes I thought even he had them doing more rep work than they needed.

I kind of think that someone who is racing every week probably doesn't need to do any interval sessions in between races. But maybe they should do a little something other than just distance work so they don't get too "ploddy" and also maybe so they feel like they're training. But I would want a very high aerobic miles to fast miles ratio in their training. I'd maybe have something long (whatever that means for each kid) on Monday and something medium long on Wednesday (same qualifying comment) and I'm assuming Saturday races. This leaves Thursday and Friday for easy running and maybe some light striding.

Early in the season and if or until they start seeming fried from all the races later on, Tuesday would be my day for something faster or harder. Arthur once told me that no one seems to run fast in training anymore, the 440 sessions that he used to mock US coaches for loving too well have mostly vanished. He thought that was a loss and I agree so if I might have them do something on Tuesday like 8-12 x 200, with good recovery and maybe in 2-3 sets. I might alternate that session with time trials at about a mile and a quarter at a pace somewhat faster than their race pace in cross country season or similarly scaled down for track, .i.e., slightly less than half their racing distance.

Obviously you'd want them getting is some decent mileage by early July and I'd want them to have some rest before that to recharge after the three racing seasons. Again, the more aerobic base they have the better they'll be able to hold up under their fast running.

So would a schedule schedule like this work:

Monday : track - daniels repetition workout

Tuesday : easy - build up to 60 mins

Wednesday : Tempo

Thursday: long reps - ( 15k-5k pace) or easy

Friday : long reps or easy ( If not done yesterday)

Saturday: rest

Sunday long run - build to 90 mins

Won’t do Thursday/Friday session on Saturday race week

Not sure whether the long rep session is best placed on a Thursday or Friday

SamH wrote:

So would a schedule schedule like this work:

Monday : track - daniels repetition workout

Tuesday : easy - build up to 60 mins

Wednesday : Tempo

Thursday: long reps - ( 15k-5k pace) or easy

Friday : long reps or easy ( If not done yesterday)

Saturday: rest

Sunday long run - build to 90 mins

Something else Lydiard would tell you given what you seem to be focused on. Look at the BIG PICTURE. Instead of trying to piece together one week of ideal training, think long-term and piece together a multi-year progression. Pick up a Lydiard book and learn from the master coach himself instead of trying to do what some high school coach may have done. If that sounds like too much work then forget about Lydiard training because it's not a quick fix.