Here is an explanation of the training approach JK used at St. Mark's (ask someone who went there, i.e. Wejo or Rojo, about the success of the program, as I know they did very well). This is from Kevin Beck's site:
"The longest long runs for our teams (out of season) were 2 hours and 5 minutes, which was 17-18 miles for the most experienced runners (the ones who had built up to that over time and demonstrated that they could handle it). There were two guys who actually went farther than that in training a couple of times (one had a high of 20 and the other had a 20 and a 21) and one other guy did a marathon out of season, but those were the only ones who ever did more than 2:05:00 in a run. The in-season "regular" long runs (for maintenance) were 90-95 min., or 12-13 miles for the oldest, most experienced guys.
Speeds which were faster than "easy" were of four basic varieties: threshold (and sub-threshold) pace, VO2max pace, "speed maintenance", and lactate tolerance.
We used speed maintenance (buildups or even-speed strides of 35 seconds or less, or form drills or hills) year-round. You may have read of Dr. Maffetone's idea of "Maximum Aerobic Function" training, in which all the base training is done at no faster than threshold pace (or heart rate "deflection point"). This is the general idea in our base training - EXCEPT that MAF training is more geared toward triathletes (particularly the non-running disciplines). In running, some degree of alactic fast-twitch fiber recruitment is necessary 1-2 times per week for best results. The need for variety to develop the joint strength and mobility is greater in running than in cycling or swimming. The impact stress can nearly double when switching from jogging to hard running, and the range of motion of some joints can increase by about 35%, so it is vital to prepare the body incrementally to handle these faster speeds BEFORE introducing race-specific running into the training routine. Also, complete lack of variety in rhythm overburdens tendons and ligaments. Furthermore, many male runners notice a loss of vigor when doing lots of volume. The inclusion of speed maintenance stimulates the adrenals and seems to maintain higher androgen levels, so that runners feel sharper and more eager to train (important when doing lots of volume). During the regular seasons, speed maintenance could actually become speed IMPROVEMENT by use of 12-15 seconds runs in which the middle 8-10 seconds were "bursts". Again, this was ALACTIC.
The sub-threshold and threshold workouts comprised the bulk of the "hard" running. It's important to teach young runners to work WITH their bodies and NOT AGAINST them. Tying up and fighting the clock on distances longer than 3 or 4 minutes is counterproductive (except in races, of course). We usually spent from 25 to 35 minutes at threshold speeds once or twice per week (non-consecutive days), either in the form of continuous running or repeats with extremely short rests, so that the feeling of a continuous run was achieved. We also did occasional 45-60 min. runs (out of season) at a sub-threshold pace in order to provide greater stimulus for aerobic improvement.
VO2max running mainly used repeats of 2-4 min. in length, with equal rest to run ratios (or slightly less rest), and a total time spent at pace of 15-20 min. There were also the occasional 12-15 x 400 at a slightly faster pace and stuff like 5 x 1,600 at a fractionally slower pace with 3 min. rest periods. These trained the same systems (stroke volume and respiratory muscles) at different rhythms. A 400-1,000 meters trial (90%-95% effort) at the very end of a speed maintenance workout was done about every 3 weeks during the off season just to maintain a small middle distance component and to keep stroke volume fairly high without any real tying up.
Most of the lactate tolerance workouts involved distances between 45 seconds and 2 minutes, with no more than 4,000 meters of overall distance and rest periods between 1.4 and 2 times the previous run periods. Reps of 45-65 seconds would sometimes be done on hills. We would also use a short sequence of workouts with only 2-3 reps of 200-500 meters per workout (at 98% to 100% effort) designed to drastically improve ability to both fortify creatine phosphate stores and handle muscle lactate. It is now known that such sudden flooding of the muscles with lactate induces protein-mediated clearance. Extreme care must be taken with teenage runners, since the CNS gets stressed too much with regular anaerobic tolerance work like this. We probably only did about 6-8 truly intense anaerobic workouts during an entire Fall season and again in the Spring season (none in the pre-seasons).
The "runners" in the second half of the 16 years I mentioned actually did "train" 6-7 days per week, not 3-4. They ran very hard on 3 days per week (sometimes 4). The weight lifting was also highly anaerobic and was so non-transferable to running mechanics that it reinforced the WRONG movements! Their training would have been excellent "basic conditioning" work for a DECATHLETE, but (with painful clarity) had no bearing on competitive distance running. Alas, training to run a decent 1,500 at the end of a decathlon has NOTHING to do with training to run your BEST 1,500 (or longer).
The 60-65 mile weeks were average IN-SEASON mileage levels for the older guys. The main thrust of progressive periodization is limited periods of "pushing the boundaries out" with higher and higher mileages during the off-seasons. We stair-stepped the weekly volume with a high followed by a low (paying attention to individuals who needed more recovery), and often used the same scheme in the competitive season (without increasing the high weeks). As runners mature, the mileage in the "high block" periods gets even higher AND the lengths of those periods increase. By the mid- to late 20s, a male runner can often have an entire base period of 10-12 weeks at 140-150 miles per week.
Two-a-day workouts were also introduced incrementally, starting with one per week for 2-3 weeks, then building up to 3 or 4 per week (with some lower weeks having only 0-2 doubles), depending on age and experience. Occasional days completely off were also an important part of the training, particularly with younger runners or beginners, but the fewer of those as runners mature, the better.
Injuries? We did have a few, but no more than they had in the following 8 years and far fewer than occurred in football. The season-ending injuries (such as stress fractures) were few in number (probably about 6 or 7 during the entire 8 years), and in every single case, they happened to the guys who came into school with no Summer running (after they were told repeatedly that if they DIDN'T run in the Summer, they would be risking INJURY in the Fall - now, whose fault was THAT?). "
Some suggestions for a good running career by JK:
"Six suggestions
1.) You'll get in very good shape eventually by jogging or by running lots of mileage very slowly (HR of 130 is pretty low). BUT ... "eventually" is the operative word here. It will take a LONG TIME to get to ultimate fitness if you're not regularly challenging yourself a little more than that. In short, long, slow distance is good, but long, comfortably fast distance is BETTER. Do a couple of runs per week in which you progress from your regular easy pace to a "high-end" aerobic pace. Also known as "maximum steady state", this is the fastest that you can run while feeling smooth, strong, comfortable, and in control. Any faster would result in distress. Not that there's anything wrong with REALLY HAMMERING the end of a run every now and then if you feel awesome; you just don't want to make EVERY one of these high-end runs as hard as that. Keep most of them at a pace that will train YOU but force someone SLOWER than you to struggle to keep up. It's usually best to PLAN at least ONE of these runs per week, but give yourself the OPTION to run another one or two if you happen to be feeling good during a regular easy run. Don't run hard more than two days in a row, though - at least not until you're extremely sure about what pace you can handle on a near-daily basis. Some runners can reach their maximum steady state for a PORTION of a run nearly EVERY DAY. Lydiard's top runners did this, as do most of today's elite Kenyans and Moroccans, but this requires quite a bit of experience (and discipline) to not OVERDO it.
2.) Do a little something about your speed a couple of times per week. Set aside one day each week for 2-3 sets of buildups or strides of 15-35 seconds in duration (5-6 reps in each set). Run them with the wind, if any (or sometimes on a very gentle downhill soft surface), jogging back to the start between each (or jogging an equal distance). Jog 5-10 minutes between sets. Make each rep in a set slightly faster than the previous rep. Start each new set slower than you FINISHED the previous set but a little faster than you STARTED that previous set. Run RELAXED, not tying up or experiencing any form breakdown, but some of the last ones in each set can be very fast. For variety, every second or third week, you could run 10-15 x 1 minute moderately fast (not tying up, though - about current 2 mile race pace) with 1 minute jogs between each. DO NOT TIE UP! This is BASE training; all you're trying to do is stay COMFORTABLE and neuromuscularly EFFICIENT at faster speeds. You're NOT doing hard anaerobic work yet. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that you can also add 3-6 short buildups or strides in the middle of the cool-down jog following a "high-end" run.
3.) Vary your running surfaces. Giving your legs a litle variety will improve your chances of running more injury-free mileage. Do about 50% of your running on SOFT surfaces, about 40% on roads, and about 10% on a track. Note: "track" does NOT necessarily mean speedwork. Some of this track running should be very easy. You don't HAVE to run HARD just because you're at a track; this is just to give your legs an opportunity to use a different surface and to become comfortable with the torques and "gripping" effect that tracks can have. By developing your ankles, knees and hips for track running at SLOWER speeds FIRST, you'll be more ready to run FAST on the track when it's time.
4.) Alternate high weeks with low weeks while you're building up into uncharted mileage territory. Stress/Recovery. Stimulation/Adaptation. You'll reap more benefits from pushing your boundaries out if you give your body some chance to "absorb the training". These high and low blocks don't HAVE to be seven day periods, either. You can experiment with this and find out what gives you the best returns, but the main idea is to stress yourself enough mileage-wise so that you're running somewhat TIRED for a few days or so, then back off just long enough to start feeling fresh again. Pretty soon, you'll be able to run longer high mileage stints and only need the occasional few super-short days. Oh, yeah: NEVER drastically up the mileage AND the intensity simultaneously. That's how many people get in trouble and claim that "high mileage doesn't work for them".
5.) Begin incorporating two-a-day workouts at some point. Start with one or two "doubles" per week (make the shorter run an easy 25-30 minutes at first), and build up to 3-4 doubles per week on your high weeks. People have debated in other threads whether singles or doubles are more productive. Let's settle that: Doubles are MORE productive for base training - WITH THE QUALIFICATIONS that you've learned what time of year to use them and when to back off, and as long as your longer run of the day eventually becomes long enough to count as a decent length single in itself. People have been asking, "Should I do 13-14 in a single or should I break it up into two runs of 5 and 8-9?" Answer: Do BOTH - 13-14 in a single AND another run of 5 that day! Once you've safely BUILT UP to that kind of mileage, of course.
6.) Tough, tying-up, knee-grabbing stuff is not TOTALLY bad - as long as it's done in moderation. You've got to have SOME of it if you're ever going to RACE well. Incorporate a brief period (6-8 weeks) of very hard anaerobic training (1-3 times per week) once every 5-6 months (following a good base, of course), thereby bringing yourself to a peak twice per year. Do not attempt to peak more than twice per year. Despite what some dabblers may say to the tune of "you can peak in Cross, Indoors, and Outdoors if you do it right", you CANNOT do this with as SHARP a peak as you will get by peaking only twice per year. Furthermore, trying to peak three times per year (or more) will never allow you to reach your full potential over the course of your career. It takes about 20 weeks to do a correct buildup/peak scheme and you can HOLD your peak for only a few weeks, after which you'll need a couple of weeks of "down time", so two peaks per year works quite nicely."
Finally, (from the old board, as was the last post), a treatise on maintaining off-season speed:
"Quickies
Set aside one or two days per week to do buildups or strides. Keep these less than 35 seconds in duration. Do them with the wind, if any, jogging back to the start between each. Some can be done off the track, but the really fast ones might as well be done on the track so as to get the fastest possible speed for the given effort and to reduce risk of stepping in a hole (grass) or pounding too hard (road). Do 2-3 sets of 5-6 reps, getting faster as you go, so the last ones in each set are really fast but still mechanically efficient (by the end of a set, you should be pretty well warmed up and ready to let some of 'em rip). Jog several minutes between sets. Be sure to shut down a rep before you tie up or before your form starts to break down. You want to "imprint" proper form and relaxation on your nervous system; ergo, tying up or flailing about is counterproductive. Concentrate more on quick feet and feeling light and loose.
Once every 2-3 weeks, do the above workout using two sets of strides AND add a 2-7 min. time trial following the second set of strides. Run at about 95% effort - this will probably be about the pace you could maintain for TWICE the distance you are running if you were really hammering as hard as you could. For example, if you're currently in 9:00 3,200 shape (that means on THAT day, NOT your all-time PR) for an all-out race, you might tack on a 1,600 in about 4:30-ish after your second set of strides. Vary the distance you use on these short time trials each time, so you can get some pace variety and work different muscle fibers. Don't overdo these things; only run them every other week at most. This practice will get your HR up high enough to preserve a fairly high VO2max without being as stressful or as anaerobic as hard interval training would. If you keep a "95% effort" mindset on these trials, you should have no risk of peaking out early. This stuff is just there to keep a small middle-distance component in your base training.
Another thing you can (and should) do is to run 4-6 relaxed, progressively faster buildups or strides before any planned tempo runs or other faster aerobic running and add a few more of the same in the middle of the cool-down jog after those faster aerobic workouts. If you haven't PLANNED a fast aerobic run but find yourself spontaneously flying into one because it feels right, you can still add a few strides during the jog afterwards.
You should always do this faster stuff in racing flats or in extremely lightweight, flexible trainers. This will give you the best pre-stretch of your ankles and will develop strength and integrity. Plus, you'll be going faster in racers with no additional effort vs. heavy, restrictive trainers. A variation of this is to do some very light BAREFOOT strides every now and then. Obviously, you need to be sure the running surface is soft and smooth and free of rocks, sticks, etc., and you don't want to overdo the speed or volume on these the first time you try them.
Remember, none of this stuff is supposed to be highly anaerobic. If you're tying up or trying to beat some pre-determined time on the stopwatch, you're approaching it incorrectly. Relax, relax, relax - but do SOMETHING about your short speed during base training. You can't expect to suddenly get comfortable at high speeds during the last few weeks of a competitive season if you haven't kept in touch with faster stuff previously."