Note: In that 10.000 track race in Florence, Italy, Dave beat none other than Alberto Cova (Olympic champion) and Marti Vainio (Finland, and also an Olympic medallist).
I once asked Bernie Ford why he ran relatively low mileage (60-80 week). He told me that running more was not necessarily better, and would take away from his quality of life and time at home with his family. A very balanced person - Bernie Ford......
Tony Simmons - 13:21/5000, 27:40ish/10.000 - typical training. 4 miles at lunchtime with Luton Polytechnic students and joggers. Evening, another 4 miles, at the Luton athletic club...... I kid you not....Tony was always low mileage and low maintenance. He went on to become a 2:12 marathon man.....only increasing his mileage for a few weeks.....but not by much. Fact is - Tony did most of his training with joggers..and really enjoyed his running.
I once had the dubious distinction of being ahead of Tony Simmons for 10 miles in a race - the occasion was the Finchley '20' (1978) in which Tony ran negative splits, with something like a 54' at 10 miles followed by a 48 minutes last 10'.....watching him scoot away with that ultra rapid stride action was something to see....my splits in that race had been the opposite...going through 10' in about 52:30 (which was close to my best for the distance.....and then getting slower and slower to finish in 1:50.49. I think Tony ran 1:43 something that day.....
Bob Treadwell - averaged about 35-40 miles for most of his career....and became world mountain running champion on that schedule......beating Karel Lismont (two time Olympic Marathon medallist, and 2:11/marathon, 3rd in World Cross, and 27:55/10.000 track) and Markus Ryffel (Swiss) who had a 13:13/5000 to his credit.
When Bob ran the London Marathon in 2:15 a few years later, he had bumped up his training to about 55 miles a week. But after this went back to his usual 35 miles a week.
Bob - great cross country runner, with a massive stride that would just eat up the mud, hills, and adverse conditions. He never did himself justice in the World Cross, because those are usually run on track like courses, favouring track type runners.
I could go on....but time to stop....