(Yet!) another long time reader here. Just thought I would throw my experience into the mix. I have been running on and off since my early 20s. 39 now and found this thread mid 2024. Started a diet of "vanilla" NSM as it's become to be known. I was always a big intensity guy and probably still am at heart, even though I know it doesn't make a huge amount of sense in retrospect. I strongly suspect people of my age, or around it, will understand that it's a hard thing to shake, being married to the idea of harder training is 'better'. My view is a lot of coaches are still caught in this trap.
I was running classic blocks usually, boom and bust, periodization , no real long term base but had reasonable success. Ran everything from 1500 up to marathon. I had stalled progress for a bit but my PBs were as follows:
4:40/10:01/17:24/36:20/1:21/2:52
I probably got quite a bit weaker as the distance went on. But not a bad spread and was quite happy. I stumbled on this thread and just thought what did I have to lose? A few people had already posted by mid 2024 that I could relate to. 17-18 minute guys who just were at the point of feeling burned out, or repeating the same cycle over and over again.
I actually didn't have the slow start some did to NSM and I felt fresh quite quickly and results came to me quite fast. I suspect it's because I had managed to keep far more consistent and higher mileage within a short space of time, opposed to a real rollercoaster of boom and bust time after time . Within 3 months I hit a few PBs and by a year on Vanilla I had got down to: (I sometimes did strides, but not regularly, just if I felt particularly sluggish one day I would, but as time went on I needed this less. Note: I really appreciate the book and how sirpoc never tells you NOT to do something, but to consider what it brings to the table. This method has really got me thinking a lot more sensibly, which I think is overlooked).
4:13/9:08/15:49/33:01/1:13/2:33
The results were amazing to me. I totally fit the classic of 'reasonably seasoned runner', adding in a large base I simply never had time to build and consistency, then making the big breakthroughs.
I really enjoy the shorter stuff and was getting bored, so I thought I would take what I had as a base and add in some targeted raw speed and VO2 work over 14 weeks and see if I could really do damage to my 1500 and 3k. The only thing I really changed was most Saturday's and more in line with stuff that was either classic X-factor Norwegian workouts or even some all out max speed turnover on hills with full rest as a someone else mentioned and got injured. (Luckily I didn't). I also did a couple of the real classics (Jan will have approved of my 400s, very much in line with what he suggests! LOL)
Within a month I was struggling to hold the schedule, which I hadn't with vanilla. The whole recover seemed to be shifting out of controllable. Still felt doable, but I knew this was a build that was unsustainable, but really wanted to see what results it yielded so went for the full amount of time I allocated.
The results were disappointing. I ran only 9:10 for 3k and a 2 second pb for the 1500. Was this worth it? Who knows. I ran a PB and 2 seconds at 1500 is nothing to be sniffed at. But I needed a bit of recovery from the whole build. There were also a few weeks during where I had to shorten planned runs and I've taken a step back in my overall fitness in the coming weeks. Ran a disappointing 34:20 this weekend just gone. Which makes sense, I've had to recover/decrease load from the periodization of targeting the shorter races with some taxing intensive work and that is really the epitome again of the boom and bust cycle NSM looks to counteract. I'm just an example of one person, but my experience is what you are giving up in the consistency, the steady build, isn't worth the returns you get from adding intensity when you still might be improving anyway.
My views have probably come round to until someone lays out something better, NSM or bust for me. I think someone summed it up well, you have to make some compromises when it comes to training, and regular harder intensity (anything above LT2 with the disproportionate recover it brings) is the first thing you should take out and the last thing you should add back in. If you had asked me this two years ago, I would have said this is simply a foolish statement. But hey, here I am.
P.S. I think the big that attracted me to throw in my post was the mention of 800s, and that I think I am going to try a 800 as I have never run one in a race, then try another 1500 in the spring and we will see how they go on the back of another 3-4 months of Vanilla NSM and building back up, hopefully to where I was at with all the PBs I set.