The Magic Coach J.S wrote:
I hope this gave you a more clear view of understanding the concept how I in detail work with as I think the best of Daniels to fit with the best of Gerschler as a part of a very strong method....
ok, thanks for all that. I can see some good sense in what you’ve suggested. I would quibble with a couple of points.
First, I think there are good reasons to vary the type of rest. For 400s at 5k pace, recovering to about 120 bpm would let the athlete eventually get to as many as 20 reps, but the rest intervals would almost certainly slow over time, which isn’t a common approach (but also not necessarily “bad,” per se). Running 10-12 400s at 5k pace with 100 m jog rest becomes something quite different, and I would suggest both approaches are useful. And in other circumstances, faster 490s on full rest (4-6 minutes standing) can be quite useful.
Second, I’m not a fan of “one size fits all” but rather suggest it’s better to tailor to the individual athlete based on their overall training history, their natural tendency for speed (FT) versus endurance (ST), and recent (several months) and very recent (last week) training trajectory.
If folks recall the old but good discussion between Cabral and Hadd about two types of runners, they had opposing views on whether to work on strengths versus weaknesses; my take is that you need to do enough work on weaknesses to support optimal development of strengths. In my case (much more FT) it means a lot of focus on aerobic development to let me safely exploit my natural speed.
Anyway, all that to say I can personally see how what you’ve suggested could fit within otherwise well designed and executed training.