A 4:04 high school miler (or 1600m runner to be accurate) was talking to me about his training. His coach (even during XC) literally only prescribes him short intervals. He does things like 10-16 x 200m w/ 1 min jog recovery in 200m, 10-12 x 400m, 15 x 300m, sometimes even 500s.
Is he just naturally talented, or are just these short 200-600 intervals the secret to distance running success?
Oh and sometimes he does 800s/1ks, if that is helpful.