I do XC and spring track, and previously, I did winter club track. Last year, I had a pretty mediocre XC performance (sophomore - mid 18s) that was slightly worse than my freshman year (where I had run 4:5x that track season.)
Although conventional running wisdom warns against hard intervals and track work in the base phase, that's exactly what I did during the winter. I joined a club and progressed from longer but relatively intense workouts (3x1k or 3x1mile) to faster and shorter workouts (400-800x3-5). I also had multiple winter races (where I performed the exact same as my freshman track season) on top of a solid 30mpw in the background.
However, my spring season was awesome. I saw consistent PRs in all my events and 20 second improvement in my mile time by the end of the season. Admittedly though, my 2 mile PR also only improved by 20 seconds. And I didn't have any point where I was significantly injured (other than a back pain that took me off one race).
What do I make of this? Was this a risky training decision that could've resulted in a really bad injury over the spring? Did I just get lucky with this approach? Should I try with it again or go with a less intense SOM base phase approach for this winter?
I've got some ambitious goals for next year (4:25), but I don't want to risk breaking myself. However, it seems like I really responded well to this.