Sprinting and top end work is literally the best way to build full out speed I don't know why everyone is hating. Yeah you still need to train speed under fatigue to access it but for building pure speed sprinting is as good as it gets.
Depends on the race distance. For middle distances, you could try 20 x100m at 800/1500m pace with easy 100m jog in between, for 5/10k 50 x 100m at 3-5k pace with 100m jog in between and for half marathon and marathon try 100x100m at 10k-15k pace with 100m jog inbetween. You might not suffer less but as long as your heart rate and pace are kept up and trains you for what you want to do in races, there is really no reason why the above fartlek or interval type training can't work. If you have ADHD the shorter the interval the shorter the focus and quicker the switch between foci.
Depends on the race distance. For middle distances, you could try 20 x100m at 800/1500m pace with easy 100m jog in between, for 5/10k 50 x 100m at 3-5k pace with 100m jog in between and for half marathon and marathon try 100x100m at 10k-15k pace with 100m jog inbetween. You might not suffer less but as long as your heart rate and pace are kept up and trains you for what you want to do in races, there is really no reason why the above fartlek or interval type training can't work. If you have ADHD the shorter the interval the shorter the focus and quicker the switch between foci.
If you are an amateur and are running anything over 10k you might even use the above training style when racing and when going hard for more than a minute at a time seems mentally impossible. It might look funny but if your finishing time is still good who cares?
It depends what your trying to achieve. Shorter sprints allow you to run at maximal pace and are great for recruiting fast twitch muscle fibers.
I do lot of short hill sprints in the off season with some threshold work (and nearly no 200s/400s). As I get around 8 weeks out from a race I replace the hill sprints with 200, 300 or 400m hard flat efforts.
Steve Magness talks a lot about this and the importance of building a 'speed base' (as opposed to just an aerobic base).
For new runners, this is a solid option. I do a lot of similar workouts with new freshman runners in track and XC. It teaches them how to run efficiently by focusing on form and I get far fewer injuries than just sending kids with awful form on a run. Plus, it's nearly pointless to have these kids do traditional work in their first season as they have developed no sense of pace nor proper metering of effort.
Is it CV, double threshold, or some other sophisticated methodology? No. Does it work for beginners? Yes! My JV kids more than hold their own and look far more athletic running against peers from other schools doing things the traditional way.
Long answer: Strides are incredibly helpful at exposing the neuromuscular system to speed endurance, but over time you will either need to Increase the duration of the stimulus or shorten the rest of the stimulus. Once your body adapts - you'll experience diminishing returns.
If it lessens your suffering, it's not a good idea.
Not necessarily. Yes, you need to get uncomfortable in workouts for many types of adaptations, however neuromuscular adaptations do not require discomfort. Increasing max speed requires increasing neuromuscular coordination. I get very tired of watching sprint coaches assign hard workouts that make no physiological sense (10 x 50m all-out sprints w/ a walk back to the start for recovery, for example).
The utility of increasing max speed for distance runners is up for debate, though, and will differ a lot based on events/goals.
You need both, sprints during base phase to build that pure speed then transition to your traditional speed endurance reps as you get closer to race season
200s and 400s don't build speed. Anything over 60m at max effort is accruing fatigue with zero speed benefits. You're already slowing down after 60m so why run further than that if speed is the thing you want to train?
Do 40m-60m sprints with 6+ minutes of recovery between reps. Do 5 reps. Call it a day. Sprinting 200s and 400s will destroy your central nervous system at the very least, and will likely also demolish your body to the point of needing to severely alter your aerobic training.
Watch sprinter training videos on YouTube. It will seem like they are doing nothing. They warm up, have a couple 10m block starts, do a couple 30m block starts, and finish with a couple 60m sprints from the blocks. All with 6+ minutes of recovery. If you're doing more work than that and also trying to put in mileage you will be cooked.
200s and 400s don't build speed. Anything over 60m at max effort is accruing fatigue with zero speed benefits. You're already slowing down after 60m so why run further than that if speed is the thing you want to train?
Do 40m-60m sprints with 6+ minutes of recovery between reps. Do 5 reps. Call it a day. Sprinting 200s and 400s will destroy your central nervous system at the very least, and will likely also demolish your body to the point of needing to severely alter your aerobic training.
Watch sprinter training videos on YouTube. It will seem like they are doing nothing. They warm up, have a couple 10m block starts, do a couple 30m block starts, and finish with a couple 60m sprints from the blocks. All with 6+ minutes of recovery. If you're doing more work than that and also trying to put in mileage you will be cooked.
No one can sprint repeat 200m or even one 400m. Destroy the central nervous system? Huh?
What do you mean by "Get away with"? If you just want to finish a 5K in a half-respectable time without training too hard, then yeah, you'll be fine. You'll run nowhere near your potential (for that you need to build your VO2, which means fast sustained runs with short rest, e.g., 6x800m w/ 2 min rest), but maybe you don't care about that.
Likewise, what do you mean by "speed"? If you want to work on your kick, 15 second sprints might be a good start and you might be OK in the homestretch (maybe you'll even be the next Cole Hocker!), but if the kicking starts at the bell, you'll have no chance.