I am a Lydiard follower mainly based on the fact that my high school, college, and post college coaches were. I bet I was on one of the few high school teams in the ideas that ran higher base mileage in the winter and began the season with worhouts such as 4 times a mile or 2-3 times 2mile, and progressed to ladders of 400-600-800-1000.
But one question I have is whether Lydiard followers are much too hestitant to get away from the high volume stuff for long. Particularlarly 1500/5000 athletes.
If a year round system is developed with higher mileage 65 plus, for at least 6 months out of the year, how long can one drop down to very low (35 to 50) before losing their aerobic base? Middle distance training must concentrate for a period with intense speed development and I don't believe one to two months of this is enough. Yet to be ablt to do this the legs need more recovery and the long stuff has to be curtailed.
Can one run 45 miles a week and hold on to this base by periodically doing long easy runs, 5-10 mile tempo runs, or perhaps a heavy mileage week every 5th week or so? Or is even this necessary if you preceded you speedwork with 3 to 4 months of high mileage training. Then can you go low mileage with emphasis on high end speed, recovery, and races. This is one problem I have with Lydiard. I know speedwork is part of the program (following the transition period) but I wonder if that is enough. It does appear however that the racing phase is strictly racing and rest and is mentioned as lasting around 6 weeks.