3 day training blocks - thoughts?

Actually I messed up the math. Obviously it will be 21 recovery days, 21 hard days, and then long runs+medium-long runs will equal 21. You get the point.

Hard, long, easy, repeat.

In my unprofessional opinion, this seems like it will lead to burnout. I spent a few years on a program that had workouts every 3rd day, and I just didn't recover adequately in between. A longish run every 3rd day does not seem conducive to aiding that recovery process at all. Some people handle workouts better than others, and if you're one of those, this could work, provided you made sure to progress the workouts properly as the weeks passed, but for a lot of people, starting that kind of cycle out of the blue could be overload. Maybe it would be best to build up to it.

I think Easy, Medium, Hard works best.

Example:

Day 1-60' easy ~7:00

Day 2-60' medium, progression from 7:00 to 6:00

Day 3-workout

A longer run could be done on an easy or medium day depending on what pace you want to go at.

You won't get far doing that type of schedule for 1500. You will need more specific work closer to your peak and less further out. Doing the type of schedule you are advocating will probably result in peaking earlier than anticipated.

I think a three-day cycle is a good idea (it's simple and straightforward), but that seems like a lot of high-end quality for the winter. I think a 3-cycle version of your cycle for now, repeatable until mid-March (assuming you're trying to peak in mid-late May or so) might look like this:

Day 1: Threshold workout (alternate: repeat miles @ 10k pace or w/ 90s rest rest, and a continuous 20-25 minute run [perhaps broken up into two intervals w/ 1-2 minutes rest for the first few cycles] @ 30s/mile slower than 5k pace)

Day 2: 70 minutes moderate

Day 3: 45 minutes easy

Day 4: 6-8 x 800 @ 3k-5k pace (starting w/ 6 equal rest intervals @ 5k pace, gradually upping pace, # of intervals, and shortening rest as you get more fit)

Day 5: 70 minutes moderate/easy

Day 6: 45 minutes easy

Day 7: 2 x (6-8 x 200 @ mile pace) w/ 200 slow jog recovery, 800 slow jog set break (start w/ 6 and maybe do a walk-jog recovery. Once or twice before March this can be replaced w/ the classic 10 x 400 @ mile pace w/ 60s rest

Day 8: 90 minutes easy

Day 9: 30 minutes easy (or off)

Add doubles wherever you want, and voila, that's a middle-distance base phase cycle.

I really like this above suggestion.

If anyone is curious, I posed this same question to Joe Rubio himself over at his message board since it is his plan I was modifying. He seemed to think it could work in theory but would be difficult to use since life revolves around a 7 day week.

He, like others here, also recommended something with a little less intensity, so I may try that. Thanks everyone.