His method worked for me. After my final cross country season I decided to try at it at a marathon and the goal was to run sub 2:30.
Well after the cross season I followed Hadd's phase I. After hammering the intervals on the track and keeping my easy days at least 6:20 pace during the cross country season. I did the 2400's a week after regional x-c meet and as you can see my aerobic system sucked.
My HRmax is 208, and I followed the phase I, with moderate days on tuesdays and fridays.
easy/recovery runs @ (approx) 70-75% of HRmax — 145-155 bpm
Long(er) aerobic runs @ (approx) 80-82% of HRmax — 165-170 bpm
Short(er) aerobic runs @ (approx) 82-85% HRmax — 170-175 bpm
11-10-04
HR — 140 — 150 — 160 — 170 — 180 -- 190
PACE- 8:16 -- 7.38 -- 7:14 -- 6:40 -- 6:11 -- 5:35
12-11-04
HR........(144)....150....160....170.....180......190
PACE....7:16....7.01....6.28....6.02....5.39....5:14
I kept at it and did a 30k road race Jan. 16th 2005, and was able to keep it at 5:38 pace and win comfortably on a windy and hilly terrain. Running that pace for a marathon would have got me well under 2:30 and I hadnt even started the other phases of Hadd's approach.
Unfortunanly I got a calf injury that kept me off my feet for 3wks, and now im at about an 7:50 pace at 155bpm. But it shouldnt take me that long to get back into it and ready for chicago in october and really looking forward to doing all phases for a sub 2:30!