I'm sick and tired of the fishy stories on the other Molvar-interpretation of Lydiard thread, so I'm starting my own where I'll tell my real experiences.
Background: I'm not a talented runner. I started training in 7th grade, and my first mile ever was 7:07. That year was also the first year which I started the Molvar-Lydiard schedule.
1st year: It takes MANY MONTHS to build up to 100MPW, NOT 10 WEEKS. Maybe it was different since I was so young, but I took HALF A YEAR to even get up to 70 MPW. I stopped there for the year, and I DID THAT HILL PHASE FOR 3 WEEKS. In early summer, my PR was 5:52.
2nd year: I finally got up to 100MPW, but it took me an additional 4 MONTHS. Did the hill phase and continued it until today. My PR that year was 5:29.
3rd year-11th (current year): Still kept up the 100MPW week plan. My progression was:
year 3- 5:10
year 4- 5:03
year 5- 4:47 (probably due to physical maturity)
year 6- 4:42
year 7- 4:36
year 8- 4:23 (breakthrough year)
year 9- 4:19
year 10- 4:16
year 11- 4:14 (age 22)
I don't know if I'll ever become a sub 4 miler or not. But what I do know is that this method takes DECADES to get any good results.