Why are daniels workout plans backwards?

I just took a look at some of his plans in my 2nd Edition of TDRF and he definitely includes tempo efforts in the early part of his training plans in that book.

He also puts a bit of emphasis on work done at repetition pace during the early phases - maybe that is what is making you think that he doesn't emphasize tempo work? Or maybe subsequent editions or books change the emphasis some.

In any event, I think his emphasis on rep work early in the training cycle is based on the idea that rep work builds running economy and if you do that early in the cycle then you will accrue those benefits for the harder portion of the training cycle, thus making the same effort yield better results.

I think he usually uses tempo efforts as a emphasis in the final phase of a training cycle in place of harder intervals some weeks so that you end up feeling fresher and can be ready to race as a result of that freshness. My recollection is that he usually pairs cruise intervals and short reps (200s) in the weeks right before a race.

I started doing the same with my high school cross country runners. Running con of me eco my is important. Repetition work is probably the least taxing type of work as well, so it is more of an introduction to workouts

ddewey wrote:

In almost all the training plans, he refrains from tempos in the early stages of actual workouts and then adds is later on in the plan. Almost every other coach or training plan I know of usually does it the opposite way. Anyone know his reasoning?

Because he still doesn't know what works so he changes things up constantly hoping to stumble on the secret.