I generally agree with what Jerry wrote about Lydiard's springing/bounding phase. (In comments for last entry.) Assume the phase is for strength training (almost seems like a plyometric) of specific muscle groups and don't worry about the pushing off thing. As for Dr. R's stuff, they aren't specifically supposed to be executed up a hill, right?

I remember reading that Dathan Ritzenhein is apparently doing short, extremely fast up hill sprints as part of training. I can't remember if it was in an interview with him or his coach where I read about it, but they were described as almost being in lieu of lower body weights. Instead it was a running-specific type of strength training. The hill was very steep as well.

All of this makes me think of a study that J told me about, which looked at the 50 meter speed of distance runners. Turned out that speed over 50m. successfully predicted speed at 5k. Go figure. Now I realize this should not be interpreted as meaning that distance runners should all go out and train like Justin Gatlin, but I wonder if those up hill bursts might help in building some strength that helps in distance races. One issue with that study is that 5k is really pretty short as distance racing goes. However, if you looked at my running club, there are only a few position changes if you compare performance at 5k and half marathon. So maybe the 50m thing would hold for longer distances.

Incidentally, I'm still laid up. I thought I'd be running today, but instead I was running a fever yesterday and had to leave work after a couple of hours. I think I'll be sitting tomorrow out as well just to make sure I've kicked this thing. A real drag as far as training goes. I had planned to be a lot higher in mileage by now, but such is life. I am heartened by my recently (slightly) improved understanding of Lydiard, where he apparently focused more on time of workout in base phase, not distance. And that makes a lot more sense for those of us who are in the 8 min/mile plus range for base mileage. J mentioned to me that my heartrate may have been elevated due to being sick when I did that first heart rate monitored run on Tuesday, and perhaps my pace at 145 will be a bit faster than that when I am not sick. A good thought.