Any Runners On Here??

[Legs]

Four months of exclusively aerobic training improved his pace at that HR by over a minute (so 8:15 to 7:15).

But who knows what he was doing in the water and on the bike during that 4 month period?

Then, after a year of doing mostly aerobic training, his pace at 155bpm was 5:20

It is clear from the text that he was including interval sessions after that four months of exclusively aerobic training.

You will recall from the linked article that the intervals it describes are

"...around15-30 minutes of hard high heart rate effort total. This means that if you are going to the track to do intervals do about 5k worth of speed during the entire workout. Less than that and the physiological effect is not as great. More than that and you just can't maintain a high enough effort during the workout to maximize our benefit. You want to push your interval making each one a higher level of intensity and effort than the previous one. If you reach a point where you cannot maintain your form any longer, back off the effort or even call it a day. That is all your body has to give."

Who knows how many such sessions he was doing, or specifically how they were structured?

Even allowing for some element of sales spin, I don't seriously doubt the veracity of the claim.

I agree that everyone's experience will not match his.

Maybe I’m cynical, but many athletes, particularly around that era, had revolutionary ‘training plans’ from infamous ‘coaches’ that turned out to be something else altogether!

 

[ivegotabike]

Maybe I’m cynical, but many athletes, particularly around that era, had revolutionary ‘training plans’ from infamous ‘coaches’ that turned out to be something else altogether!

It is a possibility I am prepared to entertain.

But, absent any evidence to prove it one way or another, it is just a possibility.

 

[Milzy]

I’ve been doing 5k’s before work. Usually have a big hill in there. I go steady and hammer up the hill.
On rides I feel I have more leg torque up climbs. All though my FTP is crap compared to yesteryear I seem to power up punchy climbs better. It could be in my head but running will strengthen the body up to some extent if not weight training.

 

[Tenkaykev]

I’ve been doing 5k’s before work. Usually have a big hill in there. I go steady and hammer up the hill.
On rides I feel I have more leg torque up climbs. All though my FTP is crap compared to yesteryear I seem to power up punchy climbs better. It could be in my head but running will strengthen the body up to some extent if not weight training.

Indeed it will. My coach would say " hills are your friends "🤔. I noticed that doing hill reps really improved my core. I also learned to run " over " hills and not " up " them by keeping the effort going for 20+ metres past the top.

 

[ivegotabike]

I’ve been doing 5k’s before work. Usually have a big hill in there. I go steady and hammer up the hill.
On rides I feel I have more leg torque up climbs. All though my FTP is crap compared to yesteryear I seem to power up punchy climbs better. It could be in my head but running will strengthen the body up to some extent if not weight training.

As I am very new to running, I have been reading some stuff about the training theory.

Hills feature significantly in Lydiard's training methods that came to prominence following the results of NZ athletes in the 1960s

A good summary I found of it, including videos showing the specific techniques mentioned, is here

https://marktosques.com/running/lydiard-hills/