I am not trying to assume anything for any of the following points and I base them upon the information given to me.
Training to train/gym based programmes could be classified as those stressing different metabolic systems than those mainly employed in the event itself, or at least in a different way, stressing different types of muscle contractions and possibly even stressing the part of the body that’s not directly affected by the event itself (e.g., upper body). In that respect, “development of the whole body”, as Charlie hinted is indirectly achieved, i.e., development of the system.
Training to race/field-track based programmes could be classified as those employing the event itself to the absolute extreme, nothing more, nothing less (e.g., not parts of it in any sense, or at least from a point onwards). The stimulus “as development only of those muscles directly involved in the desired action” (CF) is supposed to be fully provided by the action itself –at least this is how I comprehend it based on what I’ve got.
Please, feel free to correct/supplement any of the above, as these are the first things that came to my mind, but an essential part to be further discussed, of course!
To some of the points raised by PJ:
I am not sure who’s this young sprinter and I don’t dispute your point, but was she under the same group? This is important, as I know a few people who tried to simply copy it, but failed. There were failures in the group itself, as no system works 100% for everyone, I guess (I am referring to both short and long sprinters).
As to the general development point when young, it makes sense, of course, but again a member of the group was using this system from the age of ~18, as far as running is concerned. I am pretty sure of this, but not positive, sorry.
As to weights, this seems to be a great mystery, because weights were used by this athlete when young (for sure) and perhaps in the post-2004 Olympics period, but I have no idea if that was the case during the prime period. Do you?
As to tempo, I am not sure if 90% effort of the racing distance performed twice with 5 min recovery and twice within a given day can be classified as tempo, as defined in this site. If yes, then tempo was used and many times within a, say, 2-week period, indeed.
As to the injuries part, Kenteris –since his name has already being mentioned- comes from a 400 m background and “normal” training. For quite some time, however, he was troubled with injuries (very bad year in 1996 and no races in 1997, I think), but from 1998 onwards no injuries were reported (45.60 NR in 1998, 20.50 in 1999, etc up to 2003). From the rest of the group there were those with injuries and those who avoided them.
I have no information on warm ups/warm downs and their role, if any, in the system and/or their physio etc support (re: avoiding legs/feet injuries).
Sorry for the long post!
Fire away –not at me!
PS similar attempts have been made to field events (e.g., triple jump) with not much success and with injuries.
EDIT: of course, I can’t talk about “distribution, success rates, pros and cons, etc.”, please, feel free to comment!