hi Duwaan,
Except perhaps for the case of an athlete training on a short to long (S2L) philosophy, absolute (pure) speed values are normally not achieved during the General Preparation Phase (GPP).
Even Asafa Powell’s squad don’t try for 100% effort in GPP and most of them are training primarily for 100m.
So GPP in the Concurrent Model and certainly in most versions of a Long to Short Model (L2S) would be treating this period of training as something of an accumulation phase, a period where you may load up the volume a bit, load up the athlete a lot. But in general terms, it is a bit dangerous to try for absolute velocity development and highest volume development simultaneously. It may be possible to do without supporting means, but in any case it was a risk I for one was not willing to take - especially with a couple of world Top-8 ranked 400m performers whose livelihood depended on them earning prizemoney and sponsorship by racing fast and frequently.
We tended to use the in-season competition periods to place greater emphasis on maximum velocity development - in part via the races themselves. And during this phase it was more natural to take the type of long recoveries required for max velocity to evolve.
But, you know, there is a different program for every athlete, a different set of recovery values too.
I always encourage experimentation and competition of ideas.
If you can develop pure speed while accomplishing all the objectives of the GPP then that’s a beauty.
But the risk of injury is probably greater than my own courage to test the recovery capacity of the athletes I have worked with.