Thanks for writing in and congratulations for being will int to dig in to Verk’s writings. They can be a challenge to pull all the pieces together. Something to keep in mind when reading the specific article you cite is that it is not the full picture. For a more complete description you should get a copy of his book “Block Training System for Middle Distance Runners
In there you will find much more detail and depth of discussion. In it you will find a chart, part of which I have taken a screen shot of and attached below. In this screen shot the Left most box is labeled Block A, the middle box is Block B, and the right box is Block C.
There you will see that he recommends that in Block A, the base building period he recommends training at the aerobic threshold to raise the running speed at AeT. This is the preparation block before moving on to the endurance training in Blocks B and C. Those are the block where he recommends adding extensive training at AnT.
Why the discrepancy between these two documents?
I have noticed this same thing before and can only surmise the following: This article is written in a Journal so was condensed. This article was aimed at elite running coaches who understand the role of aerobic base training for whose athletes have very well developed aerobic bases.
If you read more of Verkoshansky you should pay special attention to his Anti-glycolytic Principle. In it he discusses the role of a huge aerobic base which reduces the role of the glycolytic metabolism to minimum. Recall form TftUA our description of the vacuum cleaner? Well that is describing this same principle.
To fully grasp the training methodology that we, Verk, Canova, Magness and others propose you must understand that this aerobic base training is supportive training for the endurance training. This concept is explained at length in TftUA as well.
I hope this helps.
Scott