Interesting quote from joe friel re distance work for crits with reference to the last 5 weeks pre crit:
During these five weeks, keep the volume of your training low. The emphasis must be on sprint intensity. Piling on the miles will only detract from the quality of your anaerobic endurance workouts while providing no greater fitness.
Kinda goes against the advice
Not really, Joe Friel is the master of training in blocks of specificity. Before those 5 weeks mentioned he would have prescribed a number of 4 weeks blocks looking at base, strength, intensity etc.
That advice would also be aimed at someone aiming to peak for one or two specific races in an entire season, that’s how his plans work.
So whilst undoubtably correct when taken in context, it falls over when cherry picked out of context.