There has been a lot of talk about elite training groups, and how they are working in the US and other countries the most recent and best examples are the Oregon Project and Track club.
Many of these groups were formed due to a lack of competitive and training opportunities for elite US track athletes post College, and were broadly based on the British club system.
There seems to be a lot of sense in forming such specialist groups with athletes of similar standard.
Here is the story of one of the first elite running groups - The Reebok Enclave based in Washington in the 1990′s.
http://www.runwashington.com/news/901/323/The-Reebok-Enclave-It-s-About-the-Coaching.htm
