[quote]magick wrote:
I don’t know. My morning resting heart rate a couple of weeks ago when I got back into lifting and doing conditioning work well and often was in the high 50s.
But I couldn’t run miles without feeling like utter shit. Made me decide that I’ll really have to get the miles in from now on.[/quote]
Now, magick tried his hand at running. But running would NOT have been the only activity in which he would’ve experienced a similar lack of results. It would have happened in cycling, swimming, rowing. etc.
There are several reasons for this. One of the more obvious would be the law of specificity. A less obvious reason is that the energy system involved was not properly trained when all he did was “lifting and conditioning work.”
To the above comment made by magick, your response was:
[quote]eddiealfano wrote:
Not sure what your conditioning work looks like, but I have no problem running 5 miles anytime I am doing consistent interval work. Try doing workouts of 4-6 timed quarter-mile sprints and see if running 3-5 miles is still difficult. I doubt it.
But more importantly, I don’t know why ability to run long distances is so high on people’s list for “health”. It’s a fairly unnatural thing and causes stress to the body. It elevates cortisol levels, is very hard on the joints, etc. I feel like we’ve been duped into believing distance work is so great the same way we were duped into believing cereal and processed carbs were healthy for us back in the 80’s and 90’s.
I personally enjoy distance running, and will go through periods where I do it from time to time, but over the course of the year, the main core of my workouts will always be lifting and various interval conditioning work. And that’s for health and aesthetics. [/quote]
I suspect that your background of running 5ks and 10ks (also a marathon as you stated in an earlier post) has built a fairly impressive aerobic base. So it’s no surprise that intervals give you a better response. And it’s also no surprise that when you do go on your occasional long runs, you don’t notice any decline in performance.
I theorize that you’ve simply maintained your aerobic base for middle to long distance activities with the interval work that you now perform.
Yet I very much doubt that you’ve expanded that aerobic base, regardless of how great you may feel.
Indeed, had you stayed a 5k or longer distance runner, I’d be very surprised if you continued to hit PRs by sticking to just intervals. Somewhere along the line, you’d realize the importance of training all THREE energy systems: the ATP/CP; Glycolytic; Aerobic.
Now you can argue this point. Whether or not I respond doesn’t change the fact I’ve seen and read too much overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
In fact, I’m not aware of any world-class endurance athletes in middle to long distance events (be it running, swimming, rowing, cycling, etc.) that utilize intervals to the EXclusion of lsd and steady-state work. If you have any valid studies to refute this, feel free to pass them my way.
Obviously, these athletes do incorporate interval work into the yearly programming. However, they spend a good deal of time building the base, year after year.
So I’m more than a little skeptical when you state that once someone reaches a certain level of fitness that individual no longer needs steady state work, as you imply:
[quote]eddiealfano wrote:
But once you’re in somewhat respectable shape, interval work is the way to go. [/quote]
And let’s not forget the restorative benefits of easy and steady state work.
You mentioned the cortisol involved in performing endless aerobic work. This is something I don’t deny.
From a pragmatic point of view, there are people who (regardless of the all the internet chest thumping) do NOT want to HIIT themselves into a sweaty, vomiting mess every single time they train. Yet they may not want to just sit around either. Well, it seems to me this is the ideal time to take the middle ground - as long as it’s intelligently executed. So for these occasions, what’s wrong with a 30-45 minute activity at a moderate to easy pace…? Nothing, as far as I’m concerned.
When I go for my rides along the beach, I know: 1) my joints and connective tissue are not taking a pounding; 2) the easy gearing and rpm gives my legs an active rest; 3) the pace is easy enough to take in the scenery; 4) my CNS is getting a nice break; 5)I am continuing to build my aerobic base withOUT going catabolic.
I’m NOT advocating endless hours of cardio. And I’m not anti sprinting (what I do best on a bike) or HIIT. Far from it. I am advocating that an objective individual will realize the importance of keeping a wide variety of tools in the box and knowing when to utilize a specific tool for a specific task.