Sprinters' Bodies vs. Distance Runners' Bodies

[running_coach]

Mojo Pin brought up the same article in this thread.Start at post 152.

@runner pat

I’ll deal with each article separately.

Fit in Six

In the rat experiment, there was no test to see if the short interval group actually gained fitness. The conclusion is based on molecular changes which suggest a result, not provide it.

In the test with college students, they do test with a time trial but the duration of that trial is not stated. It could be a 5 minute effort which will respond to training interval style yet if the trial were an hour the results may have been much different.

The 6-9 min of high intensity training doesn’t include warm up or cool down. When I used to do interval work my warm up/cooldown could total as much as 4-4.5 miles. Do that 3 times a week and you have a runner doing distance work plus some high intensity intervals.

The article states that only cyclists and swimmers were tested.

@runner pat

Mojo Pin, the point I was making was the researchers claimed all the fitness gains were from only the intense work. I was showing by my own example that warmup/cooldown distance(which the researchers excluded) could add up to a considerable amount of aerobic work. Also, the interval day I used for myself was not every day. Two times a week while peaking for a racing season with distance work the other days.

I have reservations about the conclusions in the article though I can’t tell if it’s sloppy researching or sloppy reporting.