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With all types of training I do, I would be considered to be in good cardiovascular condition, yet when I go out for a skate or a run, which I don’t do as frequently, there is not an equal transference of that conditioning to those activities. To get better at those activities I would have to do them more often. In a word, specialize, like an insect! For running and skating, if I want to go faster, I have to train faster.

Vern Gambetta, of Functional Path Training, posted an article by Jack Blatherwick, Ph.D entitled “Establishing An Aerobic Base in which he debunks long slow training, when he states, his approach certainly does not include long, slow distances, because as Vern puts it, “

“This approach certainly does not include long, slow distances, because “slow” is not part of the mission.”

Dr. Blatherwick endorses more “game-like” endurance training and eschews the traditional compartmentalized approach to cardiovascular training which includes long slow and various types of interval sessions as separate workouts.

What we like to call “muscle memory” Jack says the neuromuscular response to long, slow is, you guessed it, long, slow. The way you train, is imprinted and if you play a team sport where team speed is vital, then overspeed training and training in game-like conditions yields the best benefits to the athlete. To run fast, you have to train fast.

I highly recommend this article and Vern’s companion article, “Building An Aerobic Base”.

Hat tip to leanandhungry fitness for the linkage.