Intervals and speed yr round/no LSD, who's tried it?

Yeah, this was tried for several years.  It's cited as one of the primary reasons the US lost any sort of ability to compete at the world level in long events.

Now, we see our runners increasing their volume, training with periodization, and we're starting to get back into the mix.

Can this be substantiated? Is there really a theory that LSD runs "eat" more muscle than short interval ones? I've heard quite the opposite... that LSD runs focus more on fat loss than short interval/speed training which burns glycogen stores and carbs. 

Yeah, it has more to do with requirements for each.  Sprinting is a strength event.  Marathons are an endurance event.

there was an article in either runners world or mens health maybe a year back that said something along the lines of doing all out sprints at the end of a running workout does activate something in the body to boost testosterone. 

I obviously don't remember the details or the study that they were quoting but there was something about what all out sprint efforts,, but it wasn't to be used in place of anything just as an added and the potential positve effects it could have... I think it was mens health since I was getting free copies of that one last year

Read an IM race report over at ST.  Not very pretty.

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1999910;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

I would think its a great program for fitness and overall health.  Good for endurance sports at a lenght above an OLY, 1/2?  Not so much...

I think this lends to the question... did you just want to finish or perform to the best of your ability. I like the "idea" of CFE and would be interested to see if this works for shorter distances than an IM. I especially like having the option of training less per week if necessary, given my family and other activities. 

that wasn't my race report and I don't know what the OPs goal was.

Any studies that I've heard of on the topic of what endurance training does to your body always focus on the top end of the sport with HUGE volume.

While you or I may consider 15 - 20 hours a lot to handle and not fitting into our lifestyle, the top pros are putting in 20 - 40 hours week in and week out.  Just like most other intense sports, the average age of when people "retire" is in the mid to upper 30's typically.

As for the original topic?  Constant speed work is a recipe for disaster for an endurance athlete.  Aside for the fact that gains to your anaerobic and VO2 max are short lived and hard to maintain, the time to recover from each workout goes up exponentially when you tax your system doing them.  There is also little need for "explosive" efforts in our sport compared to short distance track runners.

Just my opinion though.

Partly because I'm bored, and partly because I find this debate interesting every time it comes up....

I always question the idea behind the "less is more".  The reason is that it flies in the face of experience.  Sure, I see people all the time argue that it's quality over quantity, and I agree.  But that's not the argument here.  Because, for most of us, quantity IS quality.

I think a big part of this is goals.  When I go to a race, I race.  I put forth maximal effort in the hopes of achieving my goals.  I don't show up unprepared; I don't do something "just to finish".  If that's your goal, that's perfectly acceptable.  But it's not my goal.  If we start with different assumptions as to the end state, then the training itself is going to be vastly different.