Is HIIT good for endurance training?

Question

i'm currently in summer training for cross country. everyone recommends to just run as many miles per week as you can, but i hate doing this. lately i've been doing HIIT with sprints every other day. i know HIIT is better for fat loss, but if i do it instead of long steady state running will it hurt my performance in cross country? or should i just stick to running as many miles per week as i can?

Answer 1

Here's my opinion...it's just my opinion. Variety in training methods prepares your body for a variety of challenges while running. If you only want to run long and steady than you should just do long steady training runs and focus on training that trains your slow twitch muscle fibers. If you want to be prepared for times when you will want to kick it and sprint, then you need to train your fast twitch muscle fibers as well. I think you should have a varied training regimen that includes long endurance runs as well as a day a week of HIIT.

I have seen a noticeable improvement in my 5k times that I believe is directly related to HIIT. My hill running has definitely improved. I do HIIT on a treadmill, in spite of everything I've read, and set it at 6%. I also do Yasso 800s on the track.

Good Luck!