rthrth:
From page 38 of the "giant thread", the last paragraph has the Longo workout:
Regarding the "intermittent training", this is a type of training derived from Interval-training, that in any case can be interpretated in many different ways.
The first using this type of training in systematic way was Gilles Cometti, a French coach specialized in the preparation of soccer players. They used to increase the specific speed endurance for a player, thru a big number of repetitions on very short distance (for example, 10 x 20-30m at max speed, controlling time with photocells, running ahead and coming back with a very little interval, about 10 seconds). But, for example, the type of training that I saw many years ago used by American 400m runners (may be one full lap with 10 steps in max acceleration followed by 10 steps without pushing, called, if I remember, "killer" with another word), is a type of intermittent training too.
This type of training is very much used by swimmers. They swim fast for 50m (in a long pool), then use only the time for turning (may be 5-10 sec.), and go again, for many times.
My friend Bonifazi, a physiologist that is also a researcher with Italian swimmers, told me that, using this training, you can keep the level of cortisol very low, having the same result of continue activity (without rest) under the point of view of the "shuttle" of lactate.
The classic type of intermittent that we use, for example, with some specialist of 800m (like Italian Andrea Longo) is 4 sets of 10x150m in 21.0 recovery 30.0, with 5/6 min among sets. The speed (about 14.0 every 100m) is about 92/93 % of the speed of the race (1:44.0 is 13.0 every 100m, so 1 sec is 7% of the time), and this fact is very good under biomechanical point of view. If you take blood at the end of every set, for checking the lactate level, you can see a very low level (may be about 7-9 mmol), SO THIS TRAINING HAS AN AEROBIC EFFECT. With Longo, for example, if we go for 6 km at 3:20 (with very low relation under biomechanical point of view : 20.0 is a speed of 18 km/h, 13.0 of 27.7, so the percentage is 65%), at the end we find a higher level of lactate (may be 12-13 mmol).
Read more:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=458338&page=37#ixzz4RenJmXFU