Hey everyone.

I just started working out in february of this year and have since dropped 35 pounds, down from almost 200 to 165. I feel great, and have since changed my focus from fat loss to gaining muscle mass and dropping that last bit of fat from my body. I've taken up HIIT, just started last Friday actually. There's a half-marathon in Atlanta I really want to try and get through, in late November. My question is, is HIIT an effective way to build endurance? Can it double as my half-marathon training and fat loss? I know it works fast-twitch muscle fibers, but what I've read about it hasn't mentioned its usefulness for endurance.

My best run so far has been 2 miles in 19 minutes, but I'm sure if I lowered the speed I run at I could go for longer.

Thanks in advance.

Yes it would help improve your fitness, but marathon wise i dont think its your ideal method. There are other things involved in endurance performance such as lactate prodcution, aerobic capacity and fatty acid oxidation utilisation that will predict performance, best to stick with something specific to the sport as you dont see swimmers jog for fitness do you .

You can have the finest body, able of superior performance in all categories, and your brain will never tolerate well over 2.5 hours of torture.

max the body to tap the brain, and deplete the brain, until you cry, and if you have a God, you will connect.

if you don't you will at least press to new mental capacity.

go out and see how "long" you can run. forget everythign else and just see how long you can go.

you may "think" you can just go out and get it done, but when you have a sustained heart rate for over 60 minutes, let alone 120 minutes you enter entirely new realms of logic.

Sorry to break it to you, but you are going to need to put in the miles.

FF

When I was marathon training (about 10 years ago now ) a general rule that I picked up was to train by running half the full distance on a regular basis. Therefore with a half marathon being about 12 miles I think you need to do more runs of about 6 miles until the distance becomes fairly easy.

I think HIIT is a great idea for all runners, even marathon runners, but only after they've become experienced at that event. Basically, once you've competed in a few half marathons and know your event well then go back to the explosive training and add a little speed.

Why half?

Why not double?

Double?!?

***** man, training for a marathon by running 50 miles a couple of times a week would kill you.
I think the idea is that you get used to the half distance and your body will be able to stretch to running twice the distance it can run reasonably comfortably.

Kill you? Well maybe....but the upside is, you will totally own everyone

Providing you can do it, that is.