Early Season Training Intensity

I've been a little concerned about my training intensity. In Friel's book, he says to keep the training intensity low (zone 1-2) during the early base training periods. I get a little concerned because I've stepped outside of those guidelines a few times. Occasions like this, and this come to mind. I don't lay awake at night worrying about it, but I've given it some thought.

In my soul, I'm a lazy person. Avoiding training intensity is in my genetic makeup. Generally speaking, over-training is not something that I need to be very concerned about.

I was wasting a little time on MTBR tonight, and stumbled across an article by Friel regarding early season training intensity:

"Over the years my approach to building aerobic fitness has changed. I used to believe that long, slow distance (LSD) was the most important type of training for aerobic system development. But in the last few years, experimentation with the athletes I coach has led me to believe this is not enough. By itself LSD will not fully develop the aerobic system. A bit higher intensity is needed."

Apparently Friel's views on early season training intensity have changed. It appears that the occasional bout of intensity in the early season is OK. Now I need to find something else to obsess about. I'll keep you posted.