I guess I'm going to be something of a contrarian in this post, but I'm guessing that I'm significantly older than most folks around here which might alter my perspective somewhat.
The best practice is being in a game.
I can't agree with this. Game play simply will never give you enough 'reps' to develop the raw physical skills to a high level. A good player might get 5 shots on goal in a game, compared to 50 or 100 in a good focused/dedicated practice session. Assuming you aren't just 'going through the motions', high reps are a very significant key to ingraining the physical skills so they become automatic.
Not to say that practice alone is sufficient - game play is where everything gets integrated into 'hockey' rather than a set of individual elements.
Rapid_i_movemenT said:
well there should be some endurance training in your workout, you should do about 70% interval and 30% endurance. You gotta have both.
A key to incorporating endurance with your interval training is identifying/understanding what you're trying to accomplish. In a nutshell, the aerobic training is aimed at improving your recovery between intervals, so that your HR is as low as possible when beginning the next sprint - obviously this is even more important for the later iterations. Wearing an HRM and recording your HR at the start and end of each rest interval will allow you to monitor the effectiveness. A run with 10 minute warm up/warm down and a 20 minute interval around your 10k pace is a good place to start.
PenguinmanAmato said:
Funny, because interval training is probably better, even for long distance running.
Well, this is just incorrect assuming you are referring to the type of high-intensity intervals useful for hockey, and your definition of 'long distance' is more than about 5k. 100% anaerobic sprints are useless for building endurance, and are of dubious value as a race tool unless you're truly elite. High-intensity intervals are hard on the recovery system, and hence cut into your abilty to do high mileage which is the single most critical aspect of a true endurance program.
It is the case though that all training incorporates 'intervals' in the broadest sense of varying intensity within a single session, as well as varying intensity across sessions. If this was the meaning of the quote, then I would agree.