Liver and opinions please.

I really don't buy the fact that cheap alcohol = alcoholism, although (as usual) I can see the other side of the argument that it does, it's just that there seems to be no hard evidence.  'Speak with data' as we always say in the service management world.  I just listened to a 'liver specialist' on the radio news who I guess specialises in livers - like my mother in fact who thinks that a meal of liver and onions is the height of sophistication.  Ironically she's a teetotaller.  Anyway, back to the liver man - he is of the strong opinion that liver disease brought about by excessive drinking is a top cause of death in the UK and in fact more than most European countries although I didn't hear any stats about that. Given that he is a 'Specialist' we have to assume he has some reason for citing that statistic.  But, the interesting thing to note about his bemoaning our poor health stats due to drinking was that he did not once mention that it was anything to do with low prices, he was just wheeled into the newsroom to state that drinking related health issues with the liver were bad in the UK.  So what was the point of that?  To the untrained ear, he was agreeing with the low price = high intake = liver disease debate, but in actual fact his statement was nothing at to do with it.  So BBC news brings in supporting evidence that doesn't add to the real issue at all, but sounds like it does.

Back to the training.  Did a 7 mile run last night at reasonable pace for me, even threw in a few faster sections to get my heart rate up a bit.  In theory I should be doing 400/800m reps and the like, but I never feel like doing that when out on the road/path. Maybe I should set my stall out do them as a matter of course.  The theory is that you raise your lactate threshold by doing reps (as well as aerobic capacity and other benefits) so I guess I have to do them if I want to improve.  ..and by 'improve' I mean feel better whilst doing it.