I think it actually depends on the athlete and circumstances.
I've always in the past been on of those overachievers that despite my middling genetic potential, was willing to bust tail, so I'd finish every interval, all the way, and usually do more of 'em.
In the past year and a half, I've been training around 70% of my usual regular average, which is a pretty big drop in long-term volume for me. This was due to a combination of life circumstances (growing kid, wife's job), as well as dissatisfaction from the very small gains I was getting for 11-15hrs/wk of regular training.
Instead, I've focused on sleep, rest, and recovery. I'm certainly not slacking off, but I now ALWAYS prioritize sleep over training, and now if I'm at all in doubt about my ability to hammer, I err on the wimp-out side. In addition, I encourage myself to wimp out on my intervals regularly! At first it felt like a wuss-out, but now if I feel like I've got what I need from the set early on, I'll just skip the rest of 'em and rest up for next time!
The net result - I've gotten better results with this abbreviated training load at <10hrs per week (well under that sometimes) than from 11-15hrs/wk, as judged by my USAT score performances.
So, I'll def disagree with you on the 'hammer out every last drop as scheduled'. I actually suspect most athletes would probably even benefit from doing LESS hard and LESS interval volume as I did, and improve even more than if they'd gutted each and every last one out.
The point of the intervals isnt' to prove how manly and beastly you are - they are to provide a training stimulus. It's important to learn to learn physically where that line is (through experience and trial n error), and then not let your ego get in the way of getting to but not past that line.
I've always in the past been on of those overachievers that despite my middling genetic potential, was willing to bust tail, so I'd finish every interval, all the way, and usually do more of 'em.
In the past year and a half, I've been training around 70% of my usual regular average, which is a pretty big drop in long-term volume for me. This was due to a combination of life circumstances (growing kid, wife's job), as well as dissatisfaction from the very small gains I was getting for 11-15hrs/wk of regular training.
Instead, I've focused on sleep, rest, and recovery. I'm certainly not slacking off, but I now ALWAYS prioritize sleep over training, and now if I'm at all in doubt about my ability to hammer, I err on the wimp-out side. In addition, I encourage myself to wimp out on my intervals regularly! At first it felt like a wuss-out, but now if I feel like I've got what I need from the set early on, I'll just skip the rest of 'em and rest up for next time!
The net result - I've gotten better results with this abbreviated training load at <10hrs per week (well under that sometimes) than from 11-15hrs/wk, as judged by my USAT score performances.
So, I'll def disagree with you on the 'hammer out every last drop as scheduled'. I actually suspect most athletes would probably even benefit from doing LESS hard and LESS interval volume as I did, and improve even more than if they'd gutted each and every last one out.
The point of the intervals isnt' to prove how manly and beastly you are - they are to provide a training stimulus. It's important to learn to learn physically where that line is (through experience and trial n error), and then not let your ego get in the way of getting to but not past that line.