Just read the original article, which interestingly enough, was authored by Ric Stern. One of Ric's claims to fame in the cycling science world is that he feels strongly that doing any intensity whatsoever at all during a base period will negate the effects of base training. He semi-retracted that statement about a month ago stating that he felt the same way but that the reasons he stated were wrong.

Of course, the rest of the world has moved onto sweet spot training year round (even Friel now recommends keeping some intensity in your base training to keep your high end fresh).

Wish I could find the article, but I think it was in an email blast and I can't find it on Ric's site.

He's a smart one, but his views are definitely controversial.