[boyband6666]

It also doesn't mean it is unhealthy. And yes long ditance running itself isn't HIIT, but if you are training to race a long distance, you will invariably be doing a lot of high intensity work.

You might not call it Tabata training, or HIIT, but once a week you are probably doing 6x15second sprints, every other week will do something like 10x60 hill repeats (which others might call a sprint), and most weeks will be running some form of speedwork. This could be 8x800m/2 minutes, some form of pyramid (1min, 2min, 3min, 2min,1min, 2 sets), or some other combination. All of these though come down to going unsustainably hard for a short period and then having a recovery period. Is that not what HIIT is?

The same applies to many other sports where this simple caricature is applied. Most sports, done right, do involve high intensities, and recoveries.