Hit the track yesterday evening and performed my 4th MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) test. This is part of the Maffetone training method, and used to test and evaluate how your training is going and see wether or not you have been improving. I do a slightly altered version than what Maffetone suggests and follow more along what Hadd suggests his famous "HADD post".
Maffetone says to run 5 X 1 mile repeats, all at the same HR and ideally over time you should see 2 things happen. A) your times improve and you get faster, and B) your times become more consistent, as in your first and last miles arent very far apart.
Hadd suggests running 5 X 2 mile repeats, but at varying heart rates. You start with 2 miles at 140, then 2@150, 2@160, 2@170, and end with 2@180. I like this test better because if will show you if training at a lower HR actually makes you faster at all HRs. So since Ive only been running my my HR under 150, doing this test will show me wether or not Ive gotten faster when my HR is above 150. In other words, will my strictly aerobic training make me faster anaerobically? Lets find out!
This was my 4th MAF test, so Ill show all 4 tests so you can see the results, then post some breif explainations...
Since Im doing this all on my cell phone, Im not sure how this is going to look. Hopefully it wilk make sense.
1st test. 2nd test. 3rd test. 4th test
8-24. 9-29. 11-11. 12-26
139=13:43. 135=11:40. 136=10:53. 135=10:44
147=14:03. 146=10:28. 145=9:41. 147=9:53
Skipped. 155=9:17. 157=8:09. 156=8:43
168=10:49. 167=8:01. Skipped. 168=7:40
178=8:47. Skipped. Skipped. 176=6:45
In case it doesnt look very clear, heres an explaination of what your looking at...
Theres 4 colums of 7 rows. Each column represents a MAF test. The first row is the number of MAF tests and the second row is the date it was performed on. Rows 3 through 7 show the avg HR for the each 2 mile run, and the assocociated pace per mile in minutes in order of increasing HR cap. So the 3rd row shows my runs at a 140 cap, 4th shows 150 cap, and so on and so forth till row 7 which shows the runs with a 180hr cap.
Ok, so as you can see (hopefully) I have gotten alot faster in just 4 months. On all but this last test I had to skip out on different HRs due to time constraints. Another thing you might notice is that between the 3rd and 4th MAF tests I have slowed down a little. This is because from 11-26 untill 12-15 I had ran maybe 10 miles due to injuries. This time off, plus very bad eating habits over Thanksgiving, birthday, and Christmas, led to a decrease in performance.
Another thing of interest is my pace with a 180hr cap! Before starting my Maffetone training I was running fast and hard on all my training runs, and doing speed work quite often. Since starting the Maffetone method my HR has seen numbers over 160 vey seldomly, as in maybe 5 times tops! Yet, despite all this slow running for the past 4 months, Ive managed to DROP 2:02 PER MILE!!! And if you look up at my pace with a HR cap of 170, Ive managed to drop 3:09 PER MILE here!!! All of this was done with slow running and staying under 150 BPM. Plus Ive lost about 10 pounds.
I would also be willing to bet that if I were to correct my diet, my next MAF test would yield even better results!!!
Maffetone says to run 5 X 1 mile repeats, all at the same HR and ideally over time you should see 2 things happen. A) your times improve and you get faster, and B) your times become more consistent, as in your first and last miles arent very far apart.
Hadd suggests running 5 X 2 mile repeats, but at varying heart rates. You start with 2 miles at 140, then 2@150, 2@160, 2@170, and end with 2@180. I like this test better because if will show you if training at a lower HR actually makes you faster at all HRs. So since Ive only been running my my HR under 150, doing this test will show me wether or not Ive gotten faster when my HR is above 150. In other words, will my strictly aerobic training make me faster anaerobically? Lets find out!
This was my 4th MAF test, so Ill show all 4 tests so you can see the results, then post some breif explainations...
Since Im doing this all on my cell phone, Im not sure how this is going to look. Hopefully it wilk make sense.
1st test. 2nd test. 3rd test. 4th test
8-24. 9-29. 11-11. 12-26
139=13:43. 135=11:40. 136=10:53. 135=10:44
147=14:03. 146=10:28. 145=9:41. 147=9:53
Skipped. 155=9:17. 157=8:09. 156=8:43
168=10:49. 167=8:01. Skipped. 168=7:40
178=8:47. Skipped. Skipped. 176=6:45
In case it doesnt look very clear, heres an explaination of what your looking at...
Theres 4 colums of 7 rows. Each column represents a MAF test. The first row is the number of MAF tests and the second row is the date it was performed on. Rows 3 through 7 show the avg HR for the each 2 mile run, and the assocociated pace per mile in minutes in order of increasing HR cap. So the 3rd row shows my runs at a 140 cap, 4th shows 150 cap, and so on and so forth till row 7 which shows the runs with a 180hr cap.
Ok, so as you can see (hopefully) I have gotten alot faster in just 4 months. On all but this last test I had to skip out on different HRs due to time constraints. Another thing you might notice is that between the 3rd and 4th MAF tests I have slowed down a little. This is because from 11-26 untill 12-15 I had ran maybe 10 miles due to injuries. This time off, plus very bad eating habits over Thanksgiving, birthday, and Christmas, led to a decrease in performance.
Another thing of interest is my pace with a 180hr cap! Before starting my Maffetone training I was running fast and hard on all my training runs, and doing speed work quite often. Since starting the Maffetone method my HR has seen numbers over 160 vey seldomly, as in maybe 5 times tops! Yet, despite all this slow running for the past 4 months, Ive managed to DROP 2:02 PER MILE!!! And if you look up at my pace with a HR cap of 170, Ive managed to drop 3:09 PER MILE here!!! All of this was done with slow running and staying under 150 BPM. Plus Ive lost about 10 pounds.
I would also be willing to bet that if I were to correct my diet, my next MAF test would yield even better results!!!
posted from Bloggeroid
Fantastic results! It looks like you started seeing results fairly quickly too. I've been Maf training since November 4th, and the improvements for me have not come quite as fast. My straight MAF is 133 (could age be a factor in how fast improvement comes?). I'm sticking with the training through the Illinois marathon. Thanks for posting the results. It gives me cause to hope.
ReplyDeleteThanks Stephen! Im sure age does have a major factor in how quickly your body reacts. It might also make a difference in how long youve been running, and how youve been training.
ReplyDeleteI didnt realize just how shitty my results looked once they were posted.... Geez... Need to find a way to insert a spredsheet or something like that...
Damn it, you're going to force me to start trying this! ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat performance. Thanks for sharing your results. I have been traveling a lot this year but have got back to running in the MAF zone for a month. I am going to give it another couple of months which will take me the Sarasota half marathon in March.
ReplyDeleteJason, do you think you would benifit much from it? My main concern and reason for using this method is for Ultras. Im really enjoying it because Im not left feeling beat down after a run. Even on my back to back long runs I never felt drained or overly tired.
ReplyDeleteDave and Marc, I think it would be benificial to implement this method. I reccomend buying "The Big Book of EnduranceTraining and Racing" so you have a better understanding of why your doing what your doing. Plus the diet is key!!!
Chaser, how many miles per week were you running during the time you did these MAF tests?
ReplyDeleteStephen, great timing as I just posted my mileage for all of last year, with weekly breakdowns included.
ReplyDeleteJust starting the MAF Method.....this is an old post - what do you all make of it now?
ReplyDelete