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| Lake Coeur d'Alene |
So for this week I thought I would talk briefly about what is a large part of my training – MAF. Some time ago when I started this blog I wrote a post on MAF called MAF:What is it? For today I want to mostly touch on some aspects of MAF I want to stress and then talk about how I apply MAF to my training.
As far as the main aspects of MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) as referred to in my previous article the three key lifestyle aspects of MAF are:
- Diet & Nutrition: Eat real foods, find your optimal carbohydrate intake, and improve your balance of healthy fats.
- Exercise: Train at the appropriate intensity to develop your fat-burning aerobic system, improve health and perform better.
- Stress management: Assess your physical, biochemical, and mental-emotional stressors, and learn to manage them.
Again, the article I wrote some time ago covers most of MAF but in a nut shell as far as training the basic idea is you take 180 minus your age then there are some additions or subtractions and that number is what you would do most of your training at. The biggest complaint by most that look to take up training at MAF is that one has to slow down, often a lot, to keep the prescribed HR and right away people want to modify things. What I normally tell people is that you have to just be patient as most people have woefully under developed aerobic systems and thus that is why they have to slow down so much.
My suggestion to most is to look to set aside 3 months to just run at MAF and get your aerobic system working as it should and not seek to find every reason you can to modify the HR number – the usual response from people trying this for the first time. Keep in mind you will not stay at this pace for all workouts forever but need a good base before working in other workouts such as HIIT and intervals. As with anything the success of your plan is linked to the base it is built on. For those struggling with the pace I do offer the suggestion that you can probably ride some miles at MAF at a higher pace as most find riding easier to do at MAF.
For me I have been at this for such a long time I now run less often with my HRM but do use it from time to time to see where I am. But even then I do work to equate a given HR with my Perceived Effort (PE) so that I can judge what my runs are comparably with regards to MAF without the need of a HRM. I can now pretty much judge runs and rides not only by PE but also by how I feel with regards to fueling. By this I mean if I can do a long ride or run and do so on less fueling I know I am burning fat for fuel and the MAF number you come up with is such that it should safely keep you in that area. I have found, based on recording data on long rides and runs, that my fat burning area, also around my cross over point, is at about 130 HR or so. If I had some testing done I could confirm this but s that is not viable for me I have to go with how I have come up with this.
One thing I have found with MAF is that as you age it is less accurate, or at least seems so. I heard it said by one person as you get to 60, and past ,while using the MAF number is safe you may need to adjust since as you get older you may want to look more at your athletic age rather than chronological age and this seems to be true for me. Based on MAF I would be at 120 - 125 but know that I can run or ride safely at 130-135 and it is not an issue. This does not mean that I do not work to be under 130 to go even easier but that if I go as high as 135 I am good. Here is where I have to stress that I have been at this for some time and have a pretty big base – 47+ years of it running and 39 years riding– so may be able to go at a number higher than say others who have a lower base. I also need to stress I do tend to race and compete so do work at the edges where many do not need to be or want to be. I readily admit that I play with the fringes of what is the most healthy and what is the best for performance and while I try and keep healthy and fast at times in looking for the edges I go too far and then have to reset,
So if you are in this for health and fitness, which I figure most are, and do not know where you are HR wise then start with your MAF number and work from there making sure to give it time and not just a cursory effort. Commit to 3-6 months and yes it will be a slog and slow at times but know it will get better – well does for most that I know. As I have already mentioned and spoken of in the past running and riding are, as with many endeavors, greatly reliant on a firm foundation, a well built base and MAF is the best way to build a base that will withstand the speed work and HIIT you may add later.
MAF, as is often assumed, is not just about going slow but going at a speed that best readies your body for more work. I admit at times I run hard just because I feel I want to and to be truthful it is fun and is not training to be enjoyable. This, to me is OK as long as you make sure this does not become the norm and is just an excursion that you take to keep things fresh and enjoyable. If you follow through then things get tough, and by tough I mean slower than you are used to, remember a base is not built in a day and takes a diligent and patient effort to build a good one
So part of the title of this post was "To MAF or Not to MAF" and the truth is why would you not want to work in such a way to be the most healthy and not over do it. At the bottom line to me that is the key to MAF - in that by working to build a good aerobic base and to be aware of how hard you train you work to minimize undue stress. I did not say minimize stress as we need stress to get stronger and faster but within limits. In the big picture many do a form of MAF in training by HR but the one difference here is that there is a focus on gaining the base required to improve and stay healthy as well as looking at all of what we do and not just the HR. Give it a try and give it time.
Some good resources for MAF training are the following:
- Maffetone Site
- Floris Gierman's Extramilest FB Group
- Floris Gierman's Extramilest YouTube Channel
- Maffetone Method FB Group
Running Overview:
Sort of a strange week as I am heading out for some travel and will not get to ride till December so this weeks rides were going to be the last rides for the month. Fortunately Monday I got a good long ride in with a good climb. It was a cold day to start of Monday but ended up warmer but pretty windy on the way home. Due to schedule and weather I rode indoors on Wednesday and just got in some easy miles, well as easy as miles can be when on a trainer.
As far as running my foot is still sore but does tend to feel better as the run goes along but 7 miles is about my limit right now. On Tuesday I went for a 5 miler with the goal of running easy and ended up running a good tempo run that felt pretty good based on Perceived Effort (PE). Then on Thursday I ran an easy 7 miles in the cold and rain but felt comfortable – again I can tell 7 miles is the limit on my foot right now. Once I got to Coeur d’Alene I ran on Saturday and ran at a good relaxed pace that was pretty much like Tuesday and faster than I intended to run but felt easy. What I did get from the two faster runs was that when I run relaxed my foot does not feel too bad and my run is faster. Both tempo paced runs felt good with regards to PE. My foot was a little sore a little while after finishing the run Saturday so will take a couple days off and not run again till Tuesday.
Weekly Diet Notes;
Only diet aspects to touch on this week, due to travel and schedule, are that my carbs have been higher than I like or desire but all but one workout, the last one done in CDA, were done fasted. I do notice that after having worked so long to gain metabolic flexibility I find I can snap back from a bad week fairly easily and it does not seem to hurt my fat burning as I still can do fasted runs and rides successfully.
Mondays 64 mile ride was done fasted and while I did initially feel a little hungry that passed as I think it was more mental than anything and just getting started in the cold morning air. Once I got going the only fuel I had was waster with some SFuels- Train formula and that was it and felt fine for the entire ride. Even did a couple faster runs fasted and did not feel any issues. Fasted rides and runs are the best tool I have found to work on metabolic flexibility but it did take some time and transition but the effort was worth it as far as I am concerned.
Now that I have settled down a little for a few weeks I am hoping to eat better for the next 6 weeks while I am on the road. This is not always easy but I just tale the mindset to do the best I can and my body will deal with the rest as it has been trained to do so. To stress over eating while on travel really does not serve any purpose and in truth the stress of worry is probably worse than eating less than ideally.
Relive 'Started off Cold Ended Warmer and Windy'
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Ride – 64.6 Miles
- Tuesday: Run – 5.0 Miles
- Wednesday: Ride – 40.1 Miles
- Thursday: Run – 7.0 Miles
- Friday: Rest Day (Travel)
- Saturday: Run – 7.2 Miles
- Sunday: Walk – Rest Day
Totals:
- Running Miles – 19.2 Miles
- Riding Miles – 104.6 Miles
- Total Time – 8:15 Hours
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
As I cannot ride for the rest of the month of November I will work to slowly up my miles but nothing extreme and work to get my foot healed. I had planned on starting to work on the Pose Method training and the Balanced Runner lessons this next week I think I am going to postpone it till I get to CA as where I am right now for 3 weeks and with my schedule it will be difficult and probably would be looking to set my self up for failure. Waiting 3 weeks would be a wiser move and so will instead look to run easy 5 days s week and up my miles to 20, then 25 and then 30 miles. That is the basic l plan and just hoping my foot will slowly get better so when I get to December I can be working to up my miles some more and add in riding so that when I get to January I am ready to hit it for getting ready for Boston and then Dirty Kanza.
As always if you have questions let me know in the comments below.
Last Week's Overview #21
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