Low HR Training

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And now for something completely different.... (Read 301 times)


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posted: 6/11/2009 at 7:42 PM
modified: 6/11/2009 at 7:44 PM
Psycho Killer - Que'st Que C'est?

I love the term "MAF-orthodoxy" - I am now ROFL - loving it; I agree about the faith issue, it is a matter of faith to a large degree. Hats off! 
Some people thrive on this method; others, like myself, seem to need a much bigger kick in the pants to get anywhere, we don't have much faith and dart back and forth from faith, to science, to doubt and try a little of this and a little of that. When I say we, I am naturally only refering to myself (in plural, why not). We don't give up though. This isn't about me, so let me quote G:

"My training's always my own responsibility, and I can do with it what I want.  Just gonna have to think this one through.  Getting my buddy his Marine Corps goal this fall is a big complication.  Not to get too stupid, but right now, I feel a little like Luke Skywalker after he meets Yoda and has to choose between heading off to face Vader and save his friends or abandoning his friends so he can stay behind to finish his training.

 

What I need to do is not rush into anything - especially when I'm sick.  Anything except rest that is.  I have a vacation coming up.  R&R in the sun will do me good and give me a chance to think this through.  I'll have my copies of "The Maffetone Method" and "Slow Burn" with me for re-reading."

G, don't think too hard, with your intuition you already know what to do - trust yourself. It is not your fault that you are sick right now. When you get well again you will have a new fresh outlook and be able to make decisions about your running/training. 


5K, 4/28/07 24:16 PR
10K, 5/5/07 49:23 PR
1/2 M, 12/08/07 1:49:34 PR
Marathon, 12/09/06 3:57:37 BQ
50K, 10/04/2009 7:27:00 PB
jimmyb


posted: 6/11/2009 at 7:43 PM
I think I did tell you already that in the last few years, I was teaching a guitar student whose house was Tina Weymouth's back when she was at RISD on the East Side of Providence. The early Heads of Byrne, Frantz, and Tina hung out there. After singing Psycho Killer and Naive Melody with my student, I talked about how time iis an illusion and that our version of Psycho Killer went through a worm hole and right into Byrne's head, who was sitting in the very same room back then. Thus I'm responsible for the idea to write Psycho Killer. Holy circle, Batman!

 

Dr. Phil's suggestion that I could break 3 hours someday is not the catalyst for this super-long base phase. How I felt going into, during, and after the Seattle Marathon was. I knew that what I needed was rest, then enter a base phase that won't stop until my aerobic speed at MAF has improved substantially. Though his words do inspire me to go for that. It could take a few years.

 

"Home is where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there..."

 

--Jimmy

 

 


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posted: 6/13/2009 at 12:17 PM
modified: 6/13/2009 at 12:17 PM
Quote from GMoney on 6/10/2009 at 12:48 AM:

Running at MAF is often a bore for me and unstimulating.  

 

G, I have been thinking about this. This has also to some extent been my personal experience with Maffing as it has been in the 4-4.5months of pure maffing I have done. I found in reading a thread on the Lydiard Foundation Forum an experienced runner giving her perspective on this experience that makes sense to me - especially after recently learning that my HRmax is much higher than most formulas would give based on age. AKTrail also experienced the age graded MAF training zone(s) to be understimulating. Read for yourself and see what you think:

Posted: 5/12/2009 04:40PM By: AKtrail
One thing I wanted to add on low HR training since someone brought it up. A lot of the success of that may depend on your actual max HR vs the age-based formulae that Maffetone's stuff is based on (I've got one of his earlier books, but not more recent ones). 

For a new, but older runner (say mid 50s) who has been active (not "trained" but not a couch potato), the HR that Maff suggested as a max was about 15bpm below where I could run, let alone comfortably run. When I tried doing low HR stuff (it was icy anyway so not that much traction), rather than my normal easy runs, I felt like I lost fitness - both aerobically and strengthwise since he's against hills, strength work, etc when in base. It took me a long time to recover from that and get back to normal. 

Over the next couple years, volume, more hills, more hard hills, etc, my HR at which I can run has dropped significantly so that I can now run easily below the recommended Maff hr, although I don't train that way other than recovery runs. And it seems to drop the most after the hard hills. IOW, improved economy was probably needed more so than just a lot of slogging. Walking to keep HR low wasn't doing anything for my running. 

For me, the low-HR training seemed like "junk" miles since they were well below easy at the time. My present "recovery" runs tend to be close to what Maf suggests, but they are close to the bottom range of what most tables (like Martin and Coe) suggest as lowest efforts where there are cardio benefits. 

But there are many for which low-HR training works. For many, it's not much different than regular HR training, depending upon how the zones end up. But for others, like myself, they're night and day different.


If you would like to read the context this post was in the thread is here:
http://www.lydiardfoundation.org/Forum/ForumTopic.aspx?TopicID=152

5K, 4/28/07 24:16 PR
10K, 5/5/07 49:23 PR
1/2 M, 12/08/07 1:49:34 PR
Marathon, 12/09/06 3:57:37 BQ
50K, 10/04/2009 7:27:00 PB
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