Slow-smooth-fast
I only get to MAF in the last few miles of my "hard" runs (high mileage) or during MAF tests. Recovery days, I max at MAF-5. Once I get fit, my paces will be substantially faster. I looked at your PR's, and they seem to be in the same range as mine (our 5k is just 15 seconds apart), though I'm 20 years older, so I don't know if age has any play in explaining the difference in our MAF running. I've never run under 8:00 pace at MAF, yet. Haven't really given it long enough. Basically, during the aerobic or "patience" phase, I'll start my runs anywhere from MAF-10 to Maf-20 depending on the distance, then keep an even pace, letting HR max out as stated above. Once in awhile I'll do aerobic intervals aerobic hill repeats. Maxing out at MAF, and dropping to MAF -10 during rest. I don't know how to explain why your MAF running paces are so fast and close to your 5k-5m paces, just aprox. a minute over if you are running sub--8:00. Enjoy it! --Jimmy p.s. Now, we really don't like you, Mr. Sub--8:00.
"I've been following Eddy's improvement over the last two years on this site, and it's been pretty dang solid. Sure the weekly mileage has been up and down, but over the long haul he's getting out the door and has turned himself into quite a runner. He's only now just figuring out his potential. Consistency in running is measured in years, not weeks. And over the last couple of years, Eddy's made great strides" Jeff 14 Jan 2009
Bear in min my PRs were a while back, so when I am ready to retest hopefully I should really destroy them. Ok, what I am going to do is be really strict from now on, sometimes my hr goes up so i just get it back down asap. The reason my maf is 157 is because it is: 180-28+5. I add 5 because I regularly run races and have no illnesses etc.
Max McMaffelow Esq.
I am starting to think this type of running is not helping me as much as I'd hoped. I have been doing all my runs under MAF (HR 130, age 50, MAF pace probably close to 12:30 or so on the track) for the last three months. Now it seems that I am completely comfortable running at MAF. But the last few days I've started to try for a little speed again, and it seems much more difficult for me to run faster than before I started MAFing. Before, my training runs were all done around 9:30 to 10:00 pace, and I ran my first marathon in October at average pace 9:30. (I was somewhat taking it easy during the race, because it was my first.) Now, when I try to run 6 miles at 10:00 pace, it feels like I'm hitting a wall! well, OK, not really a wall, but it definitely feels much harder than I recall. I can't understand how you all can do all of your long runs so slowly and then just break out at a fast pace for a real race. Is it due to the many years of MAF running you've been doing? Is it that you are actually athletes in disguise? I do feel the need at this point to change things somehow, because I'm starting my 18-week program for the second marathon, and I would really like to break 4 hours. Maybe it's time to give up on the MAF until after the race.
StacyI make no apologies for my liberal use of smiley icons. http://www.BlakeHillHouse.com
Question: how long does it take to see some control? I only hit these spikes for a max od about 5-6 seconds, but it seems I have one at least every mile. This is only my second week of MAF training. Still waiting on my books from Amazon.
In my experience, it took about 4-5 weeks before I could really run without the alarm sounding. Of course, it still goes off on hills every so often, but that's the nature of the beast.
How's lower leg doing, Doc? Back to normal?
Fight The Future
Are you finished with your aerobic base period? How long did you do it? Have you seen progress in that phase? Have you built up your volume and the length of your long runs? My experience with getting back to speed after the base phase is pretty much like yours. The fast twitch fibers have not been worked for awhile. It feels like your legs are full of lead. Temporary. After 3-4 weeks, doing just one LT run per week, or some fartlek, or some bursts, they wake up and I'm ready for racing, or more anaerobic work. If you have sen progress in the aerobic base phase, and built your volume and long runs, it will translate to better endurance in your races. But you do need to do some tempo runs before your races, or your races will end up being the fast-twitch wake-up. You don't think much has happened, but after 12-16 weeks of aerobic base work and progress, something has. That's my experience anyway. --Jimmy