My stats are: 6’1” Amazon, 47 years old, 205 lbs, could lose about 20 more lbs but have lost 50 in the last year staying away from grain (even whole) and refined sugar and upping my protein. Trained for 6 marathons, finished 4 (got to 14 miles in the Estes Park marathon and it was 90 degrees at 9,000 feet and I bonked-the other was Chicago 2007 where they stopped the race when I was at mile 18 because of heat), 5 half marathons, one 17-mile race and some smaller races, all between October 2005 and March 2008. Trained with a Galloway group after my first marathon. Worst marathon time was my first, in Phoenix, with little training and no knowledge of fueling (idiocy)-about 7:18 and best was 6:20. Best half was 2:38 (running downhill almost the whole time-Slacker Half). Stopped running after injuring myself skiing in the spring of 2008—just pulled some tendons, no surgery or anthing-(Ortho said I was not built for running but that was 50 lbs ago and what does he know? :0)) Got really out of shape in spite of hiking and skiing. In January 2010, started running again, doing 20 seconds jogging, 40 seconds walking. But I was huffing and puffing the last few miles of my long runs (now 10 miles) on Saturdays. Enter my friend George, former semi-pro bike racer who coaches now. He suggested Maffetone and here I am. Started Maffetone 3 weeks ago. First Maf test was on a dark and stormy night and I was kind of grumpy and stressed. Went to a track and didn’t have auto lap on my Garmin 305, didn’t really warm up. Average mile was 16.64 but I didn’t have an alarm for low heart rate so I might have been walking too much. Also, I got really bored with ¼ mile laps and took my shoes off to run barefoot for a few miles on cinder track and squishy fake athletic field grass. I don’t know how that affected anything, it just felt good. Lots of variables but they all added up to me not having much aerobic capacity. Second Maffetone test was last night. I was neither grumpy nor stressed but I had white flour-white sugar chocolate chip cookies the day before and was not feeling physically the best-they do a number on me! It was balmy, 50-ish degrees. I warmed up for over a mile just walking increasingly fast. Then I ran (and walked) 5 miles. Mile 1: 16.4, Mile 2: 15.4, Mile 3: 16.2, Mile 4: 16.7, Mile 5: 16.1. Average was 16.16! So even though it was just incremental improvement, it was improvement and I am psyched about it. I’m signed up for 2 races at the end of June and that gives me about 80 days of base training before my first one. I’m going to keep everything under 133 bpm (180-47) unless I’m in a race. I have my minimum heart rate set at 123. The races I’m in are 14.5 miles up Mt. Evans June 19, then the Slacker Half a week later (all downhill which I love but still high altitude), and that’s it until the Chicago Marathon on 10/10/10. Goals: I would like to do an ultra in 2011. I would like to stay injury-free of course. I would like to improve my dismal, back-of-the-pack fat girl times. I’d also like to figure out how to upload my info from my Garmin 305 to anywhere, mostly my Mac. The Garmin is about 4 years old and I can’t even see where one could plus any USB into it but maybe I’m blind. I could read the manual but where's the fun in that? I appreciate all of the good information here and all of the inspiration too. For a funny story on my first marathon go to: http://memoirsandhalftruths.wordpress.com/ and read The Worst Marathoner, Part I. Cheers.

I figured it out-the usb port is on the charger, where you plug it in.  The transfer is wireless.  I downloaded the software onto my MacBook Pro and it was really easy, although it looks like I really screwed up my first Maf test so I'm not sure if I should count it. 

 

In fact I'm wondering if I should start the Maf thing over completely since I can now see where my heart rates during these run walks is too high.  It averages 134 mostly (my maf is 133) but spikes to 165.  Maybe I should stick to walking only for now.

 

In addition, even though I never used my HR strap until recently, yesterday for example the readout just kept going blank and I would walk faster and faster and then suddenly it would say 65 bpm, then 45 bpm.  My resting was 66 the day of my first Maf test.  It was 42 when I was doing more regular racing a few years ago.  Maybe I just need a new battery on the strap even though I never used it. 

Thanks Jimmy!  I take that as high praise from a playright. 

 

I use Aloe Vera gel I found at Walmart on the lowest shelf in the hand cream area. When I don't have that I run the strap under water before putting it on. In either case its not 100%. Still get some drop outs, even when starting with slow warm up walk, then slow jog for 2mi, it will still drop out. Haven't determined a pattern and it happens with my Garmin and Polar so its not company dependant. I think the technology must not be bullet proof. As you continue lhr you'll learn how to "ride" thru an hr drop out. I'll frequently switch my Garmin 301 display to show pace and if the terrain is even will hold that pace until the hr comes back.