Low HR Training

1

First month's results (Read 23 times)

bwyan


    Hi everyone,

     

    First, thanks for all the help you've provided in the form of 100's of earlier discussions. I've enjoyed lurking in these forums for about a month now, and your stories have been a frequent source of encouragement—especially on days when my pace seems to be getting SLOWER and all I want to do is rip of the heart rate monitor and kick into high gear.

     

    I'm sorry that this post is so long, but I hope it will be helpful for others who might read it. I have found it much easier to relate to the stories and results of people that closely match my "profile" as a runner, so hopefully others will find this level of detail helpful too.

     

    Anyway, I've been running since the spring of 2011 when on a whim, I decided to go out for a run and discovered that I couldn't even run a mile without stopping. As a 25 year old, I felt that was truly pathetic, so I decided to fix it. I started with a couch to 5k program, and by the fall, I was casually doing 3-5 mile runs 3-5 days/ week. In 2012, I worked up to my first marathon, and crossed the finish line in 3:49:54 (not amazing, but not bad for a newer runner) with plenty left in the tank and a desire to go faster or farther next time. In 2013, despite running more miles than the year before, and despite many good intentions to run another marathon or try a longer race, I never did either. I don't know why, but I suspect that I was pushing myself to run too fast and ended up doing a lot of my runs in the grey zone.

     

    Well in mid-November, I finally decided to get The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing, started listening to podcasts with Dr. Maffetone, and soon after ordered a heart rate monitor. I "officially" began my MAF training on December 15, with plans to beat my PRs in every distance from 5k to Marathon (won't be too hard) and then run my first 50M in December 2014 (will be quite hard).

     

    My first MAF test (on December 15) was a real shock. I was used to running most runs between 7:15 and 8:30/mile, and running my long runs between 8:45 and 9:30/mile. But what was my average pace for the 5 mile MAF test? 11:19/mile. Boy that was a wakeup call!

     

    I immediately committed to a MAF-only phase for at least 3 months, and will extend it up to 6 if I'm continuing to see results. I run about 35 miles/ week and will increase that by about 5 miles every 3 weeks—less if I'm feeling off, and more if I'm truly feeling good (no aches, stiffness, colds, drowsiness, changes in appetite, or other signs of overtraining). I also ride my bike to work 4-5 days a week, 8 miles each way, and I'm keeping all of those rides below MAF too, of course.

     

    After my first MAF test, I noticed my pace started to improve pretty quickly for the first week or so. I was feeling fresher, recovering from long runs faster, and was even able to cut my coffee consumption from 3 cups down to 1/2 cup a day. But then the stresses of traveling for the holidays, being out of my normal healthy eating and sleeping routines, and being in a colder climate for a week all started to take their toll. By the middle of last week, I had gone from miles in the high 10s to miles in the mid 12s! I was really starting to wonder whether this was a temporary setback or a trend, and was considering whether to add some higher-intensity training to the mix. I decided to at least stick to the plan until my next MAF test, which was today, and then post the results (good or bad) to see if you all had any advice.

     

    Annnnnd…I couldn't have been happier with the results. My first mile time went from 11:05 down to 10:31, and my average pace went from 11:18 to 10:38. Not bad for four weeks of work! Here are the splits for anyone who's really curious:

     

    MAF: 180 - 28 (age) - 5 (for 3 colds in the past year) = 147

     

    Mile Dec 2013 Jan 2013
    11:05

    10:31

    2

    11:28

    10:47

    3 11:18 10:37
    4 11:23 10:45
    5 11:17 10:32

    Total

    56:31 53:12
    Average 11:18 10:38

     

    Based on results like that, I'm feeing really encouraged about sticking to the plan and continuing a long MAF only phase. Reading about all of your results has been great, but when my times started slowing this past week, I began to doubt whether this was going to work for me. This gave me just the boost of confidence I needed.

     

    One sort of odd thing I noticed about both of my tests is that my times on the 2nd and 4th miles were significantly slower than the times on the other miles. I did not have that nice steady decline in pace that many of you seem to get. I was very careful to keep my HR within the proper range, although there were a few times when it was 1-2 beats over. I can't say for sure exactly when this happened, but I can't imagine that 1-2 BPM would change my pace by that much. Can you think of anything else that might be causing that?  I suppose the bit of good news in all of that is that my first and last mile times are very close. Not a lot of drift happening over the 5 miles (I notice a more drastic drop off in pace starting at about mile 7 on my longer runs).

     

    Anyway, I'm so excited to keep on this journey and see how low I can get my MAF pace to. I'd love to see it in the high 8s in 6 months, and would be THRILLED if I could ever get it below 8.

     

    Thanks again for all the info you've already provided here.

     

    -bwyan

      congrats on the nice test! I wouldn't get hung up on the mile splits. were you doing this outdoors? then factors like elevation gain/loss (so small that only your HR/pace relationship will show there is one), wind etc can interfere. your own mental state can also interfere, if you get too hung up on what number the HRM shows, e.g. if it goes over the limit or not.

        guess this thread can be deleted, everyone should use the other one as this is a duplicate Smile