More Maffetone: what about the MAF?

A big part of the Maffetone method of endurance training is the maximum aerobic function test, or MAF test. Its stated purpose is to measure progress and to monitor for potential problems.

You should probably just read the link from above, but in short, it's a periodic test where one measures performance at the target heart rate provided by the 180 formula. A runner, for example, might run three miles, recording lap times of each mile. This is repeated monthly. Each lap within one test should get progressively slower, but from test to test, there should be improvement.

By comparing MAF test results over time, you can see progress. If progress halts or even reverses, that indicates some sort of problem, like under- or over-training, poor diet, or stress.

I don't do MAF tests. I have never done one. Here's the reason: the way I'm doing it, every day is a MAF test. I start at a pace that I can't maintain for the entire run at my target heart rate. My heart-rate-controlled treadmill makes sure I keep my heart rate steady, and adjusts my pace accordingly. When I've improved so I can maintain my starting pace at my target heart rate, I increase my starting pace. If that pace turns out to be a little too fast, my treadmill program takes care of it.

I chart everything over time, so I can see improvement. I watch my pace in particular. Earlier this year I was still improving as I drifted away from the regimen. I was pretty disciplined for around  four months, and I saw my training pace improve by about 74 seconds per km, or two minutes per mile, while my heart rate actually slowed by about 5 bpm. It's hard to argue with results like that.

Summer rolled around, I abandoned the treadmill for the road, and I stopped training by heart rate. I mostly didn't even measure heart rate.

I started this in February; this time around I've started in December. I'm curious to see what improvements I'll get during treadmill season. I also hope to extend it to the outdoors. I have the necessary equipment; now I just need to do it.

Maffetone revisited

When I last wrote about the Maffetone Method, I was training at a heart rate a little higher than what Dr. Maffetone recommends, and was trying to slowly work my way down.

All of that went out the window when the weather warmed up and I got off the treadmill and went outside. Although I have a heart rate monitor to wear outside (my treadmill has its own HRM), I just never got into the habit of having it control my pace. I ran less often, and when I did, my HR was well above my target.

Now that it's treadmill weather again, I'm going to try to keep my heart at the recommended rate. On Monday I set my treadmill to adjust my pace and incline to keep my heart rate at 127 bpm. I later realized that since I've had a birthday since I last calculated the formula, it was actually supposed to be 126 bpm.

I was expecting it to be slow, but not as slow as it turned out to be! It was my slowest run of the year by far. The only other run that was even close was a sluggish set of hill repeats.

I was a little worried that I'd be trudging along at a horribly slow pace for weeks, but the next two days went better. In retrospect, I think Monday's pace was a result of a very long day on Saturday at a robotics tournament, and then on Sunday I took a longer-than-usual run. I was pretty tired.

Yesterday and today I managed to keep my heart rate low while at a running pace a full minute per km faster than Monday, and also faster than when I started HR-based training back in February. Back then, I was targeting 138 bpm; now, at 12 fewer beats per minute, I'm going a little faster. I guess my summer of half-hearted non-Maffetone training didn't erase all of my aerobic gains.

I still have the problem of my treadmill sometimes giving me a few extra beats per minute before it slows me down. I may just set it to 123 bpm.