How Slow Can You Go?

Back to blogging! Have I missed it? Somewhat, I have. When I left, I had PR'd in every distance. Now, after a year, I haven't PR'd in ANY distance (despite what Brad Hudson promises in his book "Run Faster") and I've had some pretty crappy race results. I battled anemia for most of the year and tried to push through it without losing too many training miles. I'll probably finish out the year only 50 miles short of my goal mileage of 1500 miles, so that's a good thing. Right? Of course!

Now I'm going to try something new for 2010. I'm going to try to adhere to the training philosophy of Dr. Phil Maffetone. Dr. Maffetone stresses slow runs to run faster, making sure not to exceed your maximum aerobic heart rate for each workout. My maximum aerobic heart rate is 135 according to the Maf formula. I ran my first "MAF test" today.

After a 5 minute warmup:
Miles Pace HR
Lap 1: 12:05 130
Lap 2: 12:42 138
Lap 3: 12:21 143
Lap 4: 12:21 144
Lap 5: 12:36 144

I probably needed to slow down even more for the last three miles, although it's hard to imagine running any slower. But you can't deny the rise in my heart rate, so the evidence speaks for itself. The next time I do the test I promise I'll stick better to the plan! Here's the link for Dr. Maffetone's website: Click! You'll find the 180 formula for determining your aerobic heart rate on that page.