Monday 26 December 2016

Dr Phil Maffetone - MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function

I'm trying MAF for 3-4 weeks again, see how it goes. 

If you've not heard of this type of training before Google it,  it's worth considering. It's basically running to heart rate (180 minus your age) all the time apart from racing. It's enough to improve yourself but not enough to damage you.

I ran 12 miles yesterday and only just kept to maf. 141bpm and 6:17 pace, road and slightly windy. I think my maf should be 148 (I'm 37) so 5+ for fitness. Yesterday my legs were tired after a 5k race on Saturday so I was struggling to keep my heart rate up. My heart was chilled out! But my legs hurting.

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Telford 10k 15 seconds too slow

I was asked to represent North Wales in this 10k which was an elite race. I am not sure what the qualification was but I think I heard someone say sub 35 min. The runners in the race were crazy fast. I’ve never experienced a race like this in my 10 years of running. Usually I’m racing in the top five but I finished 89th! My time was 33mins3second which is just a second or so over my PB. I was a bit frustrated, not with how many people were quicker than me but by my time. I was expecting 32mins45 seconds and was on for that time until about 4 miles in. I lost concentration. I had a slight stitch and started to feel sorry for myself. I even thought about dropping out. But then at 4.8miles I refocused and told myself to pick up the pace and stop being slow. I’d trained hard for this so make the most of it. Over the last mile I went for it, running with a stitch but putting up with it. But the problem was that when the stitch started I slowed a little and lost 15 seconds. It’s strange how just a small relapse in concentration can take 15 seconds. Usually 12 seconds wouldn’t make a difference but in the race it would have. I really wanted a 32:45, it sounds a lot quicker than 33:03; minutes quicker. O well, I can’t really grumble because it was a life experience and I did one of my quickest 10ks ever.