Monday, March 3, 2014

MAF Test - Month 4

The past month has been one of experimentation as I tried to figure out why I wasn't seeing great results with Maffetone, despite my belief in the system itself. As I mentioned in my last post, I wanted to focus more on my diet and also try to get in at least 6 hours of running per week, as there seemed to be a correlation between hours logged and progress (or regress). I also toyed with a low-carb diet (after reading The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance) but gave it up after a week; it just seemed counter-intuitive.

Anyway, after a 101-mile month (almost 26 hours of running), I saw some improvement. Here are my stats from the beginning until today:

Sports Complex (5km) at 121-131bpm:

October 31 November 30 January 5 January 31 March 3
Kilometer 1 8:19 8:10 8:04 8:28 8:42
Kilometer 2 8:45 8:49 8:26 9:01 8:33
Kilometer 3 9:26 8:44 8:51 9:05 8:38
Kilometer 4 9:23 8:55 9:13 9:12 8:53
Kilometer 5 9:34 9:00 9:20 9:18 9:04
45:26 43:38 43:54 45:03 43:51
Pace (min/mi) 14:37 14:03 14:08 14:31 14:08

So I'm gonna stick with Maffetone for most or all of this month to see if I see more improvement next month. I have a trail race in mid-April so I may be a little bit undertrained for it in terms of hills. But I should be okay for endurance!