The ups and downs of Maffetone Training - with Goat illustrations!

Seeing how MAF training is getting a lot of spotlight these days, I thought I'd share some of the positive and negative attributes that I've experienced for the past four months.

Keep in mind that your own personal experience will vary. You may just be genetically gifted and find that the MAF hr is actually hard to keep because you're so freaking...well, I'll stop there. Just keep walking if you're one of those people. This list is for those sad and probably broken people that are teetering on the fence and looking for a justification to ditch MAF or stick with it.

The Downs

• You are force-fed humble pie. MAF training starts off by just checking the ego at the door, and eating a slice of humble pie. Not real pie. I wish it was. Mmm...pie. You're going to be much slower. Grandma and Grandpa are going to pass you on their speed walks with their smug poodles. Your significant other is going to exclaim, "WOW that took you such a LONG time, I was so worried about you, I called the police for a search!" Try not to strangle that significant other. They mean well. The point is, you need to be real with yourself, and understand that you need work.

• It requires an unbelievable amount of patience. MAF training takes PATIENCE. And lots of it. The people that seem to need it most are the people that are hardest to slow down. I don't like to categorize myself too much, but I know I'm leaning heavily toward a type A personality. I like to go, go, go, I love following a strict schedule, and I have a hard time slowing down and listening to my body. I didn't ever want to use a heart rate monitor, simply because I knew that the numbers would be scary.

• It also requires a heart rate monitor. I personally don't mind this part because I am a data nerd, but some people think it's a bother and you can get dependent on it. And nobody likes to put on a cold wet heart rate strap on at the first part of their morning. 

• This plan takes TIME. If you're telling yourself that if you don't see improvement in a couple of weeks you're going to quit, then you probably shouldn't even bother. It took me at least one full month to see any progress at all. In fact, my progress went backwards into the dark pits of Hell before it started to claw it's way back into daylight. It brought me to tears more than once. Not only will it potentially take over a month to see progress, but progress for me afterwards was steady and slow. Soon, slow starts to not feel so bad, but depending on the aerobic shape that you're in, it could possibly take years to reach your plateau of speed.

• You might scare away your loved ones. Sure, not everyone is going to be as dramatic as me, but I do think this one will happen to some. I went through extreme highs and lows, from feeling like flying to threatening to quit and pouting on my bathroom floor. If you have a significant other or anyone that you're living with, you might want to give them the heads up that you won't be quite yourself. My poor boyfriend...

• You will feel alone. Very, very alone. It is difficult to run with other people at the beginning of the training. Not only will you most likely be minutes slower than your average pace before, but simple things like talking will bring your heart rate up. I did 95% of my training completely alone. You will have friends that will politely run slow with you, but it ends up being more stressful because you know you're holding them back. 

• Kiss your races goodbye. During your MAF training, you probably shouldn't be racing. Some people squeeze in a 5k or 10k, but I would discourage it at least until you're a few months into the training. This can be hard, especially if you're a racing maniac like I was. The ol' medal rack might need some dusting.

• Prepare to walk. I had to ditch trail running for the most part, simply because any hill would bring me to a screaming halt or a crawl. I'm still not great at hills, and I need to walk very slowly up most of them, often stopping part way. This saddens me a lot, and continues to be one of the worst parts about MAF training to me. Sure, you can still keep training on the trails, but in order to keep my sanity during base training I needed to run more on flat ground.

• Warm ups are time consuming. Maffetone is pretty strict about his warm ups, and I think he has a point. I had to force myself to do a very gradual one mile warm up before every run. This easily adds on an extra 12-15 minutes, considering that I start off walking. It also makes me a little miserable because I start running early in the morning when it's cold out. Your average runs will take much longer considering you will be running a slower average pace, with the additional warm up. I should mention that he also recommends an equal cool down, which I don't always do...

• You might have to forfeit other sports and activities. This one is debatable, but I think it has helped me progress faster. I had to say goodbye to my rock climbing gym, and plyometrics. Why? Not only was it additional stress to balance all the things, but if I did anything to make myself sore it would easily raise my heart rate for the run. I don't believe you need to say goodbye to all strength work, but you will probably need to make some adjustments.

• It's a birthday downer. This one is a half joke, but really...for every birthday you're basically waving adios to another precious heart beat. If you're older, you can't help but look down at the younger whipper snappers doing MAF and have envy of their 160 MAF hr.

Okay, I think that's enough of the negatives. Are you still there? If you are, then maybe you have a chance. I needed to be honest, because there are indeed a lot of downsides. I do believe that the positives outweigh them, so here they are.

The Ups

• Injuries, be gone!  This one is a biggie, and one of the most prominent and wonderful parts of MAF. My training used to be littered with fall back weeks due to injuries. I have had almost every injury in the book. Hip pain, shin pain, knee pain, foot pain, you name it and I've probably experienced it. With MAF I have more than doubled my weekly mileage with far fewer injuries. In fact...not to jinx it, but no injuries. :| It weirds me out actually, and I can't stop talking about it to my friends (sorry friends.)

• Sicknesses are sparse and short! Running easier and slower is much more friendly on the ol' immune system and adrenal glands. I used to get sick much more often, and I can say that in the past four months I haven't been sick for more than one day. At the most it would be the start of a cold, but I would be able to stop it completely by the second day.

• You appreciate your surroundings. Since I'm moving at a much slower pace, I have time to let my mind wander and relax. I've grown to appreciate and anticipate getting out in the morning to watch the sun rise. I pay more attention to the wildflowers that are sprinkled along the path. It's nice. 

• Practice good breathing. This goes hand in hand with the meditation. Prior to this training, I never really did an actual recovery run, or easy run. My easy runs used to be a 9:30 pace, which clearly was still way too hard. Therefore, I never was able to get full deep breaths while running. At my MAF pace, I can have keep controlled breathing for up to five or six counts in and out. If you breath out with an audible "phhhhh" sound, it will almost guarantee a drop in heart rate. I find myself focusing on my breathing even outside of work and it's calming. 

• You'll look forward to every run. Well, maybe not EVERY run, but I find that I do get more excited to go out each morning. I set my heart rate monitor so it doesn't show my pace, so when I go home it's a surprise to see my progress. There's always that dangling carrot of hope.

• Meditation becomes your friend. I've never been one to meditate. Throw me in a yoga class and I'm that person that rolls their eyes at all the weird breathing and chants. Lately though, I have really been able to focus on my environment and quiet the ongoing voice in my head. As soon as I start thinking about the race or about life in general, I see my heart rate rise, so meditation helps me keep that in check.

• Run Longer. Like I mentioned, I have more than doubled my weekly mileage. In fact at the start of the training, it's good to log in more time. I recommend at least six hours a week. I rarely get tired mid run, and at this pace I feel like the energizer bunny that can keep going, and going. It might be a good time to sign up for a new distance of a race, since you'll be accumulating a good amount of miles.
  

• Have more energy. I believe this is partially due to my new low carb/high fat diet too, but I know that running slower gives me more energy throughout the day. I used to do long runs and be absolutely useless for the rest of my weekend, but now I am almost annoyingly energetic. I have no problem running 38 miles a weekend and still get all the house chores and gardening done.

• You'll be more mindful of your heart rate. I am more in tune with my body now, and can feel when my heart rate is higher without a monitor. I can sense when I start to get sick faster, which gives me an advantage of defeating it quicker. 

• Watch yourself progress. You are at the bottttom of the barrel. But with patience, you WILL get better. With more patience, you'll get good. And with even more patience you'll be sitting on top of that barrel throwing down the arrow like in Mulan. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you should watch this. The only way to go is up, so enjoy the process and watch yourself improve. Go little Gazelle.

• Gain a greater sense of peace and holistic lifestyle.  Lastly, I am just all around a more peaceful and calm person. I may still be quite a bit slower than my prior years, but I know that I can maintain this throughout my life and extend my running career. This experience has taught me to look at my health holistically and that alone is gold! No more ibuprofen, no more ice baths, no more band-aids on a larger underlying problem. I feel proud of myself for addressing the issue from where it's stemming, and it's been making a clear difference. 

I think this sums up the ups and downs. I'd be curious to hear other people's stories if they have done any MAF training. If you are just starting out, one of the best pieces of advice I can give is to follow Maffetone's nutrition. Nobody likes to restrict food, but changing that is part of the whole issue here, and you will see faster gains by taking out sugars and processed foods.

Good luck, and keep your chins up. :)