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Jun
25
2006
|
Maffetone Approach |
Just interested to see if anybody out there has ever tried this Maffetone fitness workout before? Dr. Philip Maffetone was first to use this technique with atheletes in the 1970’s. It has worked for the 6 time Ironman World Champion Mark Allen and Lance Armstrong also used this technique to get back into shape after fighting cancer.
So that’s what I did. Every run, even the slow ones, for at least one mile, I would try to get close to 5 minute pace. And it worked…sort of. I had some good races the first year or two, but I also suffered from minor injuries and was always feeling one run away from being too burned out to want to continue with my training.
So for the next four months I did exclusively aerobic training keeping my heart rate at or below my maximum aerobic heart rate, using the monitor every single workout. And at the end of that period, my pace at the same heart rate of 155 beats/minute had improved by over a minute. And after nearly a year of doing mostly aerobic training, which by the way was much more comfortable and less taxing than the anaerobic style that I was used to, my pace at 155 beats/minute had improved to a blistering 5:20 mile
Latest Comments (2):
I used Mark Allen’s on-line coaching for my first ironman distance race this past year (2006). I am not fast at any sport - never will be and never have been but, I never dreamed I could complete an Ironman. I have been using the heart rate monitor for years and just added his coaching and it worked. I felt like I could keep going even after being out on the course for 16 hours and 50 minutes. The aerobic endurance you can build is incredible. In the shorter races, I maintained my times this past year…by the way I am 51 years old, was never an athlete and started doing triathlons at age 40. Also, have been doing 4-5 tri-s a year - sprint, olympic and half iron distances with no real injuries to speak of. There are lots of reasons to use this training and you can incorporate speed work when appropriate. All good information, reasonable and will keep you training and racing for years.
Cool, thanks for your comment. It’s great to know that some of these methods actually work! I was debating recently on whether to try and use it or just go about normally and run when,where and how much i feel like but i think i may decide to change that and start going about things properly…
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