Maff low heart rate training

[Cliff_H]

After picking up the ‘big yellow book’ and watching lots of you tube videos I’ve spent the last 4 or 5 weeks changing to MAF running.

I’m still at that frustrating phase where I spend a lot of time running (my target HR is 130). I’ve seen some good progress though and my low heart rate pace has gone from 8’22 to 7’10... it’s still hard to keep that slow though but I’m determined to give it s go for a few months.

Anyone else have a similar target heart rate and managed to see improvement? I’m looking for a little inspiration 😂

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Do you mean you spend a lot of time walking? That's a fabulous improvement - well done!

A while ago I noticed a few people on here and Strava were trying out MAF. Two I have definitely seen mention it recently are John_W and Sqkr , although their target HRs may well be different to yours.

[Hidden]

I’ve just begun HM training using heart rates, and it’s frustratingly slow. However, I’ve been watching my HR prior to that while keeping a friends slow pace while she does c25k, and even after a few days I noticed and improvement. Still very unfit after time out for injury though, so depressingly slow

[Flyingred 10 Miles]

Yes, I started that programme in February with a target HR of 128. Stick with it and you will see the benefits. At the start, when I set off running I could only run for the count of four in-breaths and out-breaths before having to walk (because my HR was conditioned to jumping to 140 bpm). Over the weeks (about 8) my body retrained and now I feel like I can run all day at a steady 125 bpm (which is about 5' 50" per km).

[Cliff_H 10 Miles in reply to Flyingred]

Thanks, this really helped. I read this on one of the many walk sections of my run this morning and it kept me to plan (there were a lot of walk thanks to the heat so it was particularly frustrating) nearly two hours at 1.5mins off of my usual km pace when I felt energised was hard to hold back.

[Flyingred 10 Miles in reply to Cliff_H]

Thanks for your feedback. I found that I had good days and bad days. Sometimes my HR would shoot up and patient walk/run didn't seem to help settle it down until after maybe 25 minutes. Patience and perseverance pays.

My wife recently started following the same routine and she is noticing a slow improvement – as in she's running more and walking less now.

The other thing you can introduce is nasal breathing – this really helps build aerobic capacity.