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MAF Zone for LSD?

Drawing of a heart

We runners LOVE our acronyms. For example, on Saturdays (or Sundays if you prefer – these workouts are flexible) my Team in Training crew will be doing a GTS LSD with TNT. Translation: Group Training Session, long slow distance, with Team in Training. Ha! Love it?

The other acronym you will see in conjunction with GTS and LSD is MAF or Maximum Aerobic Fitness. This refers to a particular heart rate that reflects optimal aerobic training, and a number which, when exceeded, indicates a rapid transition to more anaerobic training. This number (and 10 below it) is the ideal training heart zone for athletes building their aerobic system, just like you will be.

So, how do you find out what this magic heart rate number is without going to a lab and paying a bunch of money for a cool but expensive test that measures the amount of lactate in your blood by pricking your finger (or earlobe) every few minutes while you run on a treadmill? Well, you use this awesome formula developed by Dr. Phil Maffetone.

Calculate Your Own Maximum Aerobic Training Heart Rate

  1. Subtract your age from 180.
  2. Modify this number by selecting among the following categories the one that best matches your fitness and health profile:
    a. If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation or hospital stay, etc.) or are on any regular medication, subtract an additional 10.
    b. If you are injured, have regressed in training or competition, get more than two colds or bouts of flu per year, have allergies or asthma, or if you have been inconsistent or are just getting back into training, subtract an additional 5.
    c. If you have been training consistently (at least four times weekly) for up to two years without any of the problems just mentioned, keep the number (180–age) the same.
    d. If you have been training for more than two years without any of the problems listed above, and have made progress in competition without injury, add 5.

For example, if you are thirty years old and fit into category (b), you get the following: 180–30=150. Then 150–5=145 beats per minute (bpm). In this example, 145 will be the highest heart rate for your aerobic training. This is highly aerobic, allowing you to most efficiently build an aerobic base. For this individual, the MAF zone would be 135-145bpm with the goal being to stay as close as possible to 145.

The next obvious question is – what if I don’t own a heart rate monitor?

Well, then we’ll have to use the old “Perceived Exertion” scale or PE. The best way to test your perceived exertion is to try and carry on a conversation (or sing a song) while you are running. If you are in your LSD or MAF zone you should not have any trouble speaking in full sentences. If you are huffing, puffing or otherwise having trouble speaking clearly, you are running too fast. That is all there is to it! And although this sounds easy, I would prefer that everyone have a heart rate monitor. Garmin makes some excellent GPS enabled watches as does Timex, Nike, Adidas, Polar and so on. This is a great website to research a product before you buy it www.dcrainmaker.com

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More of Coach Brock

Screenshot of the app

Aside from managing Skywalker Fitness and coaching its athletes, I also work closely with a company called Pacific Elite Fitness (as their Coach Liaison) which is owned by my podcast partner Ben Greenfield. Recently Ben released a phone app and asked me to contribute not only our weekly podcast but also some gear review videos.

I encourage you to pick up the app so you can enjoy all the extra content it provides from Ben, his guests and myself… but, as a little teaser, here is a link to one of the videos I made: Gear Review with Brock – Skora Performance Running Shoes.

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Zones?

Training Zone chart

For those of you who don’t own Heart Rate Monitors and aren’t able to pinpoint your MAF or calculate your 5 heart rate training zones, here is what we call the “Perceived Exertion” or PE scale:

  • Zone 1 – very easy, barely breaking a sweat.
  • Zone 2 – quite comfortable, conversational, easy “LSD” effort.
  • Zone 3 – slightly uncomfortable, half marathon race effort.
  • Zone 4 – pretty darn uncomfortable, 10k race effort.
  • Zone 5 – very very uncomfortable, all-out, 110% hard effort.

So, from now on, when your training schedule tells you to do “4 minutes in Zone 2 followed by 1 minute Zone 5″ you will know that translates to “run very comfortably for 4 minutes and then make yourself very VERY UNcomfortable for 1 minute”.

Don’t worry if you don’t get it at first, as your training progresses this stuff will become second nature and you will intuitively know how hard you can push yourself for any given duration and exertion level. That is what will make you a better, faster and more adept athlete with more than just one speed… it also builds character!

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Inspire Me Well

Inspire Me Well - the book

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being asked to write a guest blog post by a former athlete of mine, Lisa Belanger, who is also one of the authors of the book Inspire Me Well. As I started writing, I realized that I was actually creating a list of things I had personally overlooked on occasion.
Continue reading “Inspire Me Well”