The Maffetone Method and Me

So, about 8 weeks after my stress fracture, Sarah and I took a little vacation out to Colorado, spending most of our time in Boulder. The idea was to eat our way through Boulder (which had recently been named the "foodiest" city in the country by Bon Appetit magazine), and spend our free time hiking and running trails. Thanks goodness that my foot had healed enough to enjoy the tremendous trails of the Rockies!

While we out there, I stumbled across the Maffetone Method while perusing some Runner's World forums. It was an interesting concept, which essentially amounted to periodized low heart rate training. After we got back home, I ordered the book online, and breezed through it in a couple of days. I was certainly intrigued.

The basic idea is to increase the body's aerobic capacity by running (and living) exclusively below a maximum heart rate, which can be estimated using the formula 180 minus you age (There's a few adjustments that you should make based on history and injuries. If you're interested, Google it!). He also espouses a diet moderately low in carbohydrates (around 100-150 grams of carbs a day), which I initially ignored, but later adopted. The benefits are an increase in fat burning (essentially because you're not exercising at a high enough heart rate to cause anaerobic energy production), along with a decrease in injuries. Why a decrease in injuries? Because it turns out that for most people, running at a HR of 180-age equates to a VERY SLOW pace.

My first run finished out at about a 12:00/mile pace. On the road. On a flat road. Which, surprisingly, is actually faster than what a lot of people end up running.

I did expect to be pretty slow at first, so I kept it up, and slowly got faster. I was religious in keeping my HR below 150 (actually, 145, just to be safe). And I found that I really enjoyed the training. Probably because all my runs were now easy runs. I kept up this training for about 3 months, until I had a couple of races, the first being the Bobcat Trail Marathon. The Bobcat is a very hilly single loop course consisting primarily of single track at Burr Oak State Park near Athens, Ohio. The day of the race, it was mud. I mean, MUD. I still managed to finish in 4:20:xx at 12th or 13th overall, and I have to admit, I was pretty pleased with my showing.

My next race was a return to the Bigfoot 50k about a month later, this time in much warmer conditions which brought about even more mud! Thanks, Ohio. Despite problems with footing, I managed to run a 5:15:xx, taking 30 minutes off my time from the previous year, and placing somewhere around 10th. Again, I was pretty happy, and getting ambitious. It was around this point that I decided I'd try my hand at a 100, and signed up for the Old Dominion 100 in June (about 6 months away).

I obviously raced above my max HR during Bobcat and Bigfoot, so I returned to another three month period of the Maffetone Method. I enjoyed the success I was having, and wanted to set another PR at the upcoming Land Between the Lakes 50 miler in March. The only problem was my normal training pace. It was super boring. I had gotten my pace at max HR down to about 8:30-9:00/mile, but I was getting sick of never running fast. Everything that the Maffetone Method promised was happening: I felt good, I had no injuries, even while maintaining a steady 70-80 miles per week. But I didn't have any top end speed. I rationalized it by telling myself I didn't need speed, as my goal pace for 100's was around 10:00/mile. But it was still boring.

In March, I ended up with a great run at Land Between the Lakes 50 miler, a fairly fast course in western Kentucky, with four loops with a few climbs. I ended up running an 8:19:xx, good enough for around 13th overall and a new PR by over 2 hours.

And I was pretty happy.

But something happened at that race that I just couldn't get out of my head: David Riddle. You might have heard of him. I haven't actually met him, but I know he's a great runner. How do I know this? Because I got to watch him.

As he lapped me.

He ended up running a 5:53, which is about a 7:04 pace. That's quick. And I couldn't stop thinking about it. How did he maintain that pace for 50 miles? How did he fuel himself? I just couldn't comprehend it. That was 3:00/mile faster than me!

And so that launched me into renewed research regarding the body's use of fuel, and lead me to an interesting book by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek called "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance".

And it was at this point that I made the worst mistake of my running career.

(Well, besides the whole speed work on asphalt thing.)

Stay Tuned.

-Dave