Last spring I started the low heart rate training method {LHR}, popularized by Phil Maffetone. It’s been buzzed about it for years, but it took Miss Zippy sharing her process for me to feel comfortable giving it a whirl starting in 2013. She’s fast, she’s smart and she loves to run…I pay attention.
My primary reason: increase mileage substantially without undoing all of my recent health gains.
It worked.
Initial Attempt
LHR training during the Florida summer is rough. Humidity causes heart rate to climb more rapidly because the body cannot rely on it’s normal cooling systems. The heat of the body is not dissipated in to the air, so the skin becomes warm and the body needs to work harder {tips for running in humidity}. After 3 months, I fretted about the lack of marathon pace miles, mentally I needed those runs. {Remember my fitness self who dislikes plans?}
Suddenly, my HR was sliding past the 180 max so that I could hit those paces to boost my confidence. I had to start running fewer miles as fatigue increased and those runs got harder. I decided to maintain the faster paces and higher heart rate, which helped me PR…but I wondered could I have done more?
Big Book of Endurance Training
After NYC, I resumed LHR training to run without injury or fatigue. I also decided to dig in to Phil Maffetone’s Big Book of Endurance Training, rather than relying on summarized online articles.
Like a 3 hour movie that could be 2 hours, this book is good…but redundant. 
Maffetone details repeatedly why LHR training is the only way to train {we know how I feel about right/wrong training methods, ick} detailing astounding results as seen by Mark Allen and many other high profile athletes.
He provides a plethora of examples because people are still on the fence and want proof and motivation to follow through {me included!}.
Cliff Notes of the book:
- Never exceed your max heart rate in training
- MAF Max heart rate formula is 180 – your age {with a few other variables like – 5 if you have been injured}
- This will make you a fat burning machine
- Give up processed foods and most grains
- Do a long warm up
- If you see a plateau look at your diet
- Run barefoot
- No stretching, only structured yoga
- Eat more healthy fats
“The 180-Formula provides two important benefits.
First, it trains your body to burn more stored fat for energy (we normally burn varying amounts of both sugar and fat). This is important for overall health.
Second, it enables you to run, bike or perform other activities faster over time (weeks and months), all while remaining at the same training heart rate. This is important if you’re a competitive athlete.”
My Results
I shared my initial results while training for the NYC marathon, but as noted I went off track and did my own thing the last month.
I started using MAF the week after the NYC marathon and have continued it for every single run since then {hitting over 1600 miles last year}. In a bizarre twist, I am actually running faster than my usual easy runs to get my heart rate high enough!! Now that the weather has turned cooler {Florida cool mind you} I am able to run almost a minute per mile faster without even hitting my max HR! This is great for getting faster, but my legs are sore!
- Returned to running within one week of the marathon
- Not even a niggle of an injury
- Not feeling fatigued
- Understanding the impact of weather {temp, humidity} on my body
- Understanding where in my runs I start relying on carbohydrates {anytime over max LHR}
- Currently seeing improvements in pace
- Not quite following his diet, which would probably provide further results
- My legs are tired from these faster paces, but my endurance is fine
I plan to follow MAF through February and see what the results look like in 2 upcoming half marathons. It’s ok to ignore HR on race day, making those speed work sessions.
Balancing feeling great with feeling mentally prepared which for me requires practicing my goal race pace. 2014 is about both being healthy and making progress, where 2013 was all about being healthy.
Or maybe you’re tired of trying to do this on your own and tired of narrowly missing your goal time after time??
Get Personalized Coaching
Looking for a HR monitor?
Checkout my reviews of the Garmin 910 HR monitor and Polar RC3 HR monitor and my favorite the TomTom Runner Cardio watch for those who hate the chest strap.
Have you found a style of training that works best for you?
Do you struggle to recover from long workouts?
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