When I lived in Atlanta,< in the mid 90's there was a pretty
good triathlon group that I would ride and run with. I tried to keep up
with what was in the news, who was on top, what the pro's were doing. At
that time it was Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Scott Tinley, to name a few. (
you may have heard of them). Anyway, Mark Allen at the time was working
with this Doctor, Phil Maffetone. If you remember the 40,30,30 Bars,
the original ones. He was the guy behind that. And he was also behind
the training of Mark Allen. He came to Atlanta to give a seminar and I
went. He was fascinating, a genius doctor but had a way of talking about
the science without it being to over our heads. Most of us there were
athletes, not doctors so we had to understand it without having a PhD.
But listening to him lecture about the muscles and typical injuries and
nutrition was really enjoyable. I think Mark Allen was actually there
too and of course, he talked about how he was training Mark, what they
were doing, using the heart-rate monitor to measure your fitness, keep
track of your results etc... I remember thinking he was awesome back
then and still think that way. I've seen him a few other times here in
Boulder, still a strong force in the triathlon world.
So anyway, I left this seminar with more information than I knew what to do with honestly. But I used my heart-rate monitor more than I had before and after some time I did see a difference. I had known about one of his training methods before I went to see him speak. His 180 Formula. I am honestly not going to try to explain his scientific method on this as it is very involved. But suffice it to say, for myself and many of my friends it did makes us more efficient in our training, able to train longer, over time with less fatigue, injury. We also would keep track, as he suggests, of rides or runs we would do in the beginning of the process and notice that at the end of say, three months, we would do the same ride/run in much less time and feel physically better than we had when we started. I actually remember another pro triathlete at the time, Mike Pigg. He came to speak and race with our club and talked about this training that he had been doing as well. I remember he said he thought it was a bunch of 'hogwash', if you will, at first, and didn't think it was going to work. But a friend, a fellow triathlete, bet him that he would beat him on this long ride they used to do. So he took the bet, trained with Dr. Maffetone's training regimen, kept up with his training log and did the ride. To his surprise, he did the ride faster than he had ever done, even after years of riding this with his friend and I think he won.
But the long and short of it, was on this 3 mile run yesterday, I suddenly remembered all of this, from literally 14 years ago. I have to admit, I have two heart rate monitors, whose batteries are dead and need fixing. I think I am going to go get that done, but until they are ready I am going to do the next best thing. I am going to try to slow down more on my warm ups, make them a bit longer than I have been. I was a sprinter in high school and college and turned into a distance runner and do notice that I run much much better when I am very warm and limber. Not rocket science there, I think most of us are. But I don't think we really give ourselves a good 15 minutes of just running without it being 'training' mode. I almost need to tell myself the first 2 miles I should be able to hold a conversation with someone without getting out of breath. I know I have heard that before. I run with myself more often than not, so that might be a problem, as I run the risk of being thought of as the crazy runner lady who talks to herself while working out. ha!
So there is my very UN-scientific break down of a very scientific formula developed by a very smart man about 30 years ago now. You might be thinking, there are new and better ways of training. Yes, maybe. But maybe not. If it's not broken, don't fix it. No need to re-invent the wheel, just make it out of better, stronger and lighter materials, I say. If you are at all curious, I would go back and look at Mark Allen's records. Not to take away from many of his fellow triathletes, but he was amazing. If you do get to read the book, Dr. Maffetone breaks it all down and the stats are mind boggling, at least to me. He had such a long career too, he did his last Ironman at 37. I know Craig Alexander won in Kona in 2011 at 38 and he is amazing too! I think he is trained by Dave Scott, so the pro's racing now still listen to the originators of the sport, that's got to say something on how they got there.
So, I would suggest some light reading, maybe on a snow day. He is a genius and that's what Mark Allen said about him, so I figure, I'm just an Age Group triathlete working on getting back in the game, don't have a ton of time, etc... etc... just like the rest of us. So if someone has a plan that allows me to work smarter but not always harder and it will make me just as fast or faster and even more fit, well then I'll check it out. I'd like a few more PR's!
I would post some excerpts from the book, but they are quite long so I will just say again, check out the book, 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing'. I promise you will get some great information, whether you try it out for yourself is up to you. Don't shoot the messenger!
Until next time. Slow down a little, maybe.
Caroline / Triathleta
So anyway, I left this seminar with more information than I knew what to do with honestly. But I used my heart-rate monitor more than I had before and after some time I did see a difference. I had known about one of his training methods before I went to see him speak. His 180 Formula. I am honestly not going to try to explain his scientific method on this as it is very involved. But suffice it to say, for myself and many of my friends it did makes us more efficient in our training, able to train longer, over time with less fatigue, injury. We also would keep track, as he suggests, of rides or runs we would do in the beginning of the process and notice that at the end of say, three months, we would do the same ride/run in much less time and feel physically better than we had when we started. I actually remember another pro triathlete at the time, Mike Pigg. He came to speak and race with our club and talked about this training that he had been doing as well. I remember he said he thought it was a bunch of 'hogwash', if you will, at first, and didn't think it was going to work. But a friend, a fellow triathlete, bet him that he would beat him on this long ride they used to do. So he took the bet, trained with Dr. Maffetone's training regimen, kept up with his training log and did the ride. To his surprise, he did the ride faster than he had ever done, even after years of riding this with his friend and I think he won.
But the long and short of it, was on this 3 mile run yesterday, I suddenly remembered all of this, from literally 14 years ago. I have to admit, I have two heart rate monitors, whose batteries are dead and need fixing. I think I am going to go get that done, but until they are ready I am going to do the next best thing. I am going to try to slow down more on my warm ups, make them a bit longer than I have been. I was a sprinter in high school and college and turned into a distance runner and do notice that I run much much better when I am very warm and limber. Not rocket science there, I think most of us are. But I don't think we really give ourselves a good 15 minutes of just running without it being 'training' mode. I almost need to tell myself the first 2 miles I should be able to hold a conversation with someone without getting out of breath. I know I have heard that before. I run with myself more often than not, so that might be a problem, as I run the risk of being thought of as the crazy runner lady who talks to herself while working out. ha!
So there is my very UN-scientific break down of a very scientific formula developed by a very smart man about 30 years ago now. You might be thinking, there are new and better ways of training. Yes, maybe. But maybe not. If it's not broken, don't fix it. No need to re-invent the wheel, just make it out of better, stronger and lighter materials, I say. If you are at all curious, I would go back and look at Mark Allen's records. Not to take away from many of his fellow triathletes, but he was amazing. If you do get to read the book, Dr. Maffetone breaks it all down and the stats are mind boggling, at least to me. He had such a long career too, he did his last Ironman at 37. I know Craig Alexander won in Kona in 2011 at 38 and he is amazing too! I think he is trained by Dave Scott, so the pro's racing now still listen to the originators of the sport, that's got to say something on how they got there.
So, I would suggest some light reading, maybe on a snow day. He is a genius and that's what Mark Allen said about him, so I figure, I'm just an Age Group triathlete working on getting back in the game, don't have a ton of time, etc... etc... just like the rest of us. So if someone has a plan that allows me to work smarter but not always harder and it will make me just as fast or faster and even more fit, well then I'll check it out. I'd like a few more PR's!
I would post some excerpts from the book, but they are quite long so I will just say again, check out the book, 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing'. I promise you will get some great information, whether you try it out for yourself is up to you. Don't shoot the messenger!
Until next time. Slow down a little, maybe.
Caroline / Triathleta
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So read about Dr. Maffetone's way of training. He wrote the book 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing'. I would recommend it. It's fascinating, enlightening and full of information that you can apply yourself, without him having to coach you personally, I think anyway.
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So read about Dr. Maffetone's way of training. He wrote the book 'The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing'. I would recommend it. It's fascinating, enlightening and full of information that you can apply yourself, without him having to coach you personally, I think anyway.
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