One month on the Maffetone train....

  1. Cosmic Kid

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    Actually, a it short of a month, I think, but thought I'd give an update for schitts and giggles.

    My "180 Formula" target HR is 124-134. I simply can't do the 124 range, so I pretty much keep it pegged around 134. As I have previously noted, I occasionally got sucked out of that range in some of my multi-sport facility rides, but usually dropped back to my target range pretty quickly and my avg HR still hits that 134 number.

    One of my first rides at that Hr had an avg. wattages of ~160w. Ad my watts / kg was ~2.4. Ride was only 1 hour. Wednesday I did 90 minutes, same HR with avg watts of 190 and 2.7 watts / kg.

    30 watt improvement on a longer ride for the same HR in a month? Yes, please....I'll take that any day of the week. So far, so good.

    Just say "NO!!" to WCP!

    "Want to get faster? Work harder, eat better, cut the crap. Instead of talking the talk, work the work"
    Posted 4 months ago

  2. jookey

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    Are you keeping similar cadence? I found I can get a higher wattage at my target HR if I lower the cadence from 95 to 80.

    Posted 4 months ago

  3. steelbikerider

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    Making progress. I'm at a little under 3 weeks. I'm using 130 - 135 as a target HR. No power meter but average speed has gone up 1.5 mph and feeling stronger. I am surprised that I have been tired after 4-5 rides /week at 60 - 90 minutes each but the rides are getting faster and cadence has picked up. I'm looking forward to 2-3 hour rides as soon as weather and time cooperates.

    Posted 4 months ago

  4. huckleberry

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    Nice to hear you guys are benefitting...

    But I would guess that at this early stage of the training, the improvements aren't coming from the adaptations, but from having abstained from high intensity work and letting your body finally recover from previous stresses.

    Just my thoughts from my experience with it.

    Keep with it!

    Posted 4 months ago

  5. Cosmic Kid

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    Oh, I think a lot of my gains are simply from being back on a regular training program, not directly related to a Maffetone program. No doubt about that....the above is purely anecdotal. Could I have made the same gains (or more) if I was hammering on some (or parts of) these training sessions? Who knows.....

    What is working for me is that I don't finish these workouts wiped out....which leaves me fresher for my next ride, both mentally and physically. And I do know that I seem to have better fitness later in the season if I have a long, sustained build period early in the season, so this is all good.

    I think in the end, it doesn't matter much WHICH program you follow, but you gotta get on SOMETHING structured. If you do that, you are gonna see gains. For me, the Maffetone plan is just a nice change to freshen things up. (I get that your situation was somewhat different, though, huck. You needed the change for health reasons as much as anything else).

    I also forgot to mention running improvements....I am 10% faster now than when I started the program and at a lower HR. was @ 6mph runs @ ~140bpm. Now doing 6.6+mph @ 134 bpm.

    Posted 4 months ago

  6. watermoccasin

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    ...the very thought of running elevates my heart rate at least 134 bpm

    Posted 4 months ago

  7. Inferno7

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    Cool man keep it up!

    LeMond VO2 max 95, Armstrong 82....doh
    Posted 4 months ago

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