The year 2020-Mujhe MAF Karna Om Sai Ram

The Beginning

January 2020 started with what in retrospect was one of my worst runs ever. It was a struggle to run even 5km that evening. Thankfully things just kept getting better. I gradually tapered my training for my first ever full marathon. The marathon was amazing and extremely memorable. It is impossible to have a second first marathon and I am happy to have made the entire first marathon journey amazing! You can read more about both the marathon and the training in my blog 

First full marathon joy!

The end:

By December 2020, I had set new personal records for 10k (improvement by ~4min), 5k (improvement by ~40 seconds) and 1mile(improvement by 50 seconds). In addition to that I ran a self supported half marathon at a steady pace of 5:31/km, without feeling drained by the end of the run. It was indicative of a definite improvement in overall fitness. I had done a few things differently which quite clearly made a world of difference

Chilling at a formerly breakneck pace

The dreaded mid-section:

After a quick 5k on 21st March, the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 meant no running outdoors. It was a struggle to get any sort of rhythm while running around the building which was the most outdoorsy I could get due to the curbs. To get some high intensity work going, I started to utilise the benefits of living on the 15th floor by going up and down the stairs, often for up to 45 minutes at a stretch. The climb up would give a take my heart rate into the red zone. Other stair workouts included box jumps on the staircase, Bulgarian split squats, step ups etc. often coming together in the form of ladders, pyramids etc. I felt the same rush after these as I would after the long hard sessions while training for the full marathon before January.

The forced reduction in going outdoors increased my regularity in strength training with weights at home. Squats, lunges met their varied cousins. Curls, overhead presses, raises, etc. too made regular appearances. A lot of functional rotational and anti rotational core moves were a staple part of almost every workout. I would take 3-4 exercises and keep at them anywhere between half an hour to 90 minutes. I finally started enjoying strength training. However I was hoping to soon get back to my first love, running 

Moving them weights!!!

By June, some of the curbs started to lift. A lot of runners started venturing out to run. What a time to resume running it was! The relative cool of March was now replaced with the searing heat and humidity of June. All the sweat glands suddenly sprung back to life as soon as I started running. It was terribly hard to run anywhere close to the training paces which were standard in the full marathon training cycle. With no race in sight, I set a goal of getting my running fitness levels back to being able to run a sub-2 half marathon by the end of 2020. 

After a few weeks of mindless quick runs, I decided to take the plunge back into low heart rate training. After a couple of weeks, I tried a pace focused run which felt terrible. I then decided to focus only on running easy, based on my MAF heart rate. Since there was no race to look forward to, I could take my time and stick to the process. What followed was a month of runs which had the heart rate alert, set at 180-my age, buzzing with alarming regularity signaling that I had to slow down further. I looked to run at these low heart rates for time instead of distance. So a weekday meant 60 minutes and weekends would be anywhere between 90-120 minutes. It was a test of patience. I was happy that I passed

TMM 2020 merchandise lovers/tweety bird fans

The extremely low intensity of these runs meant shorter recovery times. This meant I could run more regularly. Despite the slow speeds, the fact that I could spend more time on my feet meant an easy 40-45km were logged every week without feeling even slightly burnt out. Towards the end of the one month, the time my HR monitor would take to give an alert of crossing the threshold kept increasing. I realised that I was getting better at running in the heat and humidity of the monsoons. I was breathing deeper, cooling myself more efficiently and also improving my running dynamics. As a lot of articles online suggest, I probably was burning more fat too because of the low heart rate zone. As the old adage goes, the more you do something, the better you get at it. I definitely got better at running at a slow easy effort for longer. It was time to see how it affected the other end of the spectrum

The time trial:

I had signed up for a virtual one mile race on Strava. I had never raced over this distance before but I thought it would be a good idea to see how well the system responds in a short and intense effort with only slow, easy running for a month leading into "race day". The weather on the day of this virtual race/time trial was pathetic. It had rained some time before the run, leaving the roads wet and the air laden with moisture. I had been running at low to very low intensities in the same weather, making ti feel very familiar. I warmed up with a 3km jog till the start point where my friend was waiting to pace me (on his bike). We set off at a quick pace which I felt I could sustain over 1.6km. A little over 6 minutes later, I stopped my activity with a new personal best for 1 mile, shaving 50 seconds off the previous best for the mile. 

Fresh after a 10k PB

                                                    

Inference:

Did MAF running make me faster? In my experience, the answer is Yes and No. Yes it was a major contributor. The MAF running definitely made running at a high intensity feel very comfortable. The cardiac drift on each run got delayed further meaning I could maintain the same intensity, high or low for longer. I got more used to running comfortably in heat and humidity. Even on my birthday special run where it was extremely humid, I was able to un at a pace of 5:31/km quite comfortably. The easy running and the following quick recovery ensured that I could get out and run or train for strength every single day. Strength and flexibility which were my Achilles heel in the past but they have been engaged quite routinely. However, the unsung hero of the entire process was the focus on eating good healthy home-made food. No matter how much you run, lift, etc., there is no substitute in one's wellness journey for good nutrition. Eating well helped me burn through some stubborn fat along with making me a better, more efficient runner. 

In summary, low intensity MAF running in conjunction with strength training, flexibility work and good nutrition made me a much better runner by the end of 2020 than I was at the start of the year

In the best hot weather running gear..:P

I hope to keep learning more about running, nutrition and wellness through 2021 and will continue to share some bytes from my experience