Below are the results of this morning’s MAF test. If you missed my first post about this, here’s the link. This is a 5 mile run on my local HS track with the goal of keeping my HR at or below 142bpm.
| Time | Pace | HR | |||
| Overall | 50.0 | 10.0 | 141 | ||
| Mile 1 | Mile 2 | Mile 3 | Mile 4 | Mile 5 | |
| Pace | 10:19 | 10:07 | 10:01 | 09:47 | 09:42 |
| HR | 142 | 140 | 140 | 141 | 142 |
Total time for the workout was 50:01.26. I missed a PR for my MAF test by a second and was less than 2 seconds from breaking 50 minutes! Fifty minutes seems to be my four minute mile. This is the fourth time I’ve been within 3 seconds of breaking this mark over the past 6 months. It’s amazing how consistent I’ve been. Or looking at it from a different angle, it’s amazing how steady my fitness has been.
The primary reason I do this test is to see what my level of fitness is and compare it to where I was in the past. I try and keep as many variables the same to reduce their impact. So I always do the run on a track in the morning with a 15 minute warm-up at the same heart rate. The weather isn’t always the same and I am not always 100% rested beforehand, but it’s as close to the same workout as I’m able to make it.
It’s been 6 weeks since my last MAF test. I typically do these every 4 weeks, but I pushed this one back to line up with next weekend’s Naked Bavarian race. I like to do these tests the weekend before each race as a way to benchmark my fitness/health. I’m still ramping up from my offseason so I would expect (hope?) to see further improvements heading into my April goal race. Whether this occurs is probably going to be dependent on me getting in the speed workouts that I’ve been bailing on each week. I have 2 more tests before then. Here’s hoping that one of them ends with a four handle.
Have you been able to maintain fitness during the dark, cold winter?