Week 43: 19 – 25 October

Run: 3h 41m (20.9 miles) | Crosstrain: 1h 37m | Gym: 0h 11m

This felt like the first week after Chester when recovery began to turn into training again — although deliberately not the sort of training that gives much away on Strava.

The main event was the first proper MAF treadmill test. I actually postponed it by a day because I was still tired after a busy weekend and, only just over a week on from the marathon and illness, there seemed little value in forcing an experiment simply because the calendar said Monday.

Tuesday therefore became the baseline. I used 131 bpm as the ceiling and, after warming up, started the 5K test at 9.2 km/h. Heart rate gradually drifted upwards, so the speed had to come down with it, eventually finishing at 8.4 km/h. The resulting pace was humbling — roughly eleven-and-a-half-minute miles by the end — but I was pleased that I resisted the temptation to chase the treadmill speed and stuck to the point of the exercise.

That is really what the next few weeks are about. The number that matters isn’t how quick the first test looked; it is whether I can eventually run faster while keeping the same aerobic ceiling. For someone accustomed to marathon sessions where pace provides the reassurance, there is probably some value in learning to leave the ego out of it for a while.

The rest of the week quietly added some useful aerobic work. There were two more runs, including a longer outing on Friday, plus an indoor bike session, a brief return to strength work and a short pool session. Nothing needed to be heroic. After the stop-start spell around illness and Chester, simply putting different types of training back into an ordinary working week felt like progress.

The week finished in the Lake District, although Storm Boelo rather spoiled any romantic notions of an autumn run in the fells. With the weather keeping me indoors, I started with 4km on the rowing machine in 22:34, keeping my heart rate below 131 bpm, before moving onto the treadmill for another controlled MAF run. Four miles took 41:59 (10:30/mi) at an average of 129 bpm, again staying below the 131 bpm ceiling. Not quite the Lake District running I had envisaged, but another useful bit of aerobic work in the bank.

The running came to 20.9 miles in total. That would have looked absurdly light during the marathon block, but right now that is rather the point. I’m trying to build back consistency without immediately recreating the fatigue that prompted this change of approach in the first place.

So week one of the MAF experiment has given me a baseline, if not a particularly glamorous one. Now comes the more interesting part: doing enough easy, repeatable work to find out whether patience actually moves it.