Week 44: 26 October – 1 November

Run: 5h 16m (29.6 miles) | Cross Train: 0h 00m | Gym: 0h 00m

A week that started in the Lakes and finished back on familiar roads at home — and, rather unexpectedly, ended with the first little breakthrough of the MAF experiment.

Keswick was a good reminder of one of the less measurable reasons for running. The scenery changes everything. Even keeping the effort deliberately low, there is something about being out among the fells that makes an easy run feel like time well spent rather than simply another session to tick off. I also did plenty of walking while we were there, although I don’t include that in the training totals.

The running itself stayed firmly aerobic. That is still taking a bit of adjustment after a marathon block built around tempos, intervals and pace targets. The challenge at the moment is almost the opposite: resist the temptation to make a run harder simply because I can, keep the heart rate under 131 bpm and give the experiment enough time to tell me something useful.

Coming home made that slightly harder for a different reason. Sunday’s run started with me feeling a bit uninspired at being back on the same old routes after a week around Keswick. Then the numbers began to catch my attention. At the same sub-131 bpm effort, the pace was noticeably better than it had been when I started this experiment. Suddenly the familiar route felt rather more interesting.

It is far too early to declare MAF a success on the strength of one run. Recovery from Chester and the illness beforehand are still part of the picture, and improving health alone could explain some of the change. But that is exactly why repeating the same basic experiment over several weeks matters. For now, it was simply encouraging to see the relationship between pace and heart rate move in the right direction.

More than anything, it gave me a lift. I had enjoyed the change of scenery in the Lakes and wasn’t especially excited about returning to the usual roads, but seeing tangible progress at such a controlled effort had me buzzing by the end. It adds a little more weight — and conviction — to the idea that spending this period building aerobic efficiency rather than chasing speed might be exactly what I need before the London training block begins.