Ernesto Villarroel's Group - FULL (Page 10)

Maffetone’s method is the best, because you’re either aerobic or anaerobic. What you should be pursuing right now is not speed but the creation of an aerobic “engine” in your body. Speed after a few months will be natural and effortless. The other advantage is that you train slow, decrease injury rate (or eliminate the possibility) and you can go much longer periods.

Once you establish your maximum aerobic threshold, you train right at it. Speed comes by itself later on. This little workout that I told you to do requires the use of your Garmin at all times and after you do it we’ll talk some more. Don’t ever stop it though, set the Garmin to do auto laps at one mile. Go to “Training”, then “training options”, then “auto lap” and set it to one mile (or half if you wish).

Jackie,

From what I saw in your profile your aerobic threshold is only 122? That doesn’t sound right unless you are 58 years old, which I believe is not your case, right? I also saw that you had a “bad” run on Monday where you say you probably didn’t stretch enough. Stretching is BAD FOR YOU. Think about this, your muscles are cold from inactivity and environment, and you elongate them putting a lot of tension.

The way to properly get your muscles ready for activity is to either walk or jog very slow (increasing the pace gradually) for a period between 12 and 15 minutes.

As far as the training zones setup in your Garmin, the only way you’ll be able to do this is by creating an alert every time your heart rate goes over your aerobic threshold (Go to “training”, “training options”, “alerts”, “hr alert”, “on” and then “custom” with your own number. In my Garmin I have it set at 143 BPM (my anaerobic threshold starts at 144 BPM), so every time I my HR spikes (even one beat) it gives me an audible alert (it’s kind of annoying). So, with all that said, what you want to do in this period is run and bike below that “magic number” the majority of the time, even if it’s ridiculously slow. In a few weeks you’ll see your body yielding a MUCH faster pace at the same HR.

I do ALL my long workouts below my threshold. This is my last long run:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/65949044

As you can see, my HR rarely climbs above the number and when it does, I slow down to bring it back down.

Mark,

Get the Garmin Forerunner 305.  It's a blast.  I can't believe how much data it provides.  I can see my route on an aerial.  I can see elevation, heart rate, pace by lap, etc.

I too had a problem with my bike computer and heart monitor (two different instruments).  Now with the Garmin, I just have it all in one.  Today was the first day with it on the bike.  It was super easy to set up and worked like a charm.  No wires!