Boys and Girls of the BRS - Illinois Chapter. Check in! Tell us how your running year is going! Good and bad! Beautiful and ugly alike! Who is active? Who needs a fellow BFR'er to hook up with for a 3 mile scramble? or just a 1 mile hike? What are you training for? Are you trying a new diet? Are you using the MAF method? Doing barefoot sprints? Tell us! Tell us! I know I'm dying to hear what's going on around the Land of Lincoln.
Ok then, I'll start. I came off of my 100 mile run in April and took a few weeks off. Since then, I have been training (sort of aimlessly) for another 100 in the fall. I found out that I have high cholesterol and the doctor asked me to cut back on carbs. That gave me the excuse to try the 2 week test and try to get more fat-adapted as Dr. Phil Maffetone suggests: https://philmaffetone.com/2-week-test/ So I have been eating mostly meat and veggies. I do 100% carb-free breakfast and lunch and then have whatever my bride is fixing for the family for dinner. And I have tried to completely eliminate the sugar. It's hard when you love candy, but I have definitely cut back on that indulgence. I've also gone back to MAF training. Keeping my heartrate in the range of 130-140 on my training runs. I've seen quick improvement in my MAF pace - going from approximately 12 minute miles just after the 100 to around 9:45's now. I've started throwing "Speed"work Wednesdays back into the regimen and last week ran a 6:49 mile in the middle of my run - this is probably the fastest mile I have run since I was 19. I'm planning to run Arkansas Traveller 100 in the fall: http://www.runarkansas.com/AT100.htm And its about time I start getting serious about that. I planned on a long run today but dang is it hot in Illinois!!! Ok, so that's me. Are there ANY other barefoot runners in Illinois?
How long have you been doing MAF training? I did the two week test and the training, but it took too long to improve my pace. How long did it take for your pace to improve? Also, has your cholesterol lowered? My doctor gave me the same diagnosis, but recommended I cut out the fat (nothing about carbs).
I started MAF at the end of April. Noticed a big swing faster the last couple weeks. I felt like it was taking forever. But really, I believe my MAF was probably around 10 before Potawatomi, and my body is recovering from that race at this point. Haven't re-tested my cholesterol yet. Time will tell.
i'm around. i am planning on doing the DPRT50 again since it is fun. training has been herky-jerky with life intervening. but, hopefully, i'll be able to knuckle down starting in july and crank up the miles and stuff. and I'm still padding around barefoot.
I'm not sure if it is diet or MAF or both. But I've been doing speed work Wednesdays every other Wednesday for a couple of months, and doing exclusively MAF pace otherwise. Today, as a former smoker of 18 years, and nearly 40, I ran my fastest mile since I was 19 at a pace of 6:24 in the middle of my workout. Getting healthy again is fun!
