MAF and Cardiac drift

by Pinank
(India)

Hi,

I am Pinank Pujara from Mumbai (India)
I have been doing MAF training since a month. My MAF comes to 145.

I did my 30km long run at see around 4hr mark.

After about 2.45 at the same pace i couldn't control the HR.it increased to 155 - 160.
I had to walk to keep it under 145.

Is this normal.?
It was not possible to maintain MAf here.

Nicole's reply:
Hi Pinank, thanks for your question.

Cardiac drift is a normal process that happens as you stress the body. The longer you stress your body the more likely it is to occur. It happens to everyone.

As you start your run, your body is in a fresh state so it is relatively easy to keep your pace and heart rate at a steady rate. However the longer you run, the more fatigued your body gets and the higher your body core temperature. This means that your heart has to work harder to cool your down, to supply blood and oxygen to your muscles and to carry away waste by products. The result is a higher heart rate. It is your body's way of saying "hey, slow down as I'm getting a bit fatigued at this pace".

Here's what you should do. If your heart rate rises, then slow down. The beauty of MAF training is that the longer you practice it, the more efficient your body becomes and so the less you will experience cardiac drift. Your MAF training is still in its early days and with time your should start to see less and less cardiac drift. I hope that helps.