Mark Allen & Phil Maffetone: The Benefits of Having a Coach and MAF for Athletic Longevity

September 6, 2019
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On this episode we’re joined by two legends of endurance sport, Dr. Phil Maffetone and six-time Ironman World Champion Mark Allen. Mark had a 15-year professional triathlon career in which he was coached by Phil starting in the 1980s. Working with Phil led to Mark discover the MAF Method, which he now uses for athletes he coaches at Mark Allen Coaching. Mark is also starting a new project called 1989thestory.com consisting of 10 stories that will be written by he and Dave Scott about the year leading up to their 1989 classic battle.

On this show we talk all about the benefits to hiring a coach, using the MAF Method, and also some great stories from Mark and Phil about the “good ol’ days.”

  • Mark’s history racing in Nice, France and 10-time win at the triathlon there.
  • Phil and Mark met in late 1983, and shortly after started working together.
  • Prior to Phil, Mark was training “stupid” by going too hard too often getting injured, sick and burned out often–until he switched to MAF.
  • The MAF philosophy is to gain fitness without destroying yourself.
  • Heart rate training back in the ’80s and Mark’s first MAF Test experience at 25 years old.
  • Mark went from 8:30 pace to 5:30 pace with MAF.
  • Discipline with MAF is a key component to making it work.
  • Mark ran 45-55 miles per week to get those results + patience (others gave up but Mark stuck with it).
  • Speedwork is fine tuning the system after developing the aerobic base.
  • Phil’s story:
    • Like so many of us, was he once a “no pain no gain” guy in his athletic journey before he formulated the MAF Method?
    • 1980 NYC marathon, he wasn’t as healthy as he should have been and he realized he was in an imbalance and his health was not optimal, giving birth to the idea of balancing health and fitness.
  • Phil’s early days with the MAF Method–did he ever doubt or question whether it’d work when he first started trying it out on athletes?
  • Mark uses MAF as the foundation of coaching his athletes.
  • The benefits of using HR are deep to guide athletes. For example, is one data point such as FTP or pace enough to gauge fitness gains? No, use in combo with HR.
  • Podcast: Myth of Non-Responders
  • What happens when Mark sees an athlete not responding to MAF? Look at variables OTHER THAN training alone–family issues, job, sleep, diet, and so on.
  • Our body can only handle so much stress.
  • Benefits of having a coach who’s using MAF
  • “The fact is we all need some health.”–Phil
  • “A coach helps you have a better experience in sport.”–Mark
  • Often trying to be your own coach backfires.
  • The problem of “no pain no gain.”
  • Mark & Phil give their opinions on group workouts and the camaraderie?
  • Training volume and choosing race distances–coaches will help you set the pace to get to your goals.
  • Using total time vs. mileage for workouts.
  • MAF for longevity:
    • Mark used MAF 13 out of 15 of his years as a professional triathlete, he’s a testament to the MAF Method working for health & wellness into later years in life.
    • He doesn’t have any chronic injuries as he ages unlike many of his peers.
    • Mark has intuitively adjusted his MAF over the years even now at age 61? Generally, he sticks to the formula and makes minor adjustments as needed and based on feel/results.
    • His MAF pace has slowed down a lot (according to him).
    • Be willing to make adjustments to your MAF heart rate as the years go by and then measure results.
    • If you spend many years pushing things your health might be similar to someone who’s unhealthy and overweight and it may take longer to get results–so have patience and trust!

Comments (7)

  • vanbc says:

    Hello, I am very interested in properly applying MAF training to all 3 sports concurrently. I am a typical time starved person and probably can only train 7-10 hours per week. I think I understand how to do MAF training if I run exclusively. However, I do NOT understand how to apply MAF training when training all 3 sports, concurrently, with only 7-10 hours per week (with more weeks probably at 7 vs 10 hours.
    Should I just do all 3 sports at or below my MAF heart rate?
    So mostly steady state, lower intensity/RPE efforts that keep my HR below my target number?
    I hope I can get some direction on this as with my season over I am eagerly wanting to give MAF a proper shot for 2-3 months.
    Thank you for any comments, feedback or direction that can be provided.

  • vanbc says:

    Hello, I am very interested in properly applying MAF training to all 3 sports concurrently. I am a typical time starved person and probably can only train 7-10 hours per week. I think I understand how to do MAF training if I run exclusively. However, I do NOT understand how to apply MAF training when training all 3 sports, concurrently, with only 7-10 hours per week (with more weeks probably at 7 vs 10 hours.

  • vanbc says:

    I had a follow-up question as well. Is there a minimum amount of training time at MAF one should do, otherwise it is not worth it?
    This ties in with my previous question in that if you only run twice a week for example for a max of 2 hours combined, is it not worth it to do any MAF training? If any response can take into account and assume you are also biking and swimming and comment on how to MAF training in these 2 sports as well.
    I hope this all makes sense.
    Thank you,

  • Daryl Campbell says:

    Great Pod cast

  • DragosVC says:

    Awesome podcast! It showed me all the errors I made to get into the sympathetic overtraining that I'm stuck in for more than a year.
    Thanks for posting!

  • WattsUp300 says:

    Thanks for the very interesting podcast. I have a very similar question to vanbc: I have some experience with cycling, recently took up running. I'm coming up to the end of the season, and after a short recovery period, would normally go into a typical 'base training' period over the winter. I'd like to try the MAF method moving forward, but curious as to whether I should follow it for both sports, if having relatively more training in one sport (cycling) means I would have a higher or lower MAF heart rate level vs the other sport, etc.

    I hope someone from the show is reading these comments!!

    Many thanks in advance.

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