In the weeks since purchasing my new fitness tracker with HR monitor I've really put it to good use. It seems that most everyday I'm working out a little harder than before, shooting for that MAF low cardio zone. I was a little surprised, or better stated -- somewhat disappointed, with how little effort it took to exceed my MAF HR limit, which for me is about 130 bpm max. When I started this speed walking was not enough to reach my minimum HR (115 bpm) and the slowest jogging would soon put me over. I could find a way to stay in the MAF zone on exercise equipment well enough, but I found it difficult to do on my walking/jogging sessions. I had to mix walking and short slow jogs to stay in the ballpark of my target heartrate when out pounding the pavement. I've kept at it, though. I want to see if this MAF thing works.

But alas, I've made some progress. Today at the Y I was able to keep jogging 95% of the time on a 1 hour MAF workout. The indoor track at the Y is 1/16th of a mile, flat, and the room is kept cool. It was a slow jog (5 mph) and when I stuck to that slow pace my HR was planted in the 125 to 130 range (the max of my MAF zone). I goofed a couple of times and started jogging at a faster pace. When that happened and my HR crept too high I'd walk for a short distance to get back the HR back in the zone, then resume slow jogging.


So I am a happy camper. This does appear to be working. I am clearly improving my low zone cardio stamina. I'm working a little harder and the HR is staying the same. In another couple of weeks I hope to be doing a more "normal pace" jog while staying in my MAF HR zone. But is that wishful thinking? I guess all that I can do is to keep doing my thing. What will be will be.