The Big Book of Endurance Training
When I was training for my first marathon, I wanted to learn more about the science of long distance running. With a quick search on Reddit, I found about the famous yellow-covered “The Big Book of Endurance Training” by Philip Maffetone. It had a lot of good reviews and a substantial amount of negative criticism. I like reading books on things I am interested in, so I decided to buy a secondhand copy. I finished reading it in March 2023, and I have been meaning to write about it since then.
It is informative, thick (500+ pages), and literally a big book dimension-wise. It offers a good deal of useful information ranging from basic biology to the shoe size numbering system across the globe. This served as a refresher and pushed me to dive deeper into research on various topics. Despite all this, there are a lot of questionable and implausible points. In this post, I will share my key takeaways from the book, as well as the points I do not agree with.
Key Takeaways
1. Train Your Aerobic System
Our body has two ways of producing energy.
The aerobic system allows us to sustain a low intensity effort for a long duration by burning fat and carbohydrates with oxygen. It has high capacity, but produces energy at a slower rate. On the other hand, the anaerobic system breaks carbohydrates down to lactic acid when there is not enough oxygen. It has lower capacity, but produces energy at a faster rate.
All endurance sports require a solid aerobic system. In order to train the aerobic system, one has to keep the majority of their training in low intensity. As the aerobic system improves, the body becomes more efficient in using the produced energy.
2. Monitor Heart Rate
The ultimate goal of endurance training is lowering the heart rate. By doing so, one can gradually go faster with the same heart rate.
Monitoring the heart rate is important because it keeps you in check during training. It provides numeric, objective data so you immediately know whether you are spending more effort than you should. Monitoring is important also because things improve only if you measure and monitor them. Logging, visualizing and comparing training data are things one should periodically do.
3. Training = Work + Rest
Training makes the body work, adapt to gradually increasing stress, and become more efficient. However, one cannot keep training more endlessly to get better. The body needs to recover and replenish. Rest days are necessary.
4. Listen to Your Body
Even with a proper number of rest days, sickness or simply feeling too tired can be inevitable. It is easy to get carried away and still do the workout in these situations, but it causes more harm than good. It can lead to injury, extended recovery time and even burnout. Listening to the body and adapting the training program accordingly is quite essential.
5. Eat & Sleep Well
It is no secret that eating well is key for good health. I try to keep it simple and stick to the basics: steamed vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein and water, three times a day. No refined carbohydrates. I found Harvard Healthy Eating Plate particularly useful on what to eat. When eating well becomes challenging, I remind myself of the famous computer science expression: “Garbage in, garbage out.”
It is also well-known that sleep is when the body renews itself. Make a deliberate effort to protect your sleep time. Herbert Spencer, who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” put it really well: “If you wish to be a success in this life you must first be a good animal.”
6. The Body is a Chain
Probably the most overlooked fact about our body is that it is a chain. An issue in one area can impact another. That’s why Barcelona coach Hansi Flick ordered dental exams for his players. Dental issues affect nutrition, which affect muscle strength in turn.
The interconnectedness of the body becomes especially important in endurance training because the movements are repeated countless times. Even a slightest irregularity in your step may lead to issues in the knees or hips. Therefore, in the case of an injury, one should treat the root problem, not the immediately visible symptom.
My Disagreements
Before Maffetone, people used a heart rate formula based on their age. According to this formula, 220 minus one’s age would give their maximum heart rate, and one would train at 65-75% of it. Obviously this formula is not good because it is not personalized. People have different genetics and physical conditions, therefore their heart rate ranges may vary significantly.
Maffetone came up with a new formula. 180 minus age and an adjustment would give the Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF) heart rate, which is the most novel point of the book. Maffetone suggests training below the MAF heart rate, with only little amount of higher intensity training. The adjustment in the formula depends on various conditions. For example, if you are recovering from a major illness or are over 65 years old, you subtract 10. If it is a simple flu, you subtract 5. If you have been running for more than two years without any problem, you add 5. While this is more personalized than the 220 method, it still does not account for different genetics and physical conditions.
One glaring fact about the Maffetone method and the book is that they are not modern anymore. In the preface, Mark Allen talks about how effective the Maffetone method was for him. He could not win the Ironman World Championship in his first six attempts but won 1989-1993 & 1995 after he adopted Maffetone’s method. However, he competed in the 1990s, thirty years ago. If we look at the list of men who won the Ironman World Championship, we see that Australians and Germans dominated after Mark Allen. Most recently the Norwegian method has proven to be effective, where they emphasize high intensity training. Clearly today’s winners are not relying on the Maffetone method.
Maybe another unsettling thing is that Maffetone endorses chiropractic and Chinese medicine. I understand that some people, after exhausting all other options, might turn to these methods for relief. However, neither chiropractic nor Chinese medicine is grounded in scientific evidence, and this makes me uncomfortable with them. Moreover, Maffetone has controversial statements on COVID-19. Health is the single most important thing in a person’s life, and this background is not something that puts my mind at ease.
Finally, the book’s credibility could have been stronger if there were at least a few citations and there were not any blunt ads. Sharing medicine and pharmacy names in a blatant way weakens his already questionable position. Additionally, the recovery examples shared in the book seem magical. ‘Patients’ miraculously recover after following Maffetone’s advice. The book could have been shorter too as the key takeaways can be condensed into a few hundred words as I illustrated above.
My Verdict
Keeping the majority of the training in low intensity makes sense, but one needs more high intensity training than Maffetone suggests. The MAF formula is unsatisfactory.
As with everything in life, practice is what leads to perfection. Want to improve at something? Nail the basics and keep doing more of it gradually, and consistently.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Onuralp Görmez and Berkay Ömer Cünedioğlu for reading the draft and providing valuable suggestions for improving the text.
Published: Oct 28, 2024.
Last edited: Nov 7, 2024.