How To Do a Maffetone Maximum Aerobic Fitness (MAF) Zone 2 Test For Runners, Cyclists and Triathletes

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A Simple Way to Track Your Aerobic Gains (and Catch Issues Before They Sneak Up on You)

Using a heart rate monitor isn’t just about checking numbers to see if you’re “in the zone” or hitting some vague target. It’s actually a great way to see if you’re improving, if your training is on the right track, or—here’s the kicker—if something’s off. And that’s where the MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) Test comes in. Think of it as your no-BS check-in with your aerobic system.

PS – I started at nine-minute miles (5:45 min/km) and within four years got it down to six-minute miles (4:15 per km)

Why the MAF Test is a Game Changer

Ever get that weird feeling that you’re working hard, but maybe…not really getting anywhere? It’s like being on a treadmill and expecting to arrive somewhere. Regularly doing the MAF Test gives you an objective view of your progress. It’s not based on how you feel or what you think might be happening. It’s based on numbers. Cold, hard, unbiased numbers.

This test is about catching problems early, way before you’re lying on the couch wondering how you got injured. It’ll help you spot if your aerobic system is slacking, whether it’s from too much anaerobic work, stress, or a diet that’s out of whack.

How to Run the MAF Test Like a Pro

Here’s the best part: the MAF Test isn’t some fancy, complicated thing. You can do it with almost any cardio workout—running, walking, cycling. It works great on stationary equipment like a treadmill or bike, or you can do it outside if you want some fresh air.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

Find your max aerobic heart rate using the MAF 180 Formula.
Warm up well and then maintain that max aerobic heart rate.
Measure your pace—how long it takes to go a certain distance (minutes per mile, or miles per hour if you’re cycling).
Record your time or speed for future comparison. This is your baseline.

Real-Life Example: MAF Test for a Runner on a Track or Flat Straight Surface

Imagine you’re running a track at a steady heart rate of 145 bpm, keeping a pace of around 9:00 per mile (about 5:35 per kilometer). Here’s how a 3-mile (5-kilometer) MAF test could look as you time each lap:

Mile 1: 9:00 (or 5:35/km)
Mile 2: 9:15 (or 5:45/km)
Mile 3: 9:30 (or 5:55/km)

The gradual slowdown across each mile is normal and expected, indicating your aerobic system is working consistently at a sustainable pace. If your times vary widely or speed up, it’s a sign you might need a longer warm-up.

Watching Your Progress Over Time

Here’s the rewarding part. As you build aerobic fitness over the months, your MAF Test times should improve, showing you’re using energy more efficiently at the same heart rate. Here’s an example progression:

Month	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Kilometer 1	Kilometer 2	Kilometer 3	Kilometer 4	Kilometer 5
September	9:00	9:15	9:30	5:35	5:40	5:45	5:50	5:55
October	8:45	9:00	9:10	5:30	5:35	5:40	5:45	5:50
November	8:30	8:45	9:00	5:25	5:30	5:35	5:40	5:45
December	8:15	8:30	8:45	5:20	5:25	5:30	5:35	5:40

Each month, your times get a little faster, proving your aerobic efficiency is on the rise. This means you’re now able to run a quicker pace with the same effort, giving a clear high-five to your aerobic fitness gains!

What About Biking? Same Test, Different Wheels

If cycling’s your thing, the MAF Test works the same way. This is best done on a bicycle trainer or stationary bike (The same bike setup everytime if possible).

If outside, pick a flat loop or course with no stops (very hard to find, this is why a stationary bike is best) that takes about 30 minutes to do. Then do a proper 10-15 minute warm-up, ride at your max aerobic heart rate, and record your time. Over time, you should see those numbers drop. So maybe today it’s 30 minutes and 50 seconds, but in a month, you’re down to 29:23, and after three months of base training, you’re at 26:00. Progress!

Or if you’re on a flat course, check your speed at max aerobic heart rate. Start at, say, 12 mph, and three months later, you might be clocking 17 mph with the same heart rate. It’s science—and your aerobic fitness at work.

Swimmers Can Join In On The Fun, Too!

If the pool is your training ground, good news: you can absolutely adapt the MAF Test for swimming to track your aerobic gains. Swimming’s a bit different from running or cycling, as it’s non-weight-bearing and tends to keep your heart rate lower. But the core idea remains the same—hold a steady pace at a target heart rate, and check if you get faster over time.

Here’s how to run the MAF Test for swimming:

Calculate Your Max Aerobic Heart Rate with the MAF 180 Formula. This number might end up being a bit lower in the water, but it’s a good starting point for finding your aerobic sweet spot.
Pick a Test Distance that works for you. A 400-meter swim is ideal for most, as it’s challenging enough to see progress without being overly tiring.
Warm Up thoroughly. Swimming requires good warm-up time to ensure your muscles and heart are ready for steady aerobic work.
Swim at Your Max Aerobic Heart Rate for the set distance. Here’s the tricky part—if you don’t have a waterproof heart rate monitor, you won’t have a real-time reading. A workaround is to practice checking your pulse on your neck to gauge if you’re hitting your Zone 2 pace. It takes some practice, but learning how it feels can be a game-changer for this test.To check your pulse mid-swim: After a lap, stop briefly, find your pulse on your neck, and count beats for six seconds, then multiply by ten to get your beats per minute. With practice, you’ll get a feel for what Zone 2 pace feels like in the water, even without real-time heart rate feedback.
Record Your Time over the chosen distance to set your baseline.

Since you can’t check heart rate immediately while swimming, it requires a bit more finesse and familiarity. Staying aerobic becomes a matter of learning what Zone 2 feels like in the water and staying honest about it.

Sample MAF Test Results for Swimming

With consistent practice, your swimming MAF Test times should improve over a few months, just like they would with running or biking. Here’s an example of what it could look like over time for a 400-meter swim:

Month	400m Time
September	8:10
October	7:58
November	7:47
December	7:35

If your times are improving, it means you’re building aerobic strength and efficiency—your body’s using oxygen and burning fat more effectively.

Keep it Regular, but Don’t Obsess

Doing the MAF Test once a month is plenty. Testing too often can lead to unnecessary obsession with minor fluctuations, and aerobic gains take time. Give it room to work.

The Takeaway: Why the MAF Test is Worth the Time

In short, the MAF Test isn’t just a number on a watch. It’s a tool that gives you a clear picture of how your aerobic system is performing. If something’s off, you’ll see it before it smacks you with an injury or burnout. And when you’re hitting the right notes in training, the test is there to give you the thumbs-up. That’s what you want—a clear sign that things are working.

Test regularly, keep tabs on your progress, and let the MAF Test keep you honest about what’s working and what’s not.

PS – If MAF Test zone 2 doesn’t seem right after using it for a few months (like me), try using the IMAT formula for your zone 2 heart rate. But give the MAF zone 2 training at least three months before saying that you are a special snowflake.

How To Run Fast at a Low Heart Rate
(90 min aerobic progression run explained)
Watch, listen and read the full episode here
[00:00:00] All right, we got the city marathon training group. It’s pretty cool. Yeah,
good job. Good job. Yeah, good job. Good job. In this episode, you’ll learn how to
run fast at a low heart rate and come on a run with me. Yes, I’m going to show you
how to do it while I’m running. But if you told me back in 1996, when I started doing
all this distance running stuff, that running fast could feel easy.
[00:00:24] I would not have believed you, but it’s true. And I did that with this low
heart rate training method and I still do it to this day. What you’re going to learn on
this episode, on this journey, zone two training that hides zone two aerobic zone.
You can build endurance with sustainable, moderate paced runs, warmup.
[00:00:41] Monitoring and adapting your intensity and of course nutrition, how to
fuel properly, hydrate electrolytes, all that stuff for better recovery. Let’s just go on
the run so I can show and tell you how it all works. The whole point of this, why it’s
important for me is I want to improve my high zone too, because it’s a great zone
that you can do most of the season, rest of your life.
[00:01:05] It helps with overall health. And I want to see if I can run a 359. Average
of 359 for the first kilometer, one mile of a Maffetone MAF, maximum aerobic fitness
test. And that has been on my tick list for the last 10 years. And I was like, you know
what, let’s see how close I could get to it. The strategy behind this long aerobic
progression run.
[00:01:30] So today’s run is going to start off with a warmup, always the warmup.
And then after my dynamic warmup, which means we’re sweating, feeling really
good. I then want to do some sort of a easy. Like gentle Z one, I might even walk
the first minute or something and it’s just feel it out. It’s not even based on heart
rate because my heart rate might go up, might go down, whatever.
[00:01:50] I just walk into it and run gently. And I like to do that for about five to 10
minutes longer than I probably feel it. But I’ve learned that if I do a longer warmup, I
feel so much better overall and I can get into the zone too much better. And then I’ll
sit around low zone too for about probably five minutes.
[00:02:07] And then at about the 15. I hate high zone two and then I sit there. I want
to sit there for 30 minutes today. And then after high zone two, I will look to drop
into tempo for I’m going to do 15 minutes of a very easy, slow tempo, which is in
between my marathon and half marathon pace, and that’s going to take my heart
rate probably into the Low one sixties, high one fifties, and my high zone two is
about mid one fifties.
[00:02:38] So that right there is probably, I’m guessing in the two millimolar mark
and maybe the two point two point five millimolar mark. I need to get a lactate
threshold test done in the lab. finger prick to make sure that that is what I’m actually
at because I’m guessing here with heart rate but it’s all I got heart rate power effort
and it’s not the worst I hear it’s pretty accurate even if I did a field lactate threshold
test so improving zone two and zone three may work let’s see over the next six
weeks Part 1 update warm up complete.
[00:03:14] Alright, I’m 15 minutes in exactly. So now I’m gonna slide into high zone 2
and just feel it out. This is kind of boring, but I kind of like it. Today, I feel like
because I got the camera. I know I’m a bit excited, but if it was any other day, I’d be
like, 30 minutes of zone 2 running. The other thing this does, is this progression
pyramid of sorts.
[00:03:48] It’s actually not a progression run, it’s actually a progression pyramid. The
other thing that it does, This progression pyramid run, aerobic pyramid, which it’s
pyramid because it goes up and then down and Progression run would end at kind
of the high so Semantics, yeah, but one thing that it does I realize is Me talking in
this forces me to be conversational And make sure that I’m in zone two So if you
want to know you’re in zone two You can complete full sentences and then we can
take a breath in the routine because it’s normal but you can’t be gasping for air.
[00:04:28] That means that you’re way out of social. Halfway update part one of
three. One of my favorite parts of this run. We are on the Piermont Pier Broadwalk,
and I’m halfway through, 10 minute mark, and, well actually closer to 15, 30 minutes
of the Zone 2 block, and then uh, we will slide into Zone 3. One thing that I found is
as I do more of these, like each three or four days, I can feel my body getting more
fit in the zone two range with this breathing.
[00:05:11] I’m probably going to close his own three. So definitely need to back it
down a bit. But, I’m feeling good, so, it’s always a combination of power, heart rate,
and feel. Then I look at my pace at the end. Right now is the part where I go, Hey, if
you’re not feeling this, make sure you subscribe, rate, share it out with your friends,
about how amazing this is, ra ra ra ra ra, alright.
[00:05:35] While you should go out and do that anyway, how about I actually give
you something that will help you? Is the running, health and fitness, and endurance
sport internet too much sometimes? Is it too much conflicting content on how to
train right? Or you just don’t have time to read and watch the latest trends on how
to, I don’t know, carb cycle for your next marathon?
[00:05:53] Don’t worry. I’ll take care of that for you by showing you how to train,
race, and live 1 percent better consistently. To do this, just sign up for my free
newsletter, OPB. I figure out this whole 1 percent better thing so you don’t have to
by scouring the endurance sports deepest and darkest corners of the internet.
[00:06:11] Go to DLakeCreates. com forward slash news all spelled the normal way
to be inspired and motivated on the regular. Let’s get back into it high zone two
training pros and cons and my random theories All right. Let’s get some Things
straight and I got confused about zone two running and the first is Your body gets
super efficient at running certain paces.
[00:06:39] That is why you do interval runs, long runs, et cetera. But if you get
efficient zone two, my understanding, it does help a lot of areas like easier pacing,
slow pacing, and also faster pacing. To a limit, to a limit, I think up to about 10k, 5k,
not really, but you do get a better aerobic zone, aerobic base to pull from and do
more training.
[00:07:10] But one thing that I found is you can’t overdo it because you can go too
fast, which is definitely a pro problem. It’s one of them good problems, but If you go
too fast, do a lot of weight on your body. And another thing that I’m actually trying
to do with this zone three kind of sprinkles is I’m trying to pull up my maximum
aerobic threshold.
[00:07:38] Whereas zone two is metaphorically pushing it up. So I’m pulling it up,
With the sub threshold, uh, sub lactic threshold, Tempo Z3 stuff, the slow tempo
stuff, and then I’m pushing it up with my Zone 2, High Zone 2, Moffitt’s Zone. That’s
the theory. Probably a bit too one on one metaphorical, and I’m sure sports
scientists would be like, you’re wrong.
[00:08:05] But, it does work, when you just get out there and you consist. Alright,
we got the Sydney Marathon Training Group, which is pretty cool. Yeah, good job.
Good job. Yeah, good job. Good job. It’s pretty cool. They got the pace groups.
They got everything set up for the Sydney Marathon so that people get used to how
it feels, I’m gonna guess, but doing parts of the course.
[00:08:33] It’s pretty cool. Sitting around without putting it on. Part 2 complete.
Quick update. Alright. That is the second big set, I guess. Where that was just a
straight zone 2. Half zone 2, 30 minutes. And another thing about zone 2 is you can
do it. Swimming, weight room, Running uphill, but all those things aren’t specific to
running at a fast pace.
[00:09:09] So I believe in the law of specificity and that it rings true. But this, that
your body is only going to get efficient at this pace and then get faster by running at
the pace. So if you want to do a run walk on a hilly course and you can keep zone 2,
that’s okay early in the season for recovery, mid season.
[00:09:30] But I think do it flat stomach. At a high zone two, at a steady pace, the
fastest pace you can run is your best bet. To ensure that, I can at least run 359 per
kilometer, which is pretty metrically allergic. Americans about 630 to 640 minutes
per mile pace. Pretty fast to hold an aerobic zone, I think. All right, well, some
people like to run straight through the long runs.
[00:10:00] I just like to take a break. Drink some water.
[00:10:07] Make sure I fuel up. I usually have. I don’t like gels. Only on races. Race
and training for races, but cliff bars are my jam. And yeah, feeling pretty good. Get
back into it. I got zone 3 bit to do. Probably going to do 12 to 15 minutes, see how I
feel. And That will be more of a tempo pace. Tempo. The ambiguity and vagueness
of it.
[00:10:34] But, I’m looking to run. At a power of about 15 watts faster than what I
was doing. It’s probably about three, 10, 15 watts. I like Watts. They keep me
honest. I’ll look at my heart rate, take a peek. I’ll look at the pace, take a peek and
kind of go from there. Part three, complete sub threshold, slow tempo, 15 minutes.
[00:10:59] All right, just finished up. Last hard bit. Top of the pyramid. That was not
hard, but pretty comfortable. Comfortably hard.
[00:11:20] Yeah, now it’s zone 2. High zone 2 for about 10 minutes. Some hills and
then Easy, whatever, just feel it out on the way back. And then I’m going to do eight
to 10 strides. I like strides at the end. Again, keep me honest. It’s like, I want to just
plod along, but I’m not going to cause end of the race and you got to bring it.
[00:11:49] I don’t know why I’m always racing. I’m always racing. It’s life. Life is a
race. Life is a competition. So, a little bit more on that. I think I really like focusing on
power metrics. Again, power is just constant. It’s just, it’s what’s being input. And
pace and heart rate are the output. Effort is kind of an input.
[00:12:13] But like I said before, power, validates the effort because effort is
subjective and also intelligent. Start getting smarter because you know what power
you’re supposed to be at. All right, quick recap on that. That was actually way
easier than Even three days ago. So I think it’s a combination of I’m rested and I’m
getting fit obviously Early in the morning It’s gonna be a cooler.
[00:12:53] Maybe I don’t know about that Flatter course. Some of the courses that I
do in the, oh, this is my turn. Some of the courses that I do in the, in the late
mornings aren’t as flat as I’d like them to be. So yeah, I’d say every week getting
faster, just ever so slightly. One percent, one percent. Everything’s one percent.
[00:13:16] Kind of like this, a little bit harder here. Everyone’s here, everyone’s doing
their thing. Oh, I can’t write everyone’s face. Alright, let’s talk fueling and fasted runs
because I found that these, even though it’s zone 2 and I could do a fasted, and I
have done a fasted, and sometimes I will do a fasted, that it is not the best thing.
[00:13:42] Long term and it’s actually fine during it’s actually my recovery after like
Six hours after the run 12 hours after the run Like I get super hungry. I get a
headache If I don’t eat beforehand, but if I do eat beforehand Uh, well, I just drink
honestly drink my calories rice milk coconut water And electrolyte powder.
[00:14:08] It’s got carbs in it that ends up doing really well with Protein collagen
Creatine regular protein powder and I found things are great. So yes Food does
work. How to do strides at the end of your long run. Okay, let’s do 15 second stride.
So what I do is, I start at about 70 percent then I ease into it and at about 10
second mark I’ll do 90 percent and then I hit 15 seconds and then I’ll slowly slow
down.
[00:14:50] And what that does is that allows me to not hurt myself because last
thing I want to do is pull a hamstring, step wrong, strain off calf muscle, soleus,
plantar, whatever. And usually do a one to two ratio with the strides and that’s about
15 seconds. I’ll do about 30 to 40 seconds recovery. And then I go again.
[00:15:15] You can do these flat, uphill, downhill, off road, kind of anywhere. The
biggest thing is that you want to make it like a pyramid, like a ramp, so it goes up,
plateaus, and then down. Kind of like this 90 minute progression run. Final Thoughts
Alright, that concludes the end of This whole long 90 minute aerobic, progressive
pyramid run.
[00:15:45] Why is there so many words in that? But yeah, love that, uh, you rocked
with me this long. Even if it’s one of you out there, even if it’s my mom. So I need for
you to let me know if anything’s confusing, anything I could do better. Comment,
email me, talk at dlakecreates. com or, or, or, or, or, or hit me up on Instagram and
we can try to figure out how to help you do things.
[00:16:08] Like this, and the whole 1%. Better thing have it’s consistency.
Excitement, excitement. Let’s get this. Let’s get this. Peace.