The “Two-Week Test” is one of the salient parts of Dr Phil Maffetone’s training for endurance athletes. It is something to do with one’s ability to balance the presence of carbohydrates in the body with the other nutrients like protein and fats.

According to Dr Maffetone, there are signs and symptoms that you have more carbohydrates stored in the body when you are overweight, easily exhausted in simple exercises, and sleepy after every meal. There are more signs and symptoms stated in his books and articles but these are the things that I tried to experiment and be able to improve as my reasons in trying this “test”.

This is not a diet program but a simple test that will last for two weeks. This is a test of discipline, patience, focus and determination. All you have to do is to refrain from taking any drinks and food with SUGAR for 14 days. This is to include fresh fruits and some vegetables. Of course, coffee with sugar & cream is a no-no! Not even alcoholic drinks,beer, sodas, and Gatorade/Energy Drinks. It also means not eating rice during your meal. Forget your “hot pandesal”, pancakes, doughnuts, bagels, chips, cookies, oatmeal, ice cream, chocolates and cakes!

It is a challenge but it is worth trying if you want to improve on your training and endurance races.

As a start, you have to record your weight before you start this test and come up with a journal or daily diary. You have to record also what you observe to your body for signs of too much carbohydrate in the body like: easily exhausted in simple exercises; high rate of heart pulse/hear beat; easily irritated; moody; feeling too-stressed all the time; feeling sleepy after meal; and lack of focus.

As soon as you start with the test, put in your journal the things that you observe in your body; your daily weight; morning pulse rate; and the food/s you ingested. Be sure to maintain your journal on a daily basis. Just remember NOT to eat any kind of carbohydrate foods! If you feel hungry, just eat anything that is rich in protein and healthy fats!

During my test, I ate lots of eggs, omelettes, fish, meat (pork & beef), and other seafood. I could hardly count the number of egg trays that I consumed during the duration of the test. In one of the birthday parties I was invited, I finished more than one-half order of “Crispy Pata” and one order of Squid Platter Steak and broiled Tilapia without any rice! On ordinary days, I ate lots of pork barbecue, fried chicken, native chicken tinola, pork adobo, longganiza, fish (Salmon, Tilapia, Bangus and Lapu-Lapu), shrimps & prawns (from Pangasinan)  and our ever famous, “Laoag Bagnet”.

I just finished my “Two-Week Test” last Sunday. And here are the results:

1. I was able to reduce my weight by 12 pounds. I was 150 pounds when I started the test and last Sunday’s weighing on the scale resulted to 138 pounds!  Since Dr Maffetone advises its athlete to take the “two-week test” during the aerobic phase when observing his MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) by following his 180 Formula of HR Monitor, the body tends to use its fats during workouts. So, in my experience, I was able to burn some of my body fats while doing my HR Monitor workouts. Thus, I was able to reduce my weight within a limited number of days!
2.  I did not feel any exhaustion, soreness, and pain during and the days after the last MILO Marathon Elimination. I did not even experience any muscle cramps even if my longest run before the MILO Marathon was only 16 kilometers. Although I ran only 32 kilometers in the MILO Marathon by following the MAF Heart Rate of 132 beats per minute, it was surprising that I was able to run the distance without taking any solid food before and during the run. Moreso, I did not have any “carbo-loading” to speak of, days before the run.
3. Before I started following Dr Maffetone’s training, my tendency is to be sleepy after my breakfast in the morning, with or without any runs before breakfast. What is worse is that I always go for a nap after my lunch almost every day. As a result of the “two-week test”, I am now fully awake and don’t feel sleepy at all after breakfast and lunch.

If you think this is a “big” challenge to undertake, I think it’s not. If you have some signs and symptoms like I had before I did this
test, then it is worth trying it. However, if you want to have better results on your training and in your endurance races, I think this is best “test” that I can recommend to everybody!

Good luck! Think DISCIPLINE!!!