Forums >Running 101>Run/walk technique, thoughts?
Hi all, I posted earlier about how I'm thinking of running a marathon (my first one). Yes I'm still thinking about it, I haven't officially registered!
I've been following a 20-week training plan (on week 10 now), my weekly mileage is about 20 miles and going up! I feel fine. No injuries or nagging pain, thankfully! I'm thinking about how realistic it is to run 26 miles for a first timer. I want it to be a good experience, I would like a relatively decent time (around 4h30).
Ok, so my question is, what do you think of employing run/walk strategy in my long runs and eventually use it for my first marathon? It definitely makes the task less daunting and I've read that one's overall time can even improve if you use this technique properly. I'm fairly new to this whole running thing ^_^ so if anyone has any advice, pros/cons about this technique, please let me know!!
I've used run/walk on and off, usually it's a way for me to survive summer. Basically the idea is you add in the walk breaks from the beginning as opposed to once you are tired. I used run/walk for my only full, but for halfs it's run only. Have you done any other races?
One thing with run/walk is that if you are doing a large race, crowding make it very difficult to do run/walk effectively if you are lined up properly. For a 4:30 full, you are looking around a 10 mm pace, using run/walk, your run sections will likely need to be in the low 9 or high 8 mm pace. If everyone around is doing 10mm, you are going to be wasting a lot of energy weaving through people. If it's a small race, this is not as much of an issue.
Pace Prophet
I used run/walk for my first two half marathons and my first two marathons. The most important thing is: start from the beginning! Don't run until you're tired, and then do run/walk - do it from the beginning, even in the race.
If you're thinking that a 4:30 pace in the race is reasonable, you probably want to be running 11-12 minute miles in training. That's aggregate, including your walking intervals. My first marathon was 4:33 and I used 4 minute run 1 minute walk in training, sometimes 3/1. Same in the race. Don't blast your runs - you want to be able to walk fairly quickly, so keep the run intervals easy as well.
an amazing likeness
If you haven't already -- it would probably be worth your time to skim over Jeff Galloway's run/walk starting off advice on his website, he's sort of the 'father' of run/walk training. Under the Training tab, there is a calculator which helps you setup target training and racing paces for your run & walk intervals.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Great advice from these people who answered you. As a relatively new runner who has only done my first half last summer, I employed a run walk strategy right from the start and felt great at the finish with a time I was proud of (2:15 at 73 years old) using a 5-1 ratio. I was passed by a lot of runners at the start but ended up passing quite a few of them at the end. The Galloway method works.
Good luck
Jim