Forums >Running 101>Effort/ Pacing for Run/Walk runs
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It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
One thing I have discovered in breaking my running up into such short intervals is that it allows me to put a LOT more effort into the intervals without feeling as much fatigue. My running stride has changed. My running form has changed. For the better, I think, though I did have some initial muscle soreness a few days.
Instead of finding my pace slower for adding the walk-breaks, I'm finding my overall pace is faster. But the runner in my keeps asking, "Is this really an 'easy' run if I'm running this hard for this inerval? If I'm only able to talk at the end of my walk break, is that still easy?" How do I know how hard to run my intervals? If I run them at the same pace OR effort that I ran straight, I find that I'm not really getting a good workout because there's all this walking mixed in. I can run harder for these intervals... and think I should... but I don't know HOW much harder.
Should I reach a comfortable "talking" recovery by the end of my walk breaks? By the middle? Near the beginning? Should I still be able to talk during the running portion?
Marathon Maniac #991 Half Fanatic #58 Double Agent #22 It's a perfect day and I feel great!
One thing I do worry about with this approach though is that the paces (whether the interval or overall) might be a bit on the fast side and encourage poor pacing. That is, the person learns to run harder than they can sustain for a normal run, and they never learn to maintain effort/pace. At some point, I think some of the runs, esp. the shorter ones, should be continuous runs - IF the person is intending to improve their running. Some of us are happy run / walking and would rather run/walk for many hours than run only for a couple hours (not quite true since I enjoy both, but using that as conceptual example). I do like to improve my running, but find it improves the most by including walks in some of the runs, although usually for terrain.
JMHO, but I'd guess you should be able to talk during the running portion, although it might be in short sentences, if you're really new and working to run at all. Some could be harder.
Run/walking has let me open up my stride, lifting knees more, pushing off with supporting leg more, and feel more like "running" than "jogging."
Why is it sideways?
Newbie question here: I've read (here on RA and elsewhere) that lengthening your stride can lead to injury, so I've been sticking to a pretty short stride (I'm still relatively new and slow so it's not so much that I am ready to increase my stride, but I feel like I'm never going to get faster if I don't lengthen my stride at some point). So does the run/walk thing change all that (maybe having the immediate recovery between running bouts helps stave off injury)?
Chicago RnR 1/2 Marathon