Health Fitness

Can you run a fast marathon using the run-walk-run method? (A case study)

At the 2010 Exeter Marathon, I experimented with the Run-Walk-Run strategy that has been popularized by Jeff Galloway in an effort to see how well it would work for someone who can run a little faster than most people who generally use the Run-Walk-Run method.

Jeff Galloway first shared this strategy with me a few years ago and told a story about how he had trained someone using Run-Walk-Run from a 2:33 PR to a 2:28 PR.

Fast runners are out of your area of ​​expertise because you don’t have enough data on them, so it seemed like a good opportunity to add a new data point.

While preparing for the Exeter Marathon, I did some training runs of up to 10 miles using a 15-second walk rest every mile as my run / walk ratio. I also did a one-mile time trial to see what shape I was in, coming out with a 5:14.

A 5:14 mile connected to Galloway’s calculator estimated that my marathon would be at approximately 2:58. According to McMillan’s calculator, it was in the form of 2:52. Based on my own experience and training levels prior to this race, I calculated that I was about 2:54 in shape.

Using the Run / Walk method for the first 20 miles and then running, I ran at 2:50:26.

I would say that the experiment was a success and I think it is worth trying it when I am in better shape to see if I have similar gains for as long as I think I will be running.

I think the biggest benefit of taking walking breaks is that it gives me a good opportunity to stretch my back, give my muscles a quick breath with a different movement, and constantly and regularly reminds me to reevaluate my running form. .

I’m generally pretty good at evaluating my form anyway, but I don’t think I’ve had the discipline in the past to remind myself 3-4 times per mile, which is what I easily found myself doing when anticipating walking breaks. reboot after a walk break, and sometimes in between while looking for a real place to take the walk break to the best effect.

Any race, but especially long races like a marathon, is as much, if not more, a mental game than a physical game. Sure, you need to be in good shape to run a good time, but you can be in good shape and still have a bad time if your head isn’t in the right place. I think the walking breaks helped with both mental and physical play.

So with that said, I want to get in better shape. So I want to test this strategy in a bigger race where I will have people to race with. I want to see how I’ll do it.

I may have no evidence that it can run a 4 minute PR and enter 2:30, but I have no evidence that it cannot. Since I feel like I’m capable of doing it, I’m going to train for it and give it a try. This experiment was a success and he tells me that more research is needed.

If it doesn’t work, I’ll be back at full speed. If so, I’ll probably keep sprinting at some point, but I’ll keep playing run-walk-run.

Either way, my goal is to run fast.

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