I will be doing a half marathon and want to do the run/walk technique. I am thinking of running for eight and then walking for one. How do you determine what is the right ratio for running to walking? Thanks
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Run/Walk
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Posted 2 months ago #
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You need to know your strengths and weaknesses.Depending on how well you trained for the event will determine the ratio of walking to running.What is important is that you finish strong. In other words, when you cross the finish line you should not be gasping for air. If this is your first marathon you should concentrate on finishing and not be focusing so much on time.
Posted 2 months ago # -
Checkout John Bingham's Running for Mortals or Marathoning for Mortals. He has a website also that will break it down for you. Hal Higdon (another good website) is another good training program. I'm a run/walker and for a 12min pace they suggest a 2:1 ratio. I am working towards a 5:1 ratio which I think is a 9-10 min. mile. Can't remember. I can run for a good 30-40 minutes now but at a snails pace, which is where Iam at, not where I want to be. So remember to start at the level you are at, you'll be surprised at how quickly you can build up your speed. Definitely enjoy the race...half the battle is getting started!
Posted 2 months ago # -
Run/Walk is a great strategy for even advanced runners. There's a lot of research to support the idea that giving yourself walk breaks will improve your overall performance.
From a training perspective, it allows you to recover, and train further and faster than you could if you didn't take breaks. From a racing perspective it allows you to run harder, have a mini recovery, and run hard again.
Most world class Ironman triathletes use run/walk in their run legs of their Ironman races... If it's good enough for them, then who am I to argue?!
I use run/walk in every race.
Now, candidly, some people still think that somehow taking short walk breaks is somehow not "truly" running, even if it actually allows you to complete a race faster... go figure?! But I say, it's about finishing and finishing faster... and if run/walk works to make you faster, than why not use it?
Once you decide that using run/walk is a legitimate way to run a strong race then the trick is determining a ratio that works for you. I think the key to finding this is practice... When you first start out, depending on your fitness, you might start out 50/50. As you become more conditioned you will find that you want to run further and shorten your breaks.
In my peak condition, I tried to focus on a race strategy of run between water stations, and walk the water stations. That means approximately run 2-3 miles and walk 20-45 seconds.
But to get there, I started with something like run half a mile, walk 1 minute (so thats about 5:1)... I worked up to run 1 mile, walk 1 minute... and then worked on making my running segments faster and faster.
The point is it doesn't matter where you start... it's more about using this approach to give you confidence to go further and ultimately improve.
Good luck!
Posted 2 months ago # -
wayne, I think you are making a good decision to try out the run/walk strategy for your race. Brad (as you can see) and I have talked about this before and we are both huge believers. Here's a post that I wrote earlier this year about the topic:
Walking my way to faster races
An irony that you'll find is that some people don't respect a the strategy. Recently I was in a discussion with someone and told them I used a run/walk strategy. I didn't know the person well (just met) and they gave me an "ohhh" response. Like I somehow wasn't the runner I should be because I walked... the irony is that I was over a half hour faster for the marathon? Go figure.
I really believe for a marathon anyone over 3 hours needs to consider the strategy... and anyone over 3.5 hours needs to use the strategy.
Listen to my two marathon podcasts from this spring where we used the run/walk method:
Your question:
As Brad said, you have to practice this. I recommend that as you begin, start with nothing over 5:1 , run:walk. (in minutes). As as you feel more fit, you can change the ratio... very similar to what Brad was saying.
If you use a heart rate monitor, you can use it to help determine the pattern you follow.
Have fun!
Posted 2 months ago # -
I completely agree with everything said above. I am still a newbie in my running and the run/walk strategy has worked very well for me in training for the 1/2 marathon that I did last month. If I were to only run I would not last for a very long workout. But doing this strategy I can train for an hour or more at a time going longer distances. If your a beginner this website gets you running up to 30 minutes at a time using this strategy and you can adjust it based on where you're at already.
http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/smartcoach/beginner/0,7146,s6-238-277-278-0,00.html
Hope this helps!Posted 2 months ago # -
Wayne,
You didn't say where the race was or how much training you've done but one thing to consider is planning the walk intervals for the downhills. In my experience those are the hardest on body because of the impact and "braking" is not something most people train.I've found the run/walk technique is key to me being able to do run training (necessary evil ;-) ) and stay healthy.
Posted 2 months ago #
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