Walk breaks (10 and 1's)
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Anton posted 14 weeks ago.
In answer to your question, yeah, it's true...people take walking breaks in IM marathons...A lot of the time it's not planned!
I been following the walking breaks thing for years...(25 actually) ...
Here's my take: I used to think if you walked you really didn't do it. Most of the folks I ran with felt the same.Walking or taking breaks was a sin. Due to an injury, I sort of had to do it in a race...finished with a reasonable time and couldn't believe how good I felt compared to previous outings.
I read about Boston Bill Rodgers walking through aid stations, stopping to tie his shoes and such on the way to a win at Boston in the 70's. WALKING through aid stations!...I started to do it. It worked for me. Jeff Galloway comes along and puts the philosophy into fine form. He studies it and makes it do-able and understandable for everyone.
I'm a big believer in walking breaks. It allows me to go farther and recover quicker than when I was in my 20's and 30's.
Remember those folks I mentioned who believed that walking was a sin? They don't run anymore. They trashed themselves, had knee replacements and the only thing they can do now is walk.
10 x 1 works fine, but better yet find what works for you... to help with that:
www.jeffgalloway.com
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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Ironmom posted 14 weeks ago.
I think walking breaks work really well for a lot of people. I have a friend who is a pretty reasonable marathoner (3:20) who swears by the 10/1 thing. I have tried to make it work for me, and it really doesn't (for me, that is). In order to average the same time, I have to run at a faster pace, and I can never seem to get back into it after each walking break. I'm one of those people who feel crappy at the start of a run and a whole lot better after 30 - 60 minutes. With the walk break, it seemed like the whole run just felt crappy. But like I said, I know lots of people that it works very very well for.
In the IM, most people walk the aid stations, if nothing else. By that point, assuming you've already spent 6 - 7 or so hours on the course, you definitely need to be getting fuel and fluids into your body. A lot of folks walk a whole lot more of the IM marathon than they planned on doing, that's for sure!. I walked through all of the aid stations in the IM marathon and that worked out fairly well, all things considered.
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
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jonovision_man posted 14 weeks ago.
Anton wrote:
In answer to your question, yeah, it's true...people take walking breaks in IM marathons...A lot of the time it's not planned!
Good to know... seems like a better strategy, then, would be to plan for it! :)
Anton wrote:
10 x 1 works fine, but better yet find what works for you... to help with that:
www.jeffgalloway.com
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
jono
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248-n8 posted 14 weeks ago.
I tried something similar to this for the first time today on my 65 min run and it was great. I stopped about every 15 mins based on where there was shade or water on my path and at the end of my run I had a lot more energy than usual. I have my first triathlon this upcoming Saturday and I know for sure I will be trying this out.
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kylie posted 14 weeks ago.
I find this to be a personal one. When road running, I don't like taking walk breaks. It really breaks my focus/momentum/something. I just feel better if I run the whole thing. On the trails though it is different -- I walk hills, and stop for good views ;) I think terrain is a big part of the walk breaks there for me -- return on the running investment isn't worth it.
I think it is one of those things to try and then if it works for you implement it and go for it! If not, well, go back to not doing it.
And I must say that while many people do end up walking the IM marathon (and not always planning to) I don't think that means the right strategy is to plan to walk (unless you prefer that, as stated above). The reason most people end up walking is that they go too hard on the bike or harder than they are trained for -- you could always pick racing for how you trained ;)
Kylie Donia's Miles of Life --- Powered by MarkyV
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jhudalla posted 13 weeks ago.
+1 for walking the water breaks. In a marathon I've found it great for the mental focus to ignore the distance and run water stop to water stop. Typically they are 1-2 miles apart. If you walk for 15 seconds every mile or two you give your heart time to recover ( a little ) and you can get that liquid down well enough to ensure it gets in you and not all over you. In training... well, training is training. Walk breaks to chat with friends, enjoy scenery... but also pushing it harder than race day... in the end of the day training is what it's about anyhow right?
Weary is the path that does not challenge.
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Ironmom posted 13 weeks ago.
kylie wrote:
And I must say that while many people do end up walking the IM marathon (and not always planning to) I don't think that means the right strategy is to plan to walk (unless you prefer that, as stated above). The reason most people end up walking is that they go too hard on the bike or harder than they are trained for -- you could always pick racing for how you trained ;)
+! on making your race strategy match your training. Too many people go too hard on the bike and end up with a death march for the marathon. Better to stick to your planand if you walk during the marathon make it because you want or planned to, not because you have to!
Also the IM marathon has lots of goodies at the aid stations, like cookies, hot chicken broth, etc. Sometimes you need to walk through an aid station just to get that stuff in your stomach instead of wearing it.
Blue Skies, -Robin-
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/
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gfd posted 13 weeks ago.
I do not walk when doing a stand alone marathon. I tried walking the hydration stations once and it was not beneficial. It took too long to get back on pace. I do believe in breaks during long training runs to refuel and stretch.
In the IM marathon I had no choice but to walk the aid stations. It became something to look forward to and it was enjoyable to take a quick break and have some fun with the volunteers.
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thebeatcatcher posted 13 weeks ago.
On my first HIM I knew I wasn't going to be in the shape I wanted to be in, so I planned on doing some walking. I checked out the Galloway thing (from advice here) and practiced it and liked it. One important thing to the technique for me is to make sure and walk early and before you're tired and you have to, and don't walk too long so your legs stay warm.
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jonovision_man posted 13 weeks ago.
thebeatcatcher wrote:
On my first HIM I knew I wasn't going to be in the shape I wanted to be in, so I planned on doing some walking. I checked out the Galloway thing (from advice here) and practiced it and liked it. One important thing to the technique for me is to make sure and walk early and before you're tired and you have to, and don't walk too long so your legs stay warm.
What intervals did you end up using?
I've stuck with 10 and 1's for a few weeks now on my long runs, it's been perfect. I'm doing a 1/4 marathon (10.5k) in a few weeks, I'm going to try it then to see how competitive of a time I can set with the breaks.
2833
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1318 days
Anton posted 13 weeks ago.
I've found that a good part of this is to practice walking. When you take a walk break, really scoot. Not race walking here, but definitely up tempo! When I take walking breaks, I'm not lollygagging. I'm walking fast. Like 11 to 12 minute mile fast... Folks who feel that walking breaks slow you down aren't moving when they are walking...Oh, and hanging out in the aid station chatting doesn't help either.;)
You idea of trying it in a race is great...you have to try things in race conditions, not just in training, to see how they work.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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jonovision_man posted 10 weeks ago.
Hey thanks everyone for the advice.
I did a 1/4 marathon on the weekend (10.5K) and tried the walk breaks. It's not a really long run, but it was long enough to test it out.
Verdict:
I like it a lot, it worked for me, and I'll keep doing it! :)
I found a pace band tool that includes walk breaks:
http://www.ottawarun.com/pacetag.htm
Based on 10 and 1's and 6km/h walking speed, I found to get my target of 52:30 I would have to run:
4:48/km with walk breaks
5:00/km without
So really I only had to find 12 seconds per kilometer while running to get to walk 10% of the time. Seemed quite reasonable.
Anton - your advice to really scoot during the walk was great, I found I was able to recharge even while keeping moving. A minute is plenty of time.
This course was downhill for the first 5K, then a mix of flat and uphill for the last 5K+, so it was a little tough to tell just from times if my performance dropped off during the run.
From the way it felt, though, the walk breaks helped. It gave me confidence to push to the end of my run segments, knowing I had a break coming. And after the break I felt refreshed and ready to go another round. The last 10 minutes felt great, where usually if I'm running straight through I feel pretty dogged.
10K is a bit short to get the full benefit, but it did show me that I could keep as good of a pace with them as without them... so I'm definitely going to keep it up, and try it in a 1/2 marathon.
jono
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Anton posted 10 weeks ago.
Too cool! And like you say...it's not for everyone but for some people it works well... Lets us know how it goes as you push out those distances.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
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beads1985 posted 10 weeks ago.
I walk thru aide stations at every marathon.
I get my drink without choking on it and I get a quick break, then I get going again.
On the trails I walk when it gets steep and save my energy.
Nothing to it, but to do it
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olivestri posted 8 weeks ago.
Hey Anton - or anyone else,
What do you think is going on physiologically when you take walk breaks that allows you to recover more like the youngins' and avoid knee blowouts etc like others your age?
Aside from, "it is always nice to take a break," i can't think of what would be occuring that would make run-walk-run more healthy for your knees etc. and over the long term even...
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118 days
jonovision_man posted 8 weeks ago.
Check out this page from the link Anton posted above:
http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/walk_breaks.html
Quote:
Why do walk breaks work?By using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goal or not.
Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown.
In my personal (albeit short) experience, they've allowed me to push out my LSDs quicker without injury and fatigue. Part of that could be my conditioning is better than last time I ramped up, but during runs I just generally feel fresher.
jono
I've heard a lot of good things about taking regular walk breaks as part of a run training program (and in races!). "The Running Room" franchise of stores runs clinics that typically do "10 and 1's", 10 minutes of running followed by 1 minute walk breaks.
The theory goes that the periods of walking use different muscles, which gives some rest to some of the running muscles.
Anyone do this? I didn't originally, but now I'm trying to build up mileage after an injury so I started. It's been really good! It does seem like my pace holds better, and doesn't drop off toward the end of long runs the way it used to.
I've also heard that most people end up doing walk breaks during Ironman (other than the top 10% or so.). Is that true?
Thanks...
Blog: http://www.marshmallowman2ironman.com/