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Dawn Y.
Dawn Y. Sendmail

Anyone use the Run/Walk/Run Method?

posted 10 months ago | Report

I'm recovering from a knee injury, patellar tendonitis, and am signed up to run the Chicago Marathon October 7th. With the set back this injury has given me I know I will not be physically ready to run the entire marathon and was wanting advice on the Jeff Galloway method (run/walk/run). I thought this may be a good way to get through the race. Any experience or advice would be very welcome. TIA.

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  • Joseph
    Joseph Sendmail

    I have been using this method since 2010, it has really helped me maintain injury free. During my first marathon in Athens Greece I saw a group using his beeper and those people were fast. Since then I have been using it, I normally do a 6 min run and up to 2 min walk and use an Iphone app called "Interval Pro" (I highly recommend this app) and not Jeff's device.

    Experiment a bit with your interval ratio, your walking speed will get faster. For the marathon, use the intervals till mile 20-22 after that you should have enough fuel in your legs and you'll finish strong.

    Good luck

    posted 10 months ago | edited 10 months ago

  • Liz G.
    Liz G. Sendmail

    I've used it to get through injury in the past, and have encouraged some of my new runners to use it to do their first half or full. It is great - I had a hard time 1st starting it, mentally. I did the whole "I'm a runner. Why am I walking?" thing. But after my 1st long run, I came home refreshed, not tired as usual. I'm injury-free now, but still run with someone using this plan every now and then to get in the miles and rest my body a bit.

    Play around with the timing of your run/walk intervals to find what works best for you. Switching back and forth can talk a little getting used to, so I find a set interval is best. But I agree with Joseph - the last couple miles of your race, hopefully you'll be feeling good, and can use the excitement to finish strong.

    posted 10 months ago

  • Lamond V.
    Lamond V. Sendmail

    I've used run/walk/run over the last year, and completed four marathons. My times weren't really fast, i.e. a little over 4 1/2 hrs. I've gotten a tiny bit slower on my long run pace, so as I'm training for my next marathon I'm planning to reduce the amount of walking on my less long runs, and gradually increase amount of walking as the length of my runs increases.

    The biggest drawback to run/walk/run is that you have to move to the side when you walk during the first few miles. I think it's easier on the smaller marathons. I would be interested in comments from anyone who has used run/walk/run on a large marathon.

    posted 10 months ago

  • Christopher Y.PRO
    Christopher Y. Sendmail

    Good point about taking walk breaks in the larger participant events. i'm training for my first half marathon, the ING Miami in January, and have been debating about testing out this method or not.

    posted 10 months ago

  • Liz G.
    Liz G. Sendmail
    in reply to what Lamond V. said:I've used run/walk/run over the last year, and completed four marathons. My times weren't really fast, i.e. a little over 4 1/2 hrs. I've gotten a tiny bit slower on my long run pace, so as I'm training for my next marathon I... read more

    As for larger races, just send yourself to maybe 1 corral further back than you get assigned (most races don't care if you move backwards without approval, but it doesn't hurt to doublecheck). That way, you don't have to feel in the way when you take your initial walk breaks.
    I did a half where a friend and I went to the very back, because we decided we wanted to walk out the first 5 min before starting our run/walk. We passed people for quite a while after that!

    posted 10 months ago

  • Joseph
    Joseph Sendmail

    Run/walk can indeed be difficult in a race that has a lot of participants or uses small roads, like trails. But then, following a marathon program basically enables you to run a marathon non-stop too. The walking intervals is just a tool to save energy, you don't need to stick to your ratio religiously.
    I ran a marathon on a 50% trail recently, I had people lining up behind me and I was not always able to walk according to my plan cause it would have hindered runners behind me. So I waited till the path broadened out; bottom line is, I did not get tired, I absolved the needed miles and long runs up to 35km. Nevertheless it concerned me that I was forced to keep running sometimes, but you need to be confident in the training you put in. It would be a different story if you decide to go out and run faster then you trained for at the last minute at the starting line and aim to run a 3:45 hour marathon instead of a 4:15 like you trained for.

    posted 10 months ago

  • Bryan P.
    Bryan P. Sendmail

    Hello Dawn!

    I'm a pretty big fan of Jeff Galloway's run/walk/run method. Like many overweight novices, walk breaks were the only way I would have ever been able to finish a marathon. I can now run 8 miles without walk breaks pretty easily, but still use walk breaks on almost all of my training runs.

    Using walk breaks, I can build up my long runs faster, so I can get more actual running miles in. Even on daily short runs, walk breaks can result in faster times and promote faster recovery.

    One of the greatest benefits for overweight runners is that that shorter intervals encourage a more intense and solide running form. The more active our muscles, the better they support and take the weight off of our joints.

    Overall, I like the flexibility of being able to adjust the frequency and length of walk breaks depending on my goals and my energy level.

    But even for more advanced runners, if you could finish a marathon 10-15 minutes faster by taking walk breaks, why wouldn't you? Galloway actually has a book for qualifying for Boston using his run/walk/run system.

    Jeff Galloway seems to be built a lot of conventional training knowledge built into his training plans. His mile repeats are actually based on 400m and 800m repeats. Also, at first glance, the short intervals (e.g. 2m/1m) may seem overly conservative, but they assume that the shorter intervals result in a faster pace which in theory will offset the increased number of walk breaks. It is not necessarily easier and often reminds me more of an extended speed work session.

    I have achieved my PB marathon of 5:12:00 using 2:30/1m run/walk intervals, and it was not necessarily the easiest way to go. For 22 miles I had to run 1 min/mile faster than everyone else to compensate for the walk breaks. (They'd pass me, I'd pass them.) But at mile 22, I had the energy to pick up the pace and leave everyone else behind.

    Actually, one goal this year is to build up my ability to run 10-18 miles without walk breaks, but when race day comes, I'm sure I will stick with the walk breaks.

    Hope this is helpful!

    posted 9 months ago

  • Paul
    Paul Sendmail

    the longer the run, or the closer it is to your physical limit the more sense a run walk strategy makes.

    If your willing to risk agravating the injury then a run walk strategy is probably your best bet.... forget about finishing fast and instead concentrate on enjoying the atmosphere, talk to the other 'runners' have a good time.

    posted 9 months ago

  • Dawn Y.
    Dawn Y. Sendmail

    Thanks everyone for sharing your insight. It's great to hear the positive responses about this style and I'm excited to give it a try come race day in October and during my final training weeks until then. I downloaded Jeff's Marathon book onto my kindle and am reading it now.

    posted 9 months ago

  • Niquole A.
    Niquole A. Sendmail

    ME! I'm trying to get away from it now as I was using it to get my body used to running. Only been at it for some two months.

    posted 9 months ago

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