Run/walk intervals – it doesn’t have to end with C25K

From today's blog:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/BerryH/view/run-walk-intervals-from-c25k-to-marathon-117585

So you’ve finished C25K and can run for half an hour. Congratulations! Time to enter a race and show off all your hard work. But after that, what?

Try and beat your personal best? Go for longer distances? Maybe a marathon?

I have a real problem with running for a long time. To complete the increasing training distances I just get slower… and slower... I get more and more miserable with every long run, get injured, feel an obligation to complete the race and do it regardless, trudging along lethargically and getting a time I’m embarrassed to tell people.

Running’s a sport, hobby, or pastime and we’re supposed to enjoy those, right? It’s not a torture designed to burn enough calories to eat a proper dinner.

What if there was a way to keep up that C25K feeling of achieving more and more, yet stay enthused, uninjured and have that feeling of going on forever?

There is, just return to the run/walk intervals that got you through C25K and keep it going at a rate that suits your running speed!

What’s even better is you stand a very good chance indeed of finishing a longer race much faster than you would if you’d attempted to run it all.

Don’t believe me? Friends have knocked half an hour off their Marathon times with this method.

The biggest proponent of the run/walk method is running coach Jeff Galloway. He’s seen even super-fast 3-hour marathoners getting faster using his method.

In summary you must take walking breaks regularly, take them often, and take them right from the start of the race or training session.

We’re not talking breaks after half an hour, or when you get so tired you can only walk. We’re talking as often as every minute, or even more often if you’re just setting out. Here are Galloway’s ratios, based on your training minutes-per-mile:

Run-walk-run ratio should correspond to the training pace used:
8 min/mi—run 4 min/walk 35 seconds
9 min/mi— 4 min run-1 min walk
10 min/mi—-3:1
11 min/mi—2:30-1
12 min/mi—-2:1
13 min/mi—-1:1
14 min/mi—30 sec run/30 sec walk
15 min/mi—30 sec/45 sec
16 min/mi—30 sec/60 sec

I’m starting my training for a half marathon next week. Am I going to use this method? You betcha! I’m a 12-minute mile girl, so I’ll be doing run2/walk 1. I feel like I could go forever with my regular walk breaks!

I intend to stick to running constantly through mid-week session of less than 40 minutes.

Please do check out Galloway’s site. There are training programmes from 5K to a full Marathon that anyone can do.

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/

If you’re a run/walker or if you’re planning to give it a go, get in touch, I’d love to compare notes!