Why walk breaks could make you a better runner

Adding walk breaks to my long, slow run at the weekend has improved my speed enough to make my potential half-marathon time nine minutes faster than running all the way, as well as feeling a lot easier. If you’re disappointed with your speed over distance or simply find running over an hour somewhat daunting, you may want to give it a try.

This is from today's blog:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/BerryH/view/why-walk-breaks-could-make-you-a-better-runner-140138

Before you read this, you have to promise not to laugh at how slow I am. Promise? OK, let’s go.

Taking regular walk breaks is an excellent way to build up running stamina for beginner runners. You only need look at the success of Couch To 5K (C25K) among MFP users who had never run a step in their life but built up from running for a minute to 30 minutes straight over the course of just nine weeks.

Buoyed by their success, many runners build on this, gradually adding minutes or returning to a similar walk-to-run programme to run 10K, a half marathon, a marathon. I was one of those people who tried running continuously, but ended up disappointed with ever-decreasing speeds, injury and recurrent illness from stressing my body. I have dropped out of more races before even getting to the start line than I dare mention.

I am currently training for a half-marathon in October and have decided to take regular walk breaks. I base my ratios on Jeff Galloway’s method (Google him, he’s awesome).

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

My target is 12 min/miles so I use run 2/walk 1.

Galloway claims that by taking regular walk breaks most runners record faster times because they don’t slow down over the duration of the race, and can even speed up by having more left in their legs than their competitors. There’s also the mental component – you don’t have another 26 miles or five and a half hours to go, you only have the next two minutes.

He also recommends that you can reduce or eliminate walk breaks after 18 miles depending how you’re feeling.

Was I entirely convinced by the claims? Hell no, it’s illogical that walking a third of the time will make you faster than running all the way, right? So I went out to record some empirical evidence. Last week I did my long, slow run (LSR) using my walk 2/run 1 ratio and recorded it on Cardiotrainer (other outdoor exercise tracking apps are available!). This week I ran exactly the same course, but as I was feeling really good in myself I decided to try running it all.

To make a fair comparison, in both cases I kept to about level 6 on the 10-point rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale:

0 – Nothing at all
0.5 – Just noticeable
1 – Very light
2 – Light
3 – Moderate
4 – Somewhat heavy
5 – Heavy
6
7 – Very heavy
8
9
10 – Very, very heavy

The results surprised me. And here’s the bit where you can’t laugh, I know it’s barely faster than a brisk walk.

Last week doing run 2/walk 1 I averaged 7.6kph (4.72mph, or 12.7 minutes per mile). This week running non-stop (I even drank water on the go) I averaged 7.2kph (4.47mph or 13.4 minutes per mile). That’s a nine-minute saving over the course of a half-marathon! On average I’m getting faster on my walk/run sessions too, so I could get even better results.

Just in case you think run/walk only makes a difference for slowbies like me, Jeff Galloway cites examples of runners he has trained who have dropped their marathon times from 3:15 to under three hours just by adding walk breaks.

I use walk/run on all my training runs over one hour now, keeping my mid-week runs all-running. If you find you get slower the further you run, or are simply daunted by the prospect of running for over an hour, try adding in regular walk breaks right from the start of your run. In this case a change really is as good as a rest!