It may sound counterintuitive to stop and walk in the middle of a race, but I've spoken to scores of runners who set PRs in the marathon by doing just that. Walk breaks work by reducing the intensity of your run. This conserves resources during the first half of a race, so you'll be able to speed up at the end. You'll allow your muscles to recover while continuing to make progress.
That actually makes sense to me. He goes on to suggest that there is a psychological benefit to the walk breaks as well, since taking regularly scheduled breaks gives you something to look forward throughout the race. And I've never been under the illusion that I'd run nonstop during the marathon; it just never occurred to me to use walking intentionally and strategically. I think we're going to try this on our Saturday runs and see how it goes.
Anyone ever tried this technique? Post a comment.
2 comments:
I actually experimented with the Galloway method while training for my marathon with a running club in DC. I had to modify it a bit (runner's pride); I ended up running for 8 or 10 minutes and walking for one. Galloway is absolutely correct about one thing: it gives you something to look forward to. It breaks a long run down into (many) much more manageable sections. I sort of kept it on the back burner, used it for my longer runs, and promised myself I would be allowed to use it on race day if need be. One important disclaimer: when you are 17 miles into an 18 mile run (my longest training run), stopping to walk is heavenly... but getting started running again, even for one more mile, was really hard and actually pretty painful.
I think the hardest part of marathon training for me was how it beat up my body. My lungs, fine. My muscles, no problem. I'd been running for years - this was no big deal, right? But my hips, knees, ankles.... ugh. I can clearly remember that 18 mile run, where I had stopped for my one minute after the 17th mile, and once I started running again I promised myself I would NOT stop to walk again, no matter how long it took to finish that last mile!
Pros and cons, like everything else.
Interesting. It seems to me that to get the benefit of his method, you must take the walk breaks early and often. He suggests taking them from the very first mile and only stopping them toward the very end of the race, and then only if you need to.
I think if I start using them on long training runs, I'll go for more of a 4:1 ratio, something in that range. I probably wouldn't see any benefit if I spaced it out at 8:1 or 10:1, because I'm not nearly as serious (or good) a runner as you were.
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