Hi Coach Parry, I implemented the run/walk strategy in the marathon I did Saturday, the Weskus marathon in Langebaan. My first race back since 2020. I did a 9min run /1min walk strategy. Remembering to do a fast walk. The longer hills I did a shorter run but kept to the 1min walk. This helped me tremendously. My goal was to do a qualifying time of 4h45 for Comrades.. well I completed it in 4h21min. This was my best time on this tough route. I must thank you and your team for all the informative videos you put out especially the Beyond 50 as I am 53 years old now and was struggling to maintain my speed after I slowed down tremendously when lockdown was put in place. I have now gained my confidence again knowing I can achieve my goals. All I have to do is continue to implement the strategies given by you and your team. Thank you once again.
In addition to relieving muscle fatigue, walking is good for a another muscle, the heart. Every runner experiences cardiac drift, where over time the heart isn't beating as efficiently and so the heart rate goes up. This typical happens at 10 -12 minutes. So by walking you are giving your heart a chance to relax, and return to more efficient beats per minute, and you're spending more time in that more comfortable zone, while still moving forward. We can all walk father than we can run. Even the world's best ultra runners typically walk up hilly terrain etc. No shame in walking.
I got up to 20 miles doing this. I'm not out of shape or an amateur runner, but I am very injury prone. My endurance is better using RWR, my pace is every bit as good (if not better) than when I run the whole time. I have an app that has the run/walk intervals on audio-it plays over my music or audiobook so I know when to walk or run. It's great.
I love the RWR strategy. I used it for my second marathon and ended up with a 27 min PR. In my first marathon I ran the whole time. I have a video up on my channel about this.
Thank you Lindsey. I started the run walk and it really helps a lot. Ankles not painful any more. Now its just a bit of calve mussle stifness. Its not pain but a little stiff. Keep up the good work. I enjoy your videos and podcasts. Greetings from the crazy blind runner in Nigel
I have a knee injury at the moment haven’t run for nearly 6 weeks I’ve been wearing a knee brace and seen a physio and he says I don’t need an X-ray but the longer this goes on the more nervous I am about starting running again before this happened I was regularly running 3 miles a day and 8 miles on the weekends so how do you think I should restart my running at the moment I’m walking about half a mile daily?
Coach I dont like walking when I am running but at Comrades I am forced to walk. How will that affect me if I never do it in training? I never even walk at Two Oceans and I believe I am fairly strong on hills.
Just to clarify...when discussing the use of 'walking', I would assume you are talking about maintaining a pace that would be at, or close, to speedwalking--say, around 120-130 steps per minute?
Hi Heather, not quite that hard! Just a purposeful route march/walk, race walking will actually increase cardiovascular load and stress on muscles and joints.
I think the key phrase is to walk as to stay fresh as opposed to waiting to walk for recovery. This really clarified the philosophy for me.
Hi Coach Parry, I implemented the run/walk strategy in the marathon I did Saturday, the Weskus marathon in Langebaan. My first race back since 2020. I did a 9min run /1min walk strategy. Remembering to do a fast walk. The longer hills I did a shorter run but kept to the 1min walk. This helped me tremendously. My goal was to do a qualifying time of 4h45 for Comrades.. well I completed it in 4h21min. This was my best time on this tough route.
I must thank you and your team for all the informative videos you put out especially the Beyond 50 as I am 53 years old now and was struggling to maintain my speed after I slowed down tremendously when lockdown was put in place.
I have now gained my confidence again knowing I can achieve my goals. All I have to do is continue to implement the strategies given by you and your team. Thank you once again.
In addition to relieving muscle fatigue, walking is good for a another muscle, the heart. Every runner experiences cardiac drift, where over time the heart isn't beating as efficiently and so the heart rate goes up. This typical happens at 10 -12 minutes. So by walking you are giving your heart a chance to relax, and return to more efficient beats per minute, and you're spending more time in that more comfortable zone, while still moving forward. We can all walk father than we can run. Even the world's best ultra runners typically walk up hilly terrain etc. No shame in walking.
I've been haphazardly incorporating walk breaks into my long runs, but this really helped clarify why/ when to do it properly.
I got up to 20 miles doing this. I'm not out of shape or an amateur runner, but I am very injury prone. My endurance is better using RWR, my pace is every bit as good (if not better) than when I run the whole time. I have an app that has the run/walk intervals on audio-it plays over my music or audiobook so I know when to walk or run. It's great.
What app is it
I love the RWR strategy. I used it for my second marathon and ended up with a 27 min PR. In my first marathon I ran the whole time. I have a video up on my channel about this.
Thank you Lindsey. I started the run walk and it really helps a lot.
Ankles not painful any more. Now its just a bit of calve mussle stifness. Its not pain but a little stiff.
Keep up the good work. I enjoy your videos and podcasts. Greetings from the crazy blind runner in Nigel
I often find that counting steps gets me up hills. I walk 100 steps then run 200 or 300. This means that I can walk at a good pace.
I have a knee injury at the moment haven’t run for nearly 6 weeks I’ve been wearing a knee brace and seen a physio and he says I don’t need an X-ray but the longer this goes on the more nervous I am about starting running again before this happened I was regularly running 3 miles a day and 8 miles on the weekends so how do you think I should restart my running at the moment I’m walking about half a mile daily?
Coach I dont like walking when I am running but at Comrades I am forced to walk. How will that affect me if I never do it in training? I never even walk at Two Oceans and I believe I am fairly strong on hills.
On run/walk training, how hard should we run on the run portion?
Just to clarify...when discussing the use of 'walking', I would assume you are talking about maintaining a pace that would be at, or close, to speedwalking--say, around 120-130 steps per minute?
Hi Heather, not quite that hard! Just a purposeful route march/walk, race walking will actually increase cardiovascular load and stress on muscles and joints.