Run/Walk Strategy?

Not done it for Ironman, but did it for marathon.  First year did just run and took 6 hours, second year did run/walk 3:1 and did 5 hours.

Could be I trained better, could be I had another year under my belt as well as experience...who knows.

What I do know is that since adopting the run/walk strategy i've had no shin splints and haven't torn or strained a calf muscle.  That is evidence enough that it makes sense.

Yes. You should experiment with the ratio of run to walk, but in the end it should be faster. I have lots of athletes use this and it works. Start with 5' run / 2' walk and then adjust from there. Some people end up at 4.5 / 1.5 while others end up at 9/1 or 8/2. It really depends on how you feel.

When I did my first IM (Louisville, 2010), my friends who did run/walk on Fink's Be Iron Fit plan (sluggo, karen26.2, aurea, crazyalaskian) were significantly faster than I was running straight through.

In subsequent IMs (Wisconsin, Vineman) and 1/2s (Rev3Knoxville, Beast of the East), I have walked up the harder hills to conserve energy/stay cool/not blow up.  Vineman was hot, so I designated any area exposed to the sun as a hill and walked those areas too.  This strategy has worked very well for me.  When walking, I stride very fast and start running again as soon as the hill/sun is over.

I would NOT use run/walk as a way to do less training for the run, though, and I don't do it in training on the roads.  You still have to run 26.2 miles, whether you are doing run/walk intervals or not, so if your run/walk intervals make you slower than straight running, you may need to add run minutes to your plan.

I've used two approaches to run/walk.  The first time, I ran as far into the marathon as I could before resorting to run/walk.  I was too spent to effectively stick to any kind of ratio and when I did run it was more of a shuffle than a run.

Second time, I started run/walk from the very first mile and really focused on staying comfortable as long into the race as I could.  It worked much better (one hour better) and I did not suffer nearly as much.  I altered my ratios and durations based on how I felt so if I needed to walk a little longer in order to feel relatively strong when I did run I did.

Heres a website to help you figure out your pace..

http://www.coachdino.org/runwalk.htm

Some watches will do interval timers with beeps or vibrates.

I didn't want to buy a new watch/HRM.  So when I did my first stand-alone marathon with the Jeff Galloway Run/walk method, I bought one of his branded timers...

( http://www.jeffgalloway.com/store/accessories/run-walk-run-timer.ht... )

I still have it and use it when I want do run/walk intervals.

Another thing I have used when running with my iphone is the Seconds Pro app.  You can set up any kind of intervals you want with that.

I'm sure there are many other ways.  These have worked for me.

I use run walk out of necessity.  I know I am faster because I would die if I ran the whole thing without a little break.  Remember, I am only trying to break 13 hours, not win. 

Last year I didn't have a plan and just ran to the aid station then walked a bit.  On he second lap I started walking about every half mile then maybe every quarter mile.  This year I will walk every 1/2 mile for 30 - 45 seconds from the beginning.  Makes all the difference in the word to me.   It's kind of a reward for me.

So, it is not "am I  faster" but more how can I finish with a decent time, upright

enjoy,

Duane 

I use my Garmin early to force myself to stick to a plan and I am a numbers person so I occupy my mind with watching it pretty closely.  I'll alter the timing of my ratios to take advantage of walking aid stations and steeper hills.  Conversely, I like don't like to walk downhill and will try to shift things around to run as much downhill as is practical. 

I'm not only faster with a run/walk, but I'm also in a lot less pain and it takes me longer to fatigue. 

The run/walk I did last week (and I do a 4:1 ratio) was faster than my stand alone 1/2 marathon time last year.  I will definitely be using this same strategy at IMAZ next month. 

Find what works for you and what you're comfortable with. 

x2

Also, did you try to do it in any way? Maybe it would be better to create a plan after Half-Marathon mark, or after 15k, or when you feel your glycogen stores are depleted.

As far as myself is concerned, I feel better keeping up a slow pace than running faster +  resting. Keep up a constant heart rate sounds like  a good option.  

Depends. if I needed something I would start my walk then do the 8:1 from then on.  Every time I walked, I'd reset to my normal interval.  If I needed to go a few minutes more because I can see an aid station then I run a bit more.  I don't stick 100% to the plan, kind of improvise as I go.

enjoy,

Duane

I know the RW is a race strategy but do people use it as a normal training strategy?  If for a training strategy, would this be just for the long run?

When I'm training (I've been doing a 9:1), if it's longer than a 4 mile run, then I employ run/walk.  If it's shorter than that, I generally run the whole thing.  No scientific reason here, though.

To echo many others on here, in the two races I've done this in, I've just kinda done what feels right when it comes to aid stations because they rarely line up to the time I'm supposed to walk.  I do a 9:1 so I don't have to think about it too much since 10 minute intervals are easy to keep track of, but if I get off, I just do the best I can, but sometimes fudge it to get back on the 10 minute track. 

For me, anything under 10 miles is a straight run.  10 and over, I do 9-1 because that is close to what my HIM pace should be between aid stations.  YMMV

Nothing new on race day, right? ;-) I have my athletes use it on anything over 1 hour. It's a personal preference, but I've found this works pretty well for the majority of people I've worked with and who use the RW method.