Run/Walk Strategy for faster marathons

Gringo78

Comment from Tunney in Gear/Equipment, thought I'd move discussion to main forum

tunney wrote: »

Amongst multisports athletes its been accepted that an organised run/walk strategy is faster than a run for IM marathons (its also true for straight marathons but it will take a few years before ye lot come to accept that too (think to 2:30 or so and after that the research says it no longer is faster).

Any links to research on this? What kind of race/walk strategy is recommended in the region 2:45 marathon? I'm struggling to accept this really (as you said, you don't expect runners to understand it) but I'm taking it I need to run about 10sec/ml faster to counteract the walking? Which is not that dramatic a pace increase.

Should you train in this way on your long run or on a PMP run or just do it on race day? (I already break up my PMP runs into reps of 2-5miles but I'm not sure if this bears any resemblence to run/walk as I jog between reps and I think run/walk is more like 10-20sec every mile??)

Training for the last 2 weeks in sunnier climes where there were regular drinking fountains I obviously had to stop completely to use these and due to the heat, I stopped every one I could to drink, 10sec stop every 5min - was surprised how it didn't disrupt my rhythm.

Krusty_Clown

I assumed Tunney was just taking the pi$$. That's still my position!

pistol_75

I have heard Hal Higdon mention the benefits of walking through drink stops before. Says you benefit from taking on drink properly and also give your muscles a slight break.

I think and am open to correction but he may have said a guy he was coaching used this strategy to win Boston one year and has had many other faster guys achieve better times using this policy.

RayCun

Jeff Galloway, when interviewed on Marathon Talk, was saying the same thing.
But then, he would.

couerdelion

I found this quote which seems to add some wieght to the theory(?)

"I [Hal Higdon] once ran a 2:29 marathon, walking through every aid station. My son Kevin ran 2:18 and qualified for the Olympic Trials employing a similar strategy. And Bill Rodgers took four brief breaks (tying a shoe on one of them) while running 2:09 and winning the 1975 Boston Marathon. Walking gives your body a chance to rest, and you'll be able to continue running more comfortably. It's best to walk when you want to, not when your (fatigued) body forces you too."

http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/Mar00novice.htm

Edit: Pistol beat me to it. Quickdraw?

RacoonQueen

pistol_75 wrote: »

I have heard Hal Higdon mention the benefits of walking through drink stops before. Says you benefit from taking on drink properly and also give your muscles a slight break.

I think and am open to correction but he may have said a guy he was coaching used this strategy to win Boston one year and has had many other faster guys achieve better times using this policy.

I definitely reckon that if water is in cups, instead of bottles, that walking through the water station is more beneficial.

plodder

Can see how it might work in IM or ultras, but not in straight marathons. So, I'd be sceptical.

RayCun

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I definitely reckon that if water is in cups, instead of bottles, that walking through the water station is more beneficial.

I stepped off the road completely to drink cups of water at the half marathon, think it worked really well.

Gringo78

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

I assumed Tunney was just taking the pi$$. That's still my position!

I actually don't think he was.

For a 2:50 marathon, you need to run 6:29 pace. If you walk for 10sec at the end of every mile, you only need to run 5sec faster per mile than the straight no stopping pace.

I may actually test this out in training - I normally do a 10-12 mile PMP run split into something like 5-4-3 or 3-3-3-3 so I could do this as 1 mile reps/10sec walk breaks and see is there a noticeable difference.

shels4ever

Galloway ended up in a war of words with the guy who he claimed used his run/walk approach to run a 2:30 marathon. You can for sure run/walk your way to a faster slow marathon with this method. Then again I did see haile walk in berlin so maybe he's got a master plan to win the olympics next year with a few walk breaks.

Notwitch

For some reason i think the 2:18 was discredited?

Coach Bobby McGee supports the run/walk protocol a lot - i think recommending 9 min run / 1 min walk 10 min run / 1 min walk as optimal but you need to try it out and figure out what works for you. He fully supports training using the same methodology.

There was a very good interview on IMTalk - episode 170 available on itunes podcasts.

I understand a significant number of top age group ironmen train to some variation of this - working on the basis that they will walk the aid stations so that they can get sufficient fuel/fluid in - generally working to something between 9:1 and 19:1 minutes run:minutes walk.

Edit: to answer question he does recommend for marathons > 2:30, including open. See link to his blog, not sure he highlights the 'real science' as oppposed to case studies?!

http://bobby-mcgee.blogspot.com/2006/11/runwalk-method.html