"When you say you're slow, do you mean compared to the people who never exercise or the vast majority of people who can't run a mile without stopping? You're a runner. There is no such thing as slow!" - good quote, but I forgot to write down who said it
Years ago, when I was coaching Team-in-Training, Ken Harkless was coaching the run/walkers. I was the big, tough Run Coach and when he first starting doing run/walking, I would kid him before the race and ask if he was going to do "the girlie thing". Well, he would set off running for 10 minutes and walking for one. After the first 10', I would say "bye, see you in the parking lot" and off I'd go. Well, I'll be darned, at about 24 miles here I am staring at "girlie thing's" butt, as he motors by. One time, in San Diego, we ran/walked together and I couldn't believe we did a 3:45. It really does work, and if Mercedes, or any other marathon, is your first marathon, or if you're nursing an ache or pain, or just not wanting to beat yourself up, it's the perfect way to prevent the fatigue that WILL hit you late in the race. Doesn't matter if you're doing the full or half or just out there training, give it a try. Now, if you're super-stubborn, like me, there is this HUGE mental block that prevents you from walking until you're forced to. I mean I KNOW it would help me, but 90% of my brain cells are screaming "DON'T WALK, DON'T WALK" until I'm ready to collapse late in the race and then the the signal clears the tower "OK, YOU CAN WALK NOW!".
You should start your walk portion before your running muscles get too tired, from the start of the run. This will allow your muscles to recover instantly, which extends the time and distance that you can cover. If you wait until you're very fatigued, you'll end up walking slowly and it will be difficult to start running again. For the walk portions, make sure you're not taking a leisurely stroll.
Here's a pearl - if you're worried about your pace, don't. If you walk briskly for one minute every mile, you'll only lose about 15 seconds/mile. Even if you walk slowly, you'll ONLY lose about 20 seconds - yes, only 5 seconds more!! Remember, you're still moving forward. It comes to about 8-9 minutes difference in time over the course of a full 26.2 mile marathon! In other words, if you set out at 10'/mile pace, and keep it up, that will get you in about 4:22. If you still run that pace, but walk for one minute at each mile marker, you'll come under the balloons in about 4:31. That's definitely not a big price to pay to prevent beating yourself up.
I actually found a pretty cool run/walk calculator where you plug in all the variables and it will tell you how fast your run segments should be to reach your goal. It can be found HERE
Now, for those of you interested in training with a group to really make it easier, I heartily recommend you join the BTC Saturday Long Run Group. They run at 6am and have pacers for your training run for everything up to 12 minutes per mile. Now, you're talking my language. For more info, call Jeff down at the Trak Shak. They are scheduling 2 runs on the Mercedes course on January 9th, and January 30th. They'll be plenty more info on that before the runs, so stay alert! I plan to be there and will do the (very slow) run/walk. Anybody wanna join me?
Have a great week training and I'll see you all on the roads...walking or running - AL
No comments:
Post a Comment