Run/Walk London Marathon Training
The countdown is on to London Marathon 2022!
Eight weeks into training for my first marathon after pregnancy (and my first Marathon Major) and with eight weeks left to go I feel really good, and I put that down to my run/walk marathon training strategy.
As someone who’s juggling a full time job, a family and who struggles with tiredness and overwhelm from time to time, I was determined to be as realistic as possible when it came to training for London Marathon. While this isn’t my first marathon, it is my first marathon since having a baby and if I’ve learnt anything from my previous marathons (and ultra marathon!) overtraining can be an issue for me. Because of this I’ve opted to follow a beginners plan put together by London Marathon where I run three times a week with lots of rest between runs - experience tells me that I operate best on three sessions a week, more tends to wipe me out and has a negative effect on my training. What’s more, these sessions are pretty much all run/walk.
Why Run/Walk During Marathon Training?
The run/walk method sounds counterintuitive - surely if you need to walk you’re not up to running a marathon? Isn’t it just for newbies and people who aren’t serious about running?
WRONG!
The run/walk method is hugely popular amongst runners at all levels because it can help to manage mental fatigue and prevent injury, overcome mental barriers, improve pace and endurance and fuel more effectively. All massive wins in my book!
Manage Fatigue and Prevent Injury
Sometimes referred to as the ‘Galloway Method’ after Jeff Galloway who popularised the approach, this isn’t about walking because you’re tired, but rather including specific walk breaks throughout your run to prevent fatigue and to allow you to mentally and physically recover:
“Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown.”
It is ideal for someone like me who tends to fatigue easily but wants to build their endurance without risking injury or increasing their cortisol (your body’s main stress hormone) to unmanageable levels.
Overcome Mental Barriers
Whether you're new to running long distances or it’s been awhile since you clocked up serious milage, it can be really easy to get up in your head and feel overwhelmed by the thought of having to run X number or miles or for Y number of hours. The run/walk method really helps break things down into more manageable chunks as it’s much easier to persuade yourself you can keep running for a few minutes in comparison to a few hours.
Improve Pace and Endurance
According to Jeff Galloway using the run/walk method could pay off big time on race day with average half marathon race times improving by 7 minutes, and marathon finish times improving by 13 minutes! While time isn’t a goal for me at London Marathon 2022, it’s still nice to think I might see some pace gains. On the flip side, the run/walk method can help build running endurance by keeping your mile pace down. So many runners run their easy runs way too hard, and by adding in walk breaks you’re forced to slow down which can help avoid burn out and injury.
Fuel Effectively
In the past I’ve not found it easy to take on fuel or hydrate during my long runs because I’ve been so focused on trying to keep going. Scheduled walk breaks help me make sure I take on the fuel and hydration I need to feel good during my runs.
Run/Walk Marathon Training
There are a few ways you can make the run/walk method part of your marathon training. For example, you could decide you want to use when your training plan calls for an easy run to make sure that run really is easy, or you could decide you’re going to walk 1 minute for every mile/km you cover - I did this during the ASICS London 10k and loved it, the miles flew by and my legs felt fresh even in the last stretch. Another idea is to decide that you’re going to walk after a set amount of time, so for example you’ll walk for 1 minute after every 9 minutes of running. There are no hard and fast rules, it’s all about working out what works for you.
While training for London Marathon 2022 I’ve followed the walk/run ratio suggested in my training plan, so during my 2 hour long run this weekend I would run for 25 minutes and then walk for 5 minutes, which worked nicely for me, although I think I’ll plan to walk more regularly on race day (perhaps 1 minute for every mile).
Galloway’s Magic Mile
Jeff Galloway suggests using a ‘magic mile’ to workout what ratio you should be using to run/walk. You run a mile hard and then use the following formulas to calculate your ideal pace:
add 33 seconds to your magic mile for your 5k pace
multiply your magic mile by 1.15 for your 10k pace
multiply your magic mile by 1.2 for your half marathon pace
multiply your magic mile by 1.3 for your marathon pace
Galloway then recommends run/walk ratios based on those paces, which you can find here. It’s a good starting point, but for me it requires a bit too much thinking (life right now means I don’t have a lot of headspace!), so I prefer to keep things simple and use a little trial and error when it comes to working out my run/walk ratio.
Set Your Watch
When you’ve hit your flow during a run it can be easy to lose track of time and miss a walk break, so if you’ve got a watch with an interval setting I’d encourage you to make use of it! I use an Apple Watch which isn’t ideal for this (it has other benefits), but there are apps you can download to help you out, although at the moment my intervals are quite long so I don’t worry too much and on race day I tend to use course markers as I plan my breaks every mile/km.
Adapt To Your Conditions
It’s been really hot and humid in London over the last few weeks which has made running a real challenge. To manage things I’ve tweaked my run/walk ratio on some of my runs to account for the hot weather. Similarly, if I’m running somewhere hilly I’ll adapt my ratio accordingly.
My London Marathon Training Plan
I’m using a beginners training plan put together by London Marathon that includes the run/walk method, but which isn’t strictly the Galloway Method. There are some non-stop runs (although I always walk the first and last 5 minutes to warm up/cool down) and the intervals can be quite long compared to what Galloway would recommend. I really like it because it emphasises time on feet which is a core element of the run/walk method and it’s built on three days of running a week which is optimal for me. While the plan I’m using doesn’t include cross-training I’ve added in one session a week at the gym because I enjoy it and because I know that strength training will help improve my endurance, especially after pregnancy. More recently my plan has also introduced speed work which I’m really enjoying - it’s awesome to be able to push myself and see what my body can do!
Of course, the proof of the plan’s effectiveness will come out on race day, but at the moment I love how I’m training. My body feels strong and my confidence is growing every day!
Do you use a run/walk method in your training? How do you find it?
