Run/ Walk Revolution?

How can walking make your long course triathlon (Half Ironman to Full Ironman) faster? My Ironman PB marathon split is 3hr 41 minutes, and my race strategy has been to run steady for at least the first 21 km, with the odd walk break in an aid station to take in nutrition. Somewhere between 21km and ~32km fatigue usually hits big time, and run pace slows down (each km takes 5 to 10 sec longer to complete), as walk breaks in aid stations get longer and longer. As with most athletes out there, the success on the run leg is determined by how much you slow down in the second half of the run. Virtually nobody can speed up or maintain pace at this point of the race, and most athletes post significantly slower second half run splits. Thus the question is: How to prevent or minimize this run fade? The simple answer is to get to the halfway point of the run fresher, with more energy in the tank. That is where the run/walk protocol comes in.

First step in this system involves getting over your ego. Acknowledge that it is very unlikely that you will be able to run the whole distance without walking. Now the question is: Do you need to use the walk as a proactive racing strategy to improve your performance, or walk as a reactive strategy due to race day fade?

I’ve been incorporating this protocol into my running over the last 3 weeks or so. I have set my watch timer to repeat a 10 minute and 40 second intervals. When the watch alarms I’ll walk for 40 seconds, HR will drop up to 20 BPM, take in a small drink or some food, then run for 10 minutes. One of the keys to success here is walking form. Aim for a walking pace that is at least half as fast as your running pace. I’d like to average 5 min/km for an IM marathon, so I need to spend my walk breaks at less than 10 minutes/km pace. Doing the math, I need to be running at 4:50 pace for ~2km to compensate for my 40 second walk break.

How to walk effectively? Keep the same form as if you were running. Arms high, just like you were still running, and keep the cadence high (at least 65 strides per minute). If you were to watch somebody doing this transition from running to walking, and you could only see their upper body (visualize their legs being obscured behind a short hedge), the only difference you should notice is that their forward speed slowed when they started walking (body lean, cadence, and arm carriage identical). We are talking about walking with a purpose here! The purpose is to lower the HR, and take in some calories. Lower HR will allow the body to divert some blood from the muscles to the GI tract to help process those calories that you just took in. All good things -right?

Long runs with this protocol are less stressful on the body, and I have found recovery time is significantly improved. I believe that risk of injury would also be lower than straight running. Mentally this method also breaks your longer runs and races into shorter segments. 10 minutes go by pretty quick, as do the 40 second walk/nutrition breaks. One last benefit is that lower average heart rate means more fat is metabolized in your long run, sparing glycogen. Every little bit helps.

Find out if this will work for you. Try to repeat your last long run, only incorporate this run/walk strategy. See how close your performances are. I suspect that you’ll find you feel fresher, and will achieve a lower average HR by adding the walk breaks.

Keep it real-

Coach Mike

http://bobbysez.blogspot.com/2009/07/bobby-mcgees-runwalk-protocol.html

http://www.ironmantalk.com/Podcast.html download and listen to Episode 170 (Interview with Bobby McGee)