Run/Walk Strategy

I combined two training notions for a treadmill workout yesterday, based on on-line conversations I had with Kelly of San Diego and Bethany of Canberra, both of whom I know through SparkPeople.com.

Bethany's been prepping for the Canberra Marathon since -- oh, when -- October?  November? -- following the advice and program of Jeff Galloway.  She's adhered to his walk/run philosophy and has nearly reached marathon distance in her training, and the walk/run strategy has actually gotten her to a pace greater than what she could probably accomplish through running alone.

I've been reticent about adopting such a strategy since I have this macho attitude that walking ain't running.  Still, I've read Galloway's "Marathon: You Can Do It" and the strategy makes sense.  I've just chosen to take a more purist stance and hadn't tried it...

...until yesterday on the treadmill.  I wasn't doing a long run, which is what the run/walk thing is meant for mainly, but I did want to complete an hour or so of base pace running, which for me is about an 8:30 mile.  Instead of a steady pace, I followed a pattern of an 8-minute mile pace for about 8 minutes, with 45-60 second intervals of walking, along with a couple swigs of water.

The results were somewhat amazing.  I don't know for sure if it was the walking intervals or simply the strength of recovery from taking a day break from running on Monday, but I finished the session strong and felt quite fresh when it was over.

And to be honest, I didn't approach the run like an easy recovery run either.  This is where the second notion comes in.  I had provided Kelly with an incline/grade profile of the La Jolla Half Marathon after she had blogged about wanting to run the course virtually on the treadmill.  I'd worked out the numbers last August during my Heartbreak Ridge half marathon training program.  The La Jolla Half Marathon will be the capstone to my Stage 2 of marathon preparation, and I've had my eye on returning to that race, along with it's intimidating hill just before the halfway point.  Why not run the first half of it on the treadmill?

So I did.  The 8-minute mile segments were rather easy with the short walk breaks interspersed between them.  I was even able to maintain that pace going up the 4-6% inclines prior to big climb.  Of course, I couldn't withstand that as I bumped the grade up to 7% and then 12% during the final climb.  For that, I had to slow the belt down to 6.8...6.5...eventually 6.0 mph, all the while my heart rate was beginning to peg at 95%.

But I made it, and as I leveled off at just under 7 miles with 5 minutes of my hour left, I didn't feel spent at all.  I took the last 45 second walk break and ran a final 880 at a 7:30-mile clip, wishing I had the time to complete the full 13.1 mile profile.

It was rather uplifting and a bit of an eye-opener.  For the rest of the week, I'm going to run in my usual way since I have some speedwork intervals to do tomorrow and a couple of regular base and marathon pace runs I want to complete.  But this weekend, I'll be heading out for a 19-miler, and I now intend to follow that walk/run cycle, albeit not at an 8-minute mile pace.  If I stick with my usual 8:30-8:40 pace, working in a minute walk break every 8 minutes should result in something close to a 9-minute mile pace, which is closer to the long run training pace just about every guru prescribes for someone with my marathon time goal.

Now I can't wait for the weekend.

My priority today is to get some weight training in, since I've neglected that recently.  I don't want to waste Monday's workout.

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Record of today's indoor treadmill run: 2 x compound supersets

Set 1: paces for a 3:30:00 goal marathon time...

* 880 @ 8.5 (7:04 pace)
* 1 mile @ 8.1 (7:24 pace)
* 2 miles @ 7.5 (8:00 pace)

5-minute cool down and recovery, then...

Set 2: paces for a 3:40:00 goal marathon time
* 880 @ 8.1 (7:24 pace)
* 1 mile @ 7.8 (7.42 pace)
* 2 miles @ 7.1 (8:27 pace)

Overall: good session.  That's 2 in a row.