The Magic of Run/Walk

I'd read Galloway's book.  I understood the theory. I even tried my hand at a little of the "walk-break" strategy before.  But not like today, and still I'm amazed with the results.

I did everything right for today's long run. I rested yesterday.  I ate well, but also made sure to top off the glycogen tanks with good carbs.  I hydrated.  I got to sleep relatively early.  Woke up and had a light breakfast.  The weather -- over which I claim no control -- even helped out.  The plan was to run for 2 hours and 20 minutes, covering whatever distance I covered over that time (though anticipating around 16.5 miles).

I started thinking about giving the run/walk thing a go last night, mainly because this week's mileage was a bigger bump than is usually advisable, and I had several hard workouts earlier in the week, including that 10-mile pace run on Friday. I wasn't quite sure I was going to be sufficiently rested for 16+.  I thought maybe the walk breaks would give me a better shot at not beating myself up too badly.

What a difference.  My strategy was to run for 8 minutes and walk for 30 seconds, consistently throughout the run, even in the early stages while I was feeling strong and fresh.  I kept pretty well close to that, and by the time 140 minutes was up, I honestly felt like I could keep going.  I decided against that, of course, not wanting to risk injury or over training, but still.  What an amazing difference.  I'm not even that stiff tonight.

The ankle's still a bother, but it's not serving as an obstacle.  I'm beginning to think it's a pinched nerve.  It began bugging me at 6-7 miles, and would go through cycles of pain and dullness.  Sometimes, it's like my left leg, from the ankle to the knee, goes weak.  I experimented and found that if I keep my stride short, focusing on not extending the foot past the knee on the forward stride, and also not slapping the foot down but imagining sweeping it back along the ground during the stride, it would let up. Slowing down doesn't really help.  In fact, keeping a steady firm cadence is better.  It is the one part of me that's stiff and serving as a reminder of the stress of the long run, but I've been stretching, flexing, using the resistance band and wobble board to keep it as loose as possible.

Other than that, not even my hip flexors are worse for the wear.  I've already eaten about 2400 calories for the day, and haven't even had dinner yet.  I do notice that I gain a little weight during the day of and after a long hard run.  I'm sure it's fluid retention and inflammation.  It's just a pound or two.  I should see the scale dip back down again by Tuesday.



I stopped off at Laces after the run and had a long chat with Clarence.  That was a lot of fun.  He conferred with Mike and I'll keep the coming week at about the same level as this week; maybe drop a few miles even.  With the Silver Strand in 2 weeks, I'm not really going to taper.  I'm just going to cut back a bit and try to use the race as a training tool.

This week, I'll drop back to the high 30s but try to get that in 4 days running instead of 5.  Tentatively, I'm thinking:
Monday - no run (cross train)
Tuesday - 1 hour speed work
Wednesday - 45-60 minute base run
Thursday - no run (cross train
Friday - 10 mile pace run (1st half at M pace; 2nd half at HM pace)
Saturday - no run
Sunday - long, slow about like today

I might wind up switching the days around a little.

Nike+ credited me with more miles and a faster average pace than I actually did, but it's surprisingly close, only off by 4-5%.  I counted 16.8 miles and a true average pace of 8:24.  Still find that amazing.  In a marathon, if I walked for 30 seconds every mile and managed 8:24 average per mile, that's under 3:40:00.

Oh, and HR ranged from low 130s early to the low 140s late, only drifting up to around 147 when I started to press too hard during a few of the later miles.  Average HR for the full run: 138.  Less than 80%.  Perfect.