As a mind based athlete I do spend a bit of time being injured. Possibly due to my endorphin addiction where I push through the mild discomfort of niggles, aches and pains to the point where I go too far and injuries ensue.
I have read frequently about the run/walk strategy being the panacea for all endurance runners ills. So it was with a purposeful plan to give run/walking a go during one of my longer training sessions that I came up with the seed for this blog article which helped me discover the effectiveness of this strategy.
While I was out running/walking I considered scenarios for two runners who both have a comfortable running pace of 4:30 min/km over distances from 5km to ½ marathon. There is a logical mind set for these two athletes to think that they can run this pace for a full marathon as well.
Unfortunately the marathon is a multifaceted beast that must have all elements perfectly aligned to have the perfect race. It is therefore a very lucky athlete that can produce a PB worthy marathon result every time. But this never stops the athlete believing that they can punch out a 3:09 marathon with the regularity of a Swiss watch. Hopefully reading over the following two scenarios can convince you to try the run/walk strategy in your next marathon. Ultimately moving you a little closer to the elusive marathon PB.
Scenario 1: Run at a 4:30 pace and go for a 3:09 marathon PB.
This athlete has one simple plan. Start the first kilometer at a 4:30 pace and finish the last kilometer at 4:30 pace with 40 x 4:30 kilometers in between. Needless to say this all-too-common strategy is fraught with dangers as it has the athlete in the red from the time the gun goes off.
The first 2 kilometers goes to plan with the watch showing 9 minute even on the face. The next 2 kilometers sees a leaching of 5 seconds per kilometer and 18 minutes 10 second flashes up for the 4km split. Panic doesn’t ensue just yet, as the athlete feels that this time can be regained later on in the race once their normal training rhythm returns.
Kilometers 5 and 6 sees a further 5 second per kilometer reduction and puts the athlete 20 seconds behind schedule after 6 kilometers. It is decided that this 20 second is too much and matters need to be taken into their own hands and the lost 20 seconds are going to be recaptured in a 2 kilometer burst. This effort goes unheeded and a further 10 seconds is lost now putting them 30 second behind schedule after 8km.
However all is not lost, the mind acknowledges that the last effort was stupid and a decision to wind back and get the 30 seconds back over the next 30 kilometers, 1 second at a time. This new resolve results in a further 5 second a kilometer loss now putting the athlete a full 40 seconds behind and frustration starts welling up in the body, as the workers that are powering the body, become annoyed with the mishandling of the situation by the CEO (aka brain). A minor mutiny happens over the next 2 kilometers where a further 5 seconds per kilometer is lost taking the deficit out to nearly a minute.
The brain comes to the negotiating table and decides that we will rally around the 5 min/km pace as the new benchmark. That will see the body achieve a 3:20 marathon. A great effort for the first marathon run.
The brain offers a motivational speech taken straight from the script of Braveheart and they are united once again behind the common goal of a 3:20 marathon. Certainly a boast worthy time around the water cooler tomorrow morning.
Unfortunately the efforts of the last 10 kilometers has weakened the body and the efforts to hold a 5:00 pace sees the body and mind go through the same bleeding process where another 30 seconds per kilometer is lost over the next 10 kilometres. 3 hours 20 minutes is all but lost!
The CEO is finally overthrown in a ‘bloody coup’ and a new leader takes the throne and firmly proposes that 3:30 could be possible based on the fact that a 5:30 min/km is almost a walking pace. ‘5:30 is a warm up and cool down pace’ the new leader loudly announces to the pumping muscles, but he can be barely heard over the pounding of the heart and the heaving of the lungs.
So with little fanfare the athlete runs on with this newly minted modest goal sitting in their back pocket knowing that they still have a ½ marathon yet to run.
I won’t continue to torture you with the sad story of this fall from grace. I will simply summarize and tell you that the 3:09 marathon which started with a 4:30 min/km pace slowly bleeds out at a rate of over 5 seconds per kilometer until the final kilometer is done at a 6:25 min/km pace giving a final time of 3 hours 45 minutes. A great time for any athlete, but for this athlete, who set themselves a lofty goal of 3:09 and believed with all their heart that they could do it, it was an abject failure.
Scenario 2: Walk/Run strategy
Having a realistic goal, when it comes to an event where anything and everything can and will happen to scuttle your dreams, is vital. The run/walk strategy can be considered as the concrete base that you will build the skyscraper of your achievement. First you decide on how tall you want to build the skyscraper and then you get down to the practicalities of the foundation to hold it at that height without collapsing.
While the athlete in this second scenario knows that they can run a 4:30 pace for all shorter races they know that the marathon needs perfection all around it just to be considered average. 5 minutes per kilometer is their run all day pace, but that time doesn’t factor in aspects such as nutrition, cramping and conditions on the day. There needs to be a fail safe build into the run all day pace.
It is decided to do a run/walk strategy of 9:1. With 9 minutes running at a 5 min/km pace followed by 1 minute at a walking pace of 10 min/km. This will give an overall pace of 5:15 min/km and a finish time of 3:41. Modest to say the least but the execution of the strategy will take the guesswork out of the race and make it all about a simple ratio which is programmed into the watch.
9:1. It will be the mantra that will set the syncopation of your marathon masterpiece.
As the race starts for the run/walker the mind floods with endorphins. It wants a bigger high of the endorphins. It sees everyone passing, running faster and looking much more pumped. ‘I want that’ and yells to ‘run faster’ but the athlete holds the plan and keeps it at a pedestrian pre-decided pace. Then when the 9 minute timer beeps and the athlete slows to a walk.
The brain flips out and swears and curses; ‘why the **** are you walking’, ‘the pace we were just running was little more than a ******** walk’, ‘you are a ****head’, ‘I’m leaving you first chance I get’.
True to the plan the athlete ignores the yelling of the brain and sets off again at the end of the minute after having a drink and consuming a small amount of nutrition, resting the calves by utilizing a heal to toe gait, and allowing the body to cool and absorb the nutrition being ingested. All of which the grumpy brain complains about.
‘Why the hell are you drinking and eating? We haven’t done anything yet!’
The abuse continues over the next five intervals but its voice becomes quieter as it is drip fed a numbing mix of endorphins from the metronomic strategy. While the strategy does not yield a ‘free’ marathon race to the athlete, it does give an effort that is sustainable and within reach. It won’t stop the piano hitting but what the metronomic strategy gives, is steel to the spine to help carry the piano.
As the race continues the mind starts enjoying the process as it remembers athletes that flew past earlier and its internal voice starts to yell abuse at the flagging athletes. As the piano hits at the 30km mark the athlete walks a little longer but the mind clicks into gear and pushes the body on, safe in the knowledge that it is working with a body that has more in reserve to draw on.
As the finish line looms the brain throws down the gauntlet and decides to forget the final couple of walk intervals and goads the body into crossing the line with a 3:40 flat marathon time.
While the brain will not give gushing praise for the achievement, it still believes that it could have run a 3:09 marathon if you gave it a chance, it does have some silent admiration for the tenacity to which the plan was carried out and still allowed the rush of the high when the finish line was crossed.
Post race debrief:
As the two athletes gather a few days after the race to lick their wounds. The athlete that tried to run the whole way at a 4:30 pace is destroyed, both mentally and physically. The race took it out of them. Pushing the body to a limit that they didn’t quite have has resulted in a mindset that is resolved to say, ‘maybe the longer distance is not for me’.
In contrast the run/walker has already booked their next race, they have modified their run walk strategy with a faster time in mind and have written a program that plans to strengthen the weaknesses that were discovered during the race.
While these scenarios will vary for many athletes of different abilities, experience and mindsets, I hope that by reading these stories it may give you the impetus to try the run/walk scenario at your next marathon outing.