I came late to a full appreciation for run-walk training and racing. When I was young, I had no need for walking breaks. I just tried to go farther and faster on my runs. By the time I reached my midfifties, however, I could see that it was time for a change. I grew more interested in lifetime running than in running fast today. That’s when I began experimenting seriously with run-walking, and learning how useful and flexible it could be.
Strangely enough, back in the 1960s, I was college roommates with Jeff Galloway, the author-runner-coach who has popularized run-walk. We never talked about it back then. Instead we did workouts like 40 x 400 meters with a 50-meter jog. Jeff was the hardest, most consistent trainer I had ever met. It didn’t surprise me when he made the US Olympic team in 1972.
In truth, Jeff wasn’t the inspiration for my first run-walk effort. That was Tom Osler, a top 1960s marathoner who enjoyed research on the history of distance running. Osler proposed that 15 minutes of running, followed by 5 of walking, was the ideal ratio to cover prodigious distances. One day in the early 1970s, I actually ran 50 miles this way. I felt fresh the whole way. The next day, I wasn’t even sore.
But I wasn’t about to become an ultramarathoner at that time, so I didn’t do another run-walk until I reached my midfifties, when I began leading Runner’s World marathon pace teams at major marathons around the country. I always led the 3:59 group. We did 9 minutes of running followed by a 1-minute walk break, and always finished a minute or two under our four-hour goal time.
A decade later, in private efforts in the Boston Marathon, I switched to 4 minutes of running and 1 of walking. I finished five straight Bostons—and counting—with times that ranged from 4:15 to 4:30. That’s the best part of run-walk. You can tailor it to your personal needs and goals. I expect to be experimenting with different ratios for the rest of my running life. And I’m looking forward to every mile of it.
Run less, go longer: All runners aiming to increase their endurance must gradually cover longer and longer distances. Coaches and athletes often speak of “time on the feet,” another way of saying the same thing. This becomes particularly important when you are training for a marathon.
A run-walk strategy offers the best, most proven method to increase time on your feet. For example, if you’ve been running for 30 minutes at a time, you might want to increase to 60. You could get there in a month or so by increasing the time of your longest run by 5 to 10 minutes per week. But there’s an easier, more immediate way. Simply switch from running to a run-walk routine. For example, run 2 minutes, walk 1, and repeat. You could probably hit 60 minutes tomorrow. You’ll gain confidence, and learn a lot about the power of run-walk.
Run more, walk less: As you get fitter and stronger, you’ll want to adjust your run-walk ratio. You’ll want to bump up the running and decrease the walking. This is only natural, and there’s nothing wrong with it. Just be careful not to overdo it.
Let’s say you’ve been using a two-one pattern—2 minutes of running, 1 of walking. You’ve reached two hours of time on your feet. What next? You could just keep going longer, of course. Or you could switch to a 3-1 pattern for your two-hour training effort. This should be doable, and it will also increase your fitness, since it’s harder than 2-1.
As you gain fitness this way, you will run farther and faster, no matter what run-walk ratio you choose. You put yourself into a positive cycle of success.
Vary your ratios: Clearly run-walk is a great way for first-time marathoners to train for and race the distance. Tens of thousands have followed this path, settling into their own preferred run-walk ratios. Jeff Galloway himself now covers marathons with a ratio of 15 seconds of running to 15 seconds of walking. This sounds almost ludicrous, but Jeff does it once a month, often with his wife, Barbara. He swears that it produces the best marathon recovery.
One thing I know for sure about run-walk. If you allow yourself to accept it, run-walk will open more doors than you can possibly imagine. It is the most important tool for lifetime running, from your earliest (perhaps youthful) days on the tracks and roads to the continued healthy running of your later years. Give it a try.