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Newsletter Archives: August 1999
A slow run at the end of the day will disconnect you from the negative and energize the positive. When running at the right pace for you, walk breaks allow beginners to finish a marathon in six months or less. Those who struggle to run their daily distance can increase by a mile or three and feel great afterward. Over 40 year old runners reduce fatigue and injury, and many improve times, when they put strategic walk breaks in certain runs. Once we find the ideal ratio for a given distance, walk breaks allow us to feel strong to the end, recover fast, while bestowing the same endurance we would have received if we ran continuously. As one who has pridefully run for more than four decades, it's sometimes hard to admit something, but here goes. Our bodies weren't designed to run continuously for long distances like the marathon. Sure we can adapt, but we pay for it in extra fatigue and lose some of the enjoyment of running. There is a better way to go the distance. By alternating walking and running, from the start, there's probably not a distance that we can't cover. Most marathoners will record significantly faster times when they take walk breaks. Thousands of time-goal-oriented marathon veterans have improved by 10, 20, 30 minutes and more by taking walk breaks early and often in their goal race. You can easily spot these folks in races: they're the ones who are picking up speed during the last two to six miles, when everyone else is slowing down. Using Muscles In Different Ways‹From the Beginning‹Keeps them Resilient When a muscle group, such as your primary running workhorse, the calf, is used continuously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. Walk breaks give that main running muscle a chance to recover before it starts accumulating fatigue. This reduces the damage to the muscle dramatically. Walk breaks force you to slow down early in the run so that you don't start too fast. This reduction of the intensity of muscle use from the beginning, conserves your energy, fluids, and muscle capacity. The running muscles are able to make adaptations inside so that they can go farther with less fatigue. When you run continuously on the running muscles, the weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward. By shifting back and forth between walking and running, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity. For veteran marathoners, this is often the difference between achieving a time goalŠor not. Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair. The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate over-use muscle breakdown. The earlier you take the walk breaks, the more they help you! You must start the walk breaks before you feel any fatigue, in the first mile, for maximum benefit. You've already reduced your potential performance, if you wait until you feel the need to walk. Even waiting until the two-mile mark to take the first one will reduce the resiliency you could regain from walking in the first mile. If you feel self conscious about walking early, carry an empty water bottle and pretend to drink as you walk. You can also blame me: tell those who pass you that Jeff Galloway made you do it! Would you like a discount? To put it in shopping terms, walk breaks give a discount from the pounding on legs and feet. If you walk often enough, start early enough, and keep the pace slow enough, a five-mile run only leaves three-miles of fatigue, and a 10-miler produces only five to seven miles of tiredness. How walk breaks can speed you up in the marathon A survey of veteran marathoners showed an average improvement of 13 minutes when they put walk breaks into their marathon, compared with running continuously under the same conditions. By saving the strength and efficiency of the running muscles through early walk breaks, you'll avoid the slowdown in the last six miles, where most continuous runners lose their momentum. You'll be passing people and picking up speed, if you paced yourself conservatively and walked enough from the first mile. The mental benefit: Breaking 26 miles into segments which you know you can do Even sub-three-hour runners continue to take their walk breaks to the end. One of them explained it this way: "Instead of thinking, at 20 miles, that I had six more gut-wrenching miles to go, I was saying to myself Śone more mile until my break'. Even when it was tough, I always felt that I could go one more mile." A three-minute run/one minute walk person told me that she got over the tough parts by saying "three more minutes." Even a short walk break, when taken early and regularly will:
Walk breaks, with proper pacing, will Š. Šallow those who can only run two miles to go three or four
and feel fine  Cool Tips for Walkers (from Rodale's Online Health, June 1999) If you're a lunch-time exerciser, sticking to your routine can be challenging in the summertime, when relaxing inside in the air conditioning is much more appealing. The following tips might help you feel a little fresher after your walk:
Injury of the Month: Are You Drinking Enough Water? Water is a very important element in staying healthy. With the hot weather of summer's end beating down on us all, we need to remember that higher temperatures mean our bodies need more fluids. Waiting until you feel thirsty doesn't work because by the time you feel it, you're already running low. The general advice is to drink before, during and after exercise, regardless of the length of time you plan to exercise: eight to 16 ounces before you workout, five to 10 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during, and at least 16 ounces afterward. (ARFA's Running & Fit News, July 1999, p. 2.) There are plenty of different styles of water belts/carriers nowadays so you should be able to find one that is comfortable for you to wear on your runs. Carrying your own water allows you to drink when you need to. Plus you never know when there might be a problem with the water stop and you'll find yourself on your own. Tips: Keep a water bottle at your desk so you can drink all day. Filling your bottle halfway the night before and freezing it gives you a nice, cool drink whenever you want it, at work or on your run, and cool water is easier for your body to absorb.
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