Run, Walk, Run

Lewis & I have been continuing our training, increasing our long run by 1/2 a mile each week. Incereasing by just 1/2 a mile is very attainable, so it seems to be working for us for now.

I, like the rest of you have been reading about several different training programs online. Last week, I decided to put Jeff Galloway's strategy to the test. He promotes walk breaks for helping to prevent injury. (I was thinking it might help prevent fatigue later in the run!)

Following his method, I used the ratio for running 11 minute miles (much faster than my normal long run pace, but this ratio just sounded reasonable to me). The ratio is 2:30-1.

His instructions say to start this run, walk, run ratio from the very beginning. So, just 2 1/2 minutes into my long run, I walked for a minute! And, I kept doing it for the rest of my 5 1/2 mile run last week.

The end result - my time was faster than the week before when I ran the whole time! I'm averaging about 13 min. a mile on my long runs and I easily maintained a little better than that pace during this long run.

Even more interesting, I tried this method on my 3 mile tempo run this week. I ran right at 11 minute miles. My fastest recorded 5K was a 10:55/mile pace. So, 11 minutes a mile was pretty darn good for me - and that was with walk breaks! The only difference in this tempo run was I ran 3, walked 1.
I don't know what my final 'strategy' will be. Ultimately, I'd obviously like to run more than 3 minutes at a time (as I know I'm capable of doing). But, at the same time, I'd love to improve my endurance and my overall time. Not that I'm trying to break a record here, I just don't want to be running all day long on race day!! :)

6 miles this week (hopefully - I have a cold that's been building all week & today I'm feeling very blah). Next Wed., we leave for Disney for 6 days. I plan to take my pedometer so I can see how much walking time/miles/steps I log!

I hope everyone's doing well! Keep up the good work!

Jen