Training for the "walk" portion of IM run/walk strategy

Michael Johnson

I post this as an embarrassing admission from an IM Veteran who keeps learning: (I do alot of things right but struggle in the 2nd half of IM marathon historically)

Finished IMTX and tried to figure what happened to me at mile 14

Swim 1:00 (steady and good) Bike 5:50 @ 65% (2 potties to pee) and peed at T2 and was planning on a run/walk and building into my marathon (I was going to do 1:1 1st lap, 2:1 2nd lap, and 4:1 last lap and run last few miles)....BUT....completely had a meltdown at mile 14...(I've never had a good 2nd half of IM marathon and wanted to get this)

BUT, I didn't train for this at all......uh oh..

When I trained though I never walked (except maybe a min or so here and there after intervals, etc).

My thought biomechanically training for the run does not train you specifically for the walk portion (walking muscles) of the run/walk. So when I have completed mile 14 at IMTX I would have probably run 8 miles and walked 6 miles approx. Thought was that at that point I've walked 6 miles without doing training for this amount of walking prior to IM. I would think the fatigue of this walking, without "training" has to have a factor in the fatigue affecting the time when your trying to run. 

Question: 

1. Thoughts?

2. I could simply just do a walk/run on every long run on the plan...or...maybe substitute a run with a pure walk.....or....do more walking as a warm up and cool down for the intervals workout........

Al Truscott

My simple thought…do your long runs in training as you expect to do them on race day. The only difference is your run portions will be faster when training than on race day.

If I might ask, why do you plan to do so much walking as your start your IM marathon? Is there a physical problem you're dealing with?

Swanie

Explain what you mean by a meltdown at mile 14.

Could it have been your nutrition on the bike, dehydration on the bike and run, at 65% on the bike you definitely didn't over cook the bike.

I did an event in November(4 marathons in 4 days) where I ran/walk 5:1 on all marathons. I didn't train that way I just took those walk breaks when my timer beeped. I don't think you need to train a wlak/run strategy. I would look at external factors affecting your IM runs.

Mark Maurer

When I plan on doing walk breaks in the marathon I do the same ratio in training, but they're more like 9:1 or 10:1 (run:walk) or I just walk through the aid stations or if it's a hilly course I will walk at least some of the uphills. I find that if I walk it's harder to start running again after the middle of the marathon so I will sometimes do walk breaks for the first half and drop them. For me it starts getting more difficult to start running again about mile 15-16.

Michael Johnson

Don't really think my bike pacing, nutrition or hydration was an issue. I just wanted to walk early in order to try to run more in 2nd half (essentially negative splitting the marathon). Something I have struggled with alot. 

Guess my main question is that should I be incorporating walking into my training in order to do this on race day. I suspect alot of us do some walking more than aid stations at some point and was wondering whether not doing walking in training affects the ability to then run when it's time to run.

I would think walking using either different muscles or at least differently so I would have to affect the running part. I have to think it would.

Michael Johnson

Posted By Al Truscott on 18 May 2014 08:19 PM

My simple thought…do your long runs in training as you expect to do them on race day. The only difference is your run portions will be faster when training than on race day.

If I might ask, why do you plan to do so much walking as your start your IM marathon? Is there a physical problem you're dealing with?

I did plantar fasciitis early this year which took me off running for a few weeks so maybe I was alittle hesitant to run a bunch to early. I still feel this pain to a minor degree every day. I mostly just wanted to try to run more later in the marathon so I was to start the run/walk proactively and then build the ratio each lap.

Coach Rich

We all know how hard it is to start running once you start walking in an IM marathon. And, in my opinion, you made it much worse by walking soooo much so early in the race.

So when it came time for you to start running more, per your pre-race plan, you had a very hard time doing that because...it's an Ironman and you're already carry a LOT of fatigue. 

The proven EN strategy is to run at pace X and then walk ~30" secs at every aid station? Why didn't you do that?? You could have run a bit slower than X and walked a bit longer at the aid stations, but I think it's a LOT to ask yourself to start out doing a 1:1 strategy and then run 400% more later in the day? Maybe a 9'/1' strategy becomes 8'/2', then 7'/3', etc, but to start off at 1/1 and go up from there is unrealistic, I think.

Did you post your race plan to forums to get the Team's input on your run/walk strategy? 

jimmy augustine

MJ - I couldnt get my legs to move on saturday either. Race plan or not they just wouldnt go. Not giving you advice at all just want to make sure you don't feel like you were alone.

Michael Johnson

Posted By Rich Strauss on 19 May 2014 12:56 PM

We all know how hard it is to start running once you start walking in an IM marathon. And, in my opinion, you made it much worse by walking soooo much so early in the race.

So when it came time for you to start running more, per your pre-race plan, you had a very hard time doing that because...it's an Ironman and you're already carry a LOT of fatigue. 

The proven EN strategy is to run at pace X and then walk ~30" secs at every aid station? Why didn't you do that?? You could have run a bit slower than X and walked a bit longer at the aid stations, but I think it's a LOT to ask yourself to start out doing a 1:1 strategy and then run 400% more later in the day? Maybe a 9'/1' strategy becomes 8'/2', then 7'/3', etc, but to start off at 1/1 and go up from there is unrealistic, I think.

Did you post your race plan to forums to get the Team's input on your run/walk strategy? 

I did have my best IM marathon at IM Cabo doing exactly this. It wasn't real fast (4:50) but was able to build the ratio throughout the day. I just wanted to see if I could do better. I was maybe alittle worried about my recent plantar fasciitis also so wanted to just wait until mile 18 or so to started mostly running. I suspect if this is my strategy for a particular race I need to do some walking in training. That was kind of the main reason for the post....not really a debate on doing something different than EN strategy. 

rlh2000

I think the second half of a marathon is HARD! Very few actually get the magical negative split, more often it is the not slowing down. You will be more fatigued the second half, mentally and physically, regardless of what you do the first half (not saying there aren't a ton of ways to be stupid the first half and make that second half near impossible). I would think trying to decrease your walking as you go is unrealistic.

In terms of training, I highly doubt it is the "walking muscles" that are limiting you, and really don't see any reason to train walking for the muscle reasons, more just to practice the run/walk approach you will use. I can't think of any muscles that take more of a toll walking than running. The fatigue was just probably cumulative "I've been on my feet a long time" fatigue. Another reason to do more running early when you are fresh then wait to tire the legs more and then expect to run.

If you do want to do this much walking for whatever reason, why not reverse your plan? Run first, then 4:1, etc down to 1:1. You'd probably be able to run those first few miles better than you'd be able to run the last few.