Run Walk Method

Audio Transcript

Coach Dylan: Hi there, Runners Connect fans and friends. This is the Run to the Top Extra Kick Podcast. I will be answering your fantastic questions.

Today’s question comes from Aura.

Aura: What is your philosophy on walk breaks and the run walk method. Can this inhibit aerobic strength or do the benefits like completing your run on pace outweigh the cause such as fizzling to a crawl and cutting your run short?

Dylan: Hi Aura. Wonderful question. In my professional opinion, I have no argument with the run walk method so long as serves the purpose you desire.

I love to begin people with a run walk method to expand their running capacity in micro doses. For many, running is hard, and we have to take small steps to see the big picture.

See it as a way to build up a foundation to where when we do begin running continuously, we don’t have to stop and we’re glad that we had this huge base under us to bring us up gradually over time.

We are much more capable at sustaining a run walk method than we are to straight run when starting from zero.

I would never recommend someone to run to failure every day and I would find this to be irresponsible of myself as a coach if I got to know somebody and got to know their history, I would never recommend them to begin running mileage without beginning with run walk program or intermittent running.

It’s much more realistic and achievable to run this way as well and when you have a run walk method, you’re able to actually get more volume in than if you were to run till failure.

This is likely for those you who are just beginning to do the run walk method, you’ll find that if you were to run continuously.

You would get a time, but if you had to do run walks maybe shorter runs an equal rest recovery, you’d actually be able to run more volume in the same day which is beneficial.

The benefits that you get from this allows you to build up over time. It’s a build of a foundation to where you would like to be and to where you see yourself in the future.

If you begin running without having any prior experience to running itself and you’re forcing yourself to maximally run every single day, I find that’s an easy way to find yourself in the too soon too often category of running related injuries.

The answer here is actually quite simpler than we may have even intended. I think the run walk method outweighs the run to crawl method in nearly all cases.

I just can’t seem to wrap my mind to recommending or prescribing someone to run maximally and to see the benefits of this and doing this on a daily or weekly period.

I think a lot of us who are listening right now would agree with me when I say that it’s best to have a base period, like all of us who are training at a very high level right now or have been training for quite some time.

We all started somewhere and I’m sure you guys can remember when your very first runs that you’ve ever done or when you began training and you found that point to where you couldn’t go any further because it hurt.

It felt bad. It was demoralizing, it was tiresome, and it overwhelmed you.

We have to put ourselves in those situations when we’re prescribing workouts or a training plan to someone.

We have to understand that where they come from and how we’re going to build them up over time so that they can reach the same levels at which we are, and they can do the same races.

It’s important that we break this down and to let them understand that it’s doing a little bit every day, and having the discipline to make it a habit and a routine, so that can build ourselves up for the future.

It’s what we do today that makes us what we are tomorrow and with enough of this, we can transition into the continuous running, without having to force ourselves at a maximal capacity both physically and mentally.

It just takes a huge toll on us to put ourselves in that vulnerable position every single day.

For those of us who are doing a run walk method, it serves a purpose. There’s a reason we do it and it’s so that we can continue to run and to do so carefully and comfortably.

I really think that an individual who’s doing this method is 10 times as likely to continue running after their goal race or maybe even before.

Some of us find that once we begin a running program we might not even be able to continue. I’m sure some of us who have experienced this who may have tried running before in the past and we just couldn’t get the hook.

Think about what drew us in and what allowed us to build ourselves over time.

Was it running as far as we can every day or was it reeling ourselves in bringing ourselves back to center and asking ourselves what is something I can do that is sustainable and measurable and achievable just today?

What is something that I can do and be happy with and comfortable with and it didn’t bring me to the far ends of our physical and mental spectrum?

These are important things to prescribe to people when we’re training run walk method as you know.

I do find that they’re more likely to make it their routine and healthy and to make measurable progress from week to week.

For those of us who have experienced the other end of it, that’s a good way to the force ourselves into overtraining.

A lot of us have been there and we understand how that feels and how progress no longer becomes linear. It just flat lines and sometimes even decreases.

Those of us beginning to run or those who have incorporated the run walk method, I think it’s a way to be able to see progress in numbers and see how over time, we’ve increased the duration maybe even the frequency or volume of our runs, from week to week, month to month, and a year to year.

I think this wraps up your question for us today and I think it ends up being rather simple. I think that the run walk method serves a great purpose, especially if we’re comparing it to somebody who is running to basically to their crawling at the end.

I just want to say thank you for asking your question today and sparking a new year thought in my head and allowing me to expand a little bit deeper on how I view the run walk method and maybe how others view the run walk method as well.

Thank you and I hope this question was of help to you.

Thank you for tuning in today. For those of you listening that want to have your question answered by one of the runners connect coaches, head over to runnersconnect.net/daily and click the record button to sing your question over.

We look forward to hearing from you soon. Enjoy the rest of your day.