Running + Walking = Wunning or Ralking?

As you probably know, I'm a bit of a stickler. I don't like to miss a planned run. Because of an 8 a.m. staff meeting this morning, I was only able to do a little bit of yoga and walk the dog before scrambling to get myself to work. Honestly, I bow down to those of you who make it to work before 8 a.m. on a regular basis.

As a result, I needed to run at lunch so I could go to Lifeforce tonight. After all, a girl can't miss her major strength, sanity saving workout of the week. BTW, I've been diligent about my M/W/F strength circuit routines and a few yoga sessions in addition to my running mileage. Major win! It's amazing what happens when you tell yourself you're going to do something on specific days of the week at a specific time. Done and done.

My good friend from high school is getting married on Saturday and I'm in her wedding. I've known Jolyn since we were five. I can still remember eating chocolate covered cake 'donettes' and orange juice for breakfast at her house when I would sleep over.

But the goal was that from May through July, I would be hitting my arms, abs and legs with some serious workouts so they could be wedding ready. Over the top? Maybe so, but I want to rock that strapless dress.

Okay, back to the wunning or ralking debate. At lunch, I set out for five miles. My legs (calves especially) have been all kinds of sore after this weekend's mileage and a massage I got from a masseuse in training last night.

I decided to ease it back and walk one minute every mile. Surprisingly, my pace wasn't as slow as I would have thought. It's amazing how a little bit of rest allows you to run faster. That can be said in the midst of a run, midweek or mid training plan.

Five miles later, I averaged an 8:32 pace with four, 1 min walk sessions included. I also did a few 1 min pick ups here and there so that probably helped. Someday, I'd love to try ralking a marathon, but it would be a serious internal struggle NOT to run the entire thing.

How do you feel about wunning or ralking? My mentality has always been "I want to see how fast I can run this marathon without walking any of it" but sometimes I wonder what would happen if I allowed scheduled walk breaks? After all, a few wunners have beat me using this method during a 1/2 or full marathon.

Comments

Lindsey said…
After run/walking the race this past weekend and getting a way faster time than I thought possible, I'm definitely going to try the run/walk again!

Have a great time at your friends wedding this weekend!
Meggie said…
I am the queen of the mid-run "5 sec time out" so run/walking a race might actually be good for me because I'd probably run the "run" parts faster. But, I'd never do it because I still think it would "slow me down" overall. Maybe I should try it sometime as an experiment...
Amber said…
I am ALL ABOUT the run/walk method. I did an 8-mile run on Sunday using 9 and 1's (9 minutes running and 1 minute walking which is my favourite pattern to use) and still kept a 9:50 pace which is fast for me lately. I didn't follow 9 and 1's strictly during my third half-marathon in Fall 2009 but I took the most walk breaks in a half-marathon yet and still finished in 2:01 - a HUGE PR for me.

You absolutely can still be fast if you take walk breaks. Mentally and physically I find them so much better for MY body!

That's so fun you're in a wedding this weekend! I think I need to get serious about my abs/arms/strength training for a certain wedding... Hehe. Good thing I have a year ;)
Gidget said…
I just started doing a 1 min walk after every mile. My pace is much faster than I thought it would be and it makes me not feel like death after every long run!

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