Cyclists with a "Running" Problem

[CobusV]

Thank you for explaining it to me.

My concern with all the walking is I get exponentially slower the more I walk. Cramps kick in and I feel sluggish and my legs feel very heavy.

 

Interesting article though. 

 

I feel the same. 

 

Also, unless you have this elaborate scheme written down somewhere (or have something more fancy than a Casio/Tomtom), you are going to struggle to keep track of when you are walking. Or suppose to walk. Or suppose to run. When I'm tired the last thing I want to to do is to count seconds.

[Chris_]

+1

 

Planning to walk before the start is like admitting defeat before the start, you then need to say at the end 'I walked a marathon' because you had no intention of actually running an entire marathon.

 

Run/walk is something I've heard being endorsed for years.

 

Not everyone attempting a marathon is capable of running all the way through. It is a tough event and a milestone for a lot of us. No matter how you complete it.

[Mudsimus]

Thank you for explaining it to me.

My concern with all the walking is I get exponentially slower the more I walk. Cramps kick in and I feel sluggish and my legs feel very heavy.

 

Interesting article though.

I hate it. I ran with a bus during my first marathon, they had a run walk strategy after the first half. I just felt like dying every time I had to start running again, as if everything just stopped working.

[SeaBee]

I'm not the most accomplished runner around here, but I also believe that you're meant to run it. And yeah, you know you're going to walk a couple of the water points, but that's it for me. 

 

If you're all fresh and smiling at the end, you're doing it wrong.

[dave303e]

Run/walk is something I've heard being endorsed for years.

 

Not everyone attempting a marathon is capable of running all the way through. It is a tough event and a milestone for a lot of us. No matter how you complete it.

 

No they not all capable of running the whole way you are 100% correct, but atleast set out with the intention of running all of it and fail, than give up before you even start.

He who hesitates masturbates- so just back yourself and give it a run anyway, whats the worst that will happen? You will end up walking, best that will happen you run the whole way, if you set out to walk the best case scenario you still walking.

 

my 2c atleast

[Mudsimus]

He who hesitates masturbates

 

I never hesitate while running..????

[Andrew Steer]

I'm not a fan of the run walk idea early on, but for the second half of a longish event, to have a bit of a pre-planned walking strat is not the worst idea in my books.

 

I'm pretty sure I will walk the whole of Constantia neck in Two Oceans again this year, and run/walk chappies... worked nicely for me last year. And  allowed me to run the other 48km's of the event quite happily. Burn a whole lot of matches running a steep climb you're not up to running, and even the simplest terrain thereafter can prove a real challenge on buggered legs.

 

It's all about who you are though at the end of the day and what your goals are 

[Stretch]

A marathon I will run the entire time except I start walking the tables in the second half..i.e walk fast past a table and make sure you get fluid and food in.

 

2 oceans I do the same from about top of chappies and then walk hills from hout bay on

 

Comrades I adopt a walk strategy. I have my first walk about 10km in and then from then on I pretty much walk every water table (unless they on downhill or flat after downhill). I pretty much walk every uphill then from Cato ridge (or pinetown on the down)

Edited February 7, 2018 by Stretch

['Kaze Pete]

I feel the same. 

 

Also, unless you have this elaborate scheme written down somewhere (or have something more fancy than a Casio/Tomtom), you are going to struggle to keep track of when you are walking. Or suppose to walk. Or suppose to run. When I'm tired the last thing I want to to do is to count seconds.

I've run/walk'd a few half marathons at 1:45 or less. Albeit, walking was restricted to the water points only. Grab Coke at the first table, drink that whilst walking, grab water sachet at the last table and start running again. 3 to 4 km later? it starts all over again.

 

Do not disregard run/walk. It actually works!

[Mudsimus]

Bloody Suunto again has problems uploading our runs. Seriously thinking of switching to Garmin....

Since the fix my uploads are lighting fast.

[seven]

I hate it. I ran with a bus during my first marathon, they had a run walk strategy after the first half. I just felt like dying every time I had to start running again, as if everything just stopped working.

I just can't do the bus thing... usually irritates the @@@@ out of me...

[Pulse]

I feel the same. 

 

Also, unless you have this elaborate scheme written down somewhere (or have something more fancy than a Casio/Tomtom), you are going to struggle to keep track of when you are walking. Or suppose to walk. Or suppose to run. When I'm tired the last thing I want to to do is to count seconds.

 

I do walk in marathons, but I feel that's a bit much.  I usually just walk short distances.  As soon as I stop, I set myself a goal - usually a lamp post/specific tree/house etc. in the distance, once I reach that I start up again.

 

I think a big issue with "fast" walking in a race is that we don't train for it, so we end up cramping etc if we now suddenly do it in a long race

[Jackes]

I have found that, at least for beginners, the planned, structured, short walks helps you a lot.

 

It must obviously be trained as well and you must know yourself and your limits.   Especially my wife benefits from this.   If we go out to quick and without any structured (and stick to your times) walks she suffers, but if we do this she manages with the long ones much better.  In fact we end the second half nice and strong.

 

We do walk very fast as per norm and obviously train this even more.   There was a LOT of times in Comrades where we walked behind bunches that tried to run (shuffle) inclines and we walked right behind them the whole way up.

 

It is also planned around water tables where we normally have something to eat quickly as well etc, but we stick to the short allowed time of walking and then we go again. 

 

Same goes for later on if you get tired and have an unplanned walk, we try to adapt our walks/runs then with the unplanned ones to make up time again.

 

All of this said, obviously the need for walks become less often and shorter as time goes on and fitness comes along!

[ScottCM]

[dave303e]

another thing, and this is probably counter intuitive, but take note of the conditions when running...

 

If it is near full moon and you are away from light polution, turn your headlamp off, your eyes will adapt and you will actually see a broader range not just the spot where your headlamp shines, we have had a few spectacular nights trekking along with no lights on at all, just a small one on every now and then to read a map. 

 

So an update on this- Kinetic night 'trail' last night on Randpark golf course-

Yesterday morning I grab a handful of the usual headlamps from the AR box expecting atleast 1 to be good to go(bad life decision), got to the event and only the Led Lensor NEO headlamp had batteries that had any power left in them, only realised this about 5 mins before the start. It was raining with the odd lightning strike around so figured the pace would be a little slower than usual anyway so used it hoping the batteries would last seeing as it is the most energy efficient headlamp of the lot.

 

Batteries died at about 3km into the 8km race, ran the rest fine in the dark, ran alone most of the way as well, just shows how well your eyes adaopt.

Edited February 8, 2018 by dave303e

[Paddaman]

Norrie Williamson has always been a strong advocate of the run walk strategy and has used it himself with great success.  His point is that very few runners actually clock up sufficient km to be able to run (race) the distance of an entire marathon or ultra marathon comfortably.  Invariably negative splits are a fantasy of most amateur marathon runners because of this.  So the solution thus is to take control over the level and progress of fatigue on the body from the onset of the race.  By having scheduled walking intervals, the body is given time to recover and convert stored energy thereby preventing "hitting the wall". 

 

Walking is unnecessary if you have trained sufficiently (ie your peak weekly distance is twice the race distance, you have done interval sessions at just faster (10sec/km faster) than race pace, have done long runs of 2/3 of the distance just short of 1min/km slower than race pace ext).