Run-walk for recovery

Well hell has officially frozen over.  I’m here to talk about using a run-walk training methodology to recover from an injury.

When you are injured and can’t, or shouldn’t, run there are other things you can do to maintain your fitness, even your running fitness.

I have biked many miles.  I have lifted weights.  I have done yoga and stretching.

I have suffered through long, tedious bouts of pool running as a last-ditch effort to keep race fitness for an event.

I have even walked.

But I have never run-walked.

At least on purpose.

Ok Ok, that’s not true.  I have run-walked in mountain racing.  Because it just doesn’t make any sense to try to run up a 7-mile vertical at 18%.

And I have run-walked in ultras because everyone, almost everyone, run-walks in ultras.  It’s part of the strategy.

But I have not run-walked in road racing or training.

So, this is new to me.

Why am I doing this?

Point one – Run-walk allows me to start running again after an injury.

Because I have had a stress reaction thingy in my left knee that has been quite persistent. That’s the injury thing.  I don’t want to jump right back into running.  Run-walking will potentially allow me to ease back into volume, hopefully without antagonizing the knee any further.

So far, so good.  It’s been working.

Point two – It’s the only way I can complete a longer race right now.

Because of the injury I haven’t been able to train.  I might be able to stumble through a really slow half marathon in the shape I’m in, but there is no way I could fake a full marathon on zero training without hurting myself.

This is a problem because I have to find a way to finish the Boston Marathon virtual this weekend.

I could just straight-out walk it but would rather at least do some running.  Based on the ½ marathon I run-walked a few weeks ago, I think I can do the distance without hurting myself.

So – I have been practicing running a 30-30 cadence with Ollie on short training runs over the last few weeks to see what I learn.

Why do you care?

Because what I learn, as a veteran runner, is different than a beginner or a back-of-the-packer would learn.

What have I learned so far?

As mentioned above, it seems I can use run-walk to resume regular running activity without hurting my injured knee.  And, as also mentioned above, it seems I can do longer distances, again without hurting myself.

I would assume that this is because up until 6 months ago I was a fairly high-volume runner.   My assumption is that my accumulated fitness is such that when I ratchet down the actual running portion, I have plenty left in the tank to go long.

Next learning is that, while I can’t go as fast as I could when I was running straight out, I can still average a reasonable pace.

Doing a 30-30 ratio I have been averaging under 11-minute miles.  Whereas a straight walk would be more in the 15-17 minutes per mile if you’re pushing it.  More like 20-minute miles if you’re strolling.

On the trails the difference is even more noticeable. Because trail paces are typically slower anyhow, the Run-Walk produces an average pace that is not that far off a slow trail run pace.

Based on that, if I can hold the effort, I might squeak under a 5-hour marathon.  Which seems reasonable for someone who hasn’t run in 6 months.

Again, without hurting myself.

The next thing I have learned is that pace doesn’t matter when you run-walk.  Really.  If you’re only running for 30 seconds and then walking for 30 seconds, you can run as hard as you want in those 30 seconds of running, within reason.   I’m not saying sprinting but stretching it out a little to a strong tempo is doable.

I’ll have to play with that some more over some longer distances, but it’s fun to play with the pace knowing that you’ve got a walk break coming.  The point is you’re not holding it long enough to accumulate debt.  It doesn’t catch up with you.

We’ll have to see what happens in this marathon.  But it hasn’t caught up to me yet.

Next learning – shoes don’t matter.  I’m digging out some of those old shoes I hated and never wore from the back of the closet is ok for the run-walk.  Because the run-walk is such low effort, and you’re giving yourself breaks, you can do it in almost any old footwear.

Distance doesn’t matter either.  I used to stress out about laying out course that would be long enough to meet my needs.  With the run-walk, since I’m going a lot slower, the distance I need to fill up that time is much less.

In that way I’m getting the ‘time on my feet’ without the need for a ton of distance.  My sense is that the effort level is much less, so the training effect of these runs is going to be correspondingly less as well.  Sort of like when you substitute riding your bike for running.

I’ll have more to report after I finish my Boston marathon this weekend.

I have questions about ‘what next?’ If the knee stays healthy. How to transition back to running from the run-walk?  Do I start making my run intervals longer?  Do I start mixing in run sessions?

We will see.

In summary, once you get over the weirdness of it the run-walk is an enabler for injured runners trying to return and a whole new set of data.