So, I’ve decided the solution to my nervousness about tomorrow’s 12 mile run is to stop putting so much pressure on myself, and try the walk-break strategy. I haven’t decided whether I’ll do a 9 min run/1 min walk or 11 min run/1 min walk, etc., but the important thing is that I’ve convinced myself that it’s OK not to run the whole 12 miles without stopping tomorrow.

I’ve been reading up on the walk-break approach, and it’s pretty interesting. Someone won the Boston Marathon once by using the walk-break strategy. Jeff Galloway, a US Olympian who’s run 116 marathons, uses the walk break strategy in his marathon training program. Below is a really informative article about it.

Well, I’m off to bed.

Walk breaks speed recovery
Walk breaks, taken from the beginning, will also speed your recovery and make the extra distance on each run nothing more than a gentle challenge. By walking one to two minutes, after two to eight minutes of running, you shift the use of the muscle and reduce the intensity. Because you�re not using the muscle the same way continuously, you significantly increase the distance you can cover before fatigue sets in.

The long run builds endurance
As you extend a mile or three farther on each long one, you push back your endurance limit. It is important to go slowly on each of these (at least two minutes per mile slower than you could run that distance on that day) to make it easy for your muscles to extend their current endurance limit and recover afterward. As you lengthen the long one to 26 miles, you build the exact endurance necessary to complete the marathon. Walk breaks, taken from the beginning will also speed your recovery and make the extra distance on each run a gentle challenge.

On the non-long-run weekends, there are several options. Most runners will do a slow run of about half the distance of the current long run (up to 10 miles). On two to four of these �easy � weekends, it is wise to do a 5K road race to predict what you might be able to do in the marathon. Veterans will do speed sessions on some of the non-long weekends. If you�re feeling good during these shorter runs, you can run them continuously, but there�s no advantage in doing this. In other words, walk breaks are at your discretion on the shorter runs, including the ones during the week.

Long run facts:
* Twenty miles with walking breaks equals 20 miles run continuously . . . at any speed (but you recover faster with walk breaks).
* Forget about speed on long runs. Focus only on the component of endurance.
* You can�t run too slowly on the long runs. Run at least two minutes per mile slower than you could run that distance on that day, accounting for heat, humidity, etc.
* You won�t usually feel bad when you�re running too fast at the beginning of the run so you must force yourself to slow down.
* The day before the long run should be a no-exercise day.

Walk breaks on long runs
* Must be taken early and often to reduce pounding and fatigue
* Must be taken often to allow the primary running muscles to recover fast � even when increasing long run length
* Will also help most marathoners run faster in the marathon itself

The most important walk breaks are the ones taken during the first mile and the second most important set, those taken in the second mile, etc. When taken from the beginning of all long ones, walk breaks erase fatigue, speed recovery, reduce injury, and yet bestow all of the endurance of the distance covered. In other words, a slow long run with walk breaks gives you the same distance conditioning as a fast one, when both cover the same distance.

Everyone should take a one to two-minute walk break every two to eight minutes on every long run. If you�re just beginning to run, you�ll walk more than you�ll run. Experienced marathoners will recover much faster from their long ones when they take one-minute walk breaks at least every eight minutes. The walk breaks can be done at a fast or an easy pace.

Click here for another article by Jeff Galloway about walk breaks.