The big news – I SURVIVED! Yeah baby! I survived my 6 mile group run this past Saturday and didn’t even require a search and rescue party this time. Definitely an all around better run than last week’s 5 mile trek that had me lost in the woods.
Now while I find myself thrilled to have survived, and done so with a half decent pace, even. I find myself feeling like I “cheated” a little on my long run.
See, the coaches with Team in Training have apparently been researching various Run/Walk methods of training for people who have never run endurance races previously, and they’re looking into making this sort of training the new standard for all new runners. They want me and another beginner in our group to start trying this in our next few long runs. But I have these thoughts in the back of my head that I’m “cheating” if I take the required walk breaks. I don’t want to do it. But I should do it. But I don’t want to do it. You can see where this is headed.
If you’re not familiar with any of the the Run/Walk methods, they’re basically training plans that have you run for a certain amount of time, then recover with a short 1-2 minute walk, then run again, then take the next 1-2 minute recovery break – lather, rinse, repeat for the duration of the half marathon, marathon, whatever you’re running. One of the most popular methods is Jeff Galloway’s Run-Walk-Run method. All the various methods boast the same basic benefits. For example, you supposedly get the same cardio benefits as running the entire time, but supposedly your overall pace is often either the same, or even slightly better overall, than if you ran the entire race. Seems strange, right? How can your pace actually be better when you add walk breaks throughout the race? Well, supposedly the recovery periods allow you to hit the running portions harder, so your pace ends up staying similar to what it would be if you ran the whole time, but you can apparently feel stronger for longer periods of time, so when the rest of the people who have been running the entire 13.1 or 26.2 miles start losing steam at the end, the people who are doing the run/walk method still have energy in reserve to push through the finish strong, often passing those struggling without walk breaks. It’s also supposed to significantly reduce injuries in beginner runners.
OK, it all makes sense, and sounds great, right? Why wouldn’t someone want to try this method? You’re SUPPOSED to walk. Sounds like a dream in training, doesn’t it? Heck, I’ve talked personally with people who swear the method took significant time off their marathon runs. Another friend (and an experienced runner herself who always recommends the Jeff Galloway method to beginners, by the way) tells me she knows people who do Iron Man competitions using the Run/Walk method, so that should tell me it’s not “cheating,” right? I mean Iron Man people are some TOUGH competitors!
My heart (and lungs as they gasp for breath) tell me “WALK STUPID! You’re being told you’re allowed to walk! DO IT for crying out loud!” But my heart says “You signed up to run this 1/2 marathon, not walk it – don’t “cheat” on your runs!” They’re not playing nice with each other, leaving me torn on what to do.
I know it’s dumb. Even most of the experienced runners I’ve met say they take walk breaks throughout the 1/2 and full marathons, even if it’s just walking through the water stations. Are 1-2 minute walks every once in a while really all that different?
But I just FEEL like I’m “cheating.”
So I find myself in the midst of a heated internal debate on what to do next. I have a 4 mile run on Tuesday and I know I can run the distance without stopping, so I have a hard time forcing myself to stop for walk breaks. But I should listen to the coach, right? I mean, he is the coach for a reason. I should put his new training to the test, trusting it to work, shouldn’t I? At least see how everything averages out when I train his way? This should be a DREAM in training – the coach WANTS me to take walk breaks. Hello? What’s wrong with me? Why am I not jumping at this opportunity?
I need to get over the whole “cheating” thing. There’s no shame in walking. I know there’s not. But my mind continues to battle my heart with where to go now. All I know is I want to get to the finish line. I want to finish strong. That’s what I know. What I don’t know is how, exactly, I’m going to make that happen.
So what happens next? Will I run 4 miles straight or try the Run/Walk method as it was suggested?
Guess we’ll see on Tuesday…
Keep on running!
No comments:
Post a Comment