New Galloway Run Walk Strategy

It might be good if you are trying to keep a certain pace but I don't see a problem with the longer walk intervals for other reasons like rehabbing an injury or coming back from an absence from running. The use of increasing run intervals with a 1' walk is a great way to get started conservatively and work back up. 

I'm getting back into running after a summer layoff.  I've been running 7 min, walking 1 min on my morning runs.  I'll give the :30 walk break a try.

In the afternoon/evening I need the 1:00 to allow my HR to drop back down - I'll be glad when the 95-100 degree days are gone for a while.

The whole run/walk strategy makes sense for new runners who are still building their aerobic engine.  It's a stepping stone, not a place to optimize.

optimizing a run/walk strategy is making the walk breaks shorter and shorter... so that they are no longer of benefit.

so yeah- 30 sec is better than 60 sec.  

each person will be different.  Best to run with a HR monitor and know how fast you are recovering.

In my case it's been more of an overuse injury management strategy.  I've got degenerative Achilles tendinosis in both legs and chronic patella tendinosis in my right knee.  After I tore my left Achilles, my orthopedic surgeon tried to talk me into giving up running altogether.  After some discussion, he did get me to agree to give up any sports that required any sudden starts & stops, changes of direction, or jumping.  So I'm pretty much limited to running at a steady pace in at straight line!

Through some trial and error I've figured out that if I stick to no more than a 4:1 run/walk ratio that it gives my legs enough time to recover for runs up to HM distance without too much adverse effect.  At one point I even experimented with a run/jog scenario where I would just slow down for a minute to rest my legs rather than actually walking, but my legs didn't like that.  FYI, before I got hurt I trained my HR, but when I started doing the run/walk the graph ended up looking like a saw blade.  Rather than continuing to chase a trailing indicator, I gave up on HR and just started going by RPE.  

I've tried to be conservative to protect my legs, but the one minute walk breaks seem to drag on forever to me and I'm always itching to go again.  I'm curious about matching the shorter run/walk intervals and seeing what happens.   I'm thinking in theory that the shorter run interval will create less cumulative stress on my legs to where the 30 sec recovery will be more than adequate.   

Considering my age (62) and the associated increasing need for overall rest & recovery,  I'm really looking more for solutions to be able to sustain a reasonable pace over a given distance without hurting myself. as opposed to aggressively seeking increases in my pace.   

Mark

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