Sunday, July 19, 2009

5 +1 = Awesome Long Run

Today I did my third long run using the Galloway Method. I had previously used a 10:2 and 8:2 split with some success. Today I used a 5:1 run / walk ratio. This ratio worked very well for me as I was able to run 19 miles before I started to feel any signs of fatigue. Even then it never went pass the point where it became a problem for me. I continued to push past the 20 mile mark and went on to run 22.4 miles of a beautiful, warm sunny day.

The only glitch in the entire run was when the battery on my Nike watch died around one hour into the run. I had set the timers on the watch to alarm at 5 and 1 minutes so I would know when to run and walk. Once the battery died I had to keep checking the time on my Garmin to maintain my splits. This took a lot of the fun out of the run since I spent as much time looking at my Garmin as I did enjoying the scenery in Breakheart and Lynn Woods.

It was a pretty warm day and I was going through my fluid faster than anticipated. I knew I wouldn't have enough to get me through the entire run. I made a detour out of Lynn Woods and ran to a Seven-Eleven store about one mile away to buy some Gatorade. Running to the store, plus the road running I did to get from Breakheart to Lynn Woods and back again, made for a total of 4 miles of pavement running on the day. I was concerned that much pavement running would bother my PF but it didn't feel bad at all. I was very pleased with that since I've never been able to do more the 2 miles in the past without causing some PF pain.

I'm very happy with the run today. I'll try the 5:1 split on my next run to see if the miles pass as easily as they did today. If I can duplicate today's run, I'll use the 5:1 ratio when I run the 50K next month.

I think summer has finally arrived....

4 comments:

  1. Awesome! I'll def use this method when I do my first ultra! Ana

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  2. Dan,
    Did you 5-1 the road part also? How did your time compare?

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  3. Kevin, Not sure if you can compare this run to my previous two because some the route I ran was different this time. My pace for the 5:1 was 30 seconds slower per mile compared to the 10:2 ratio and 10 sec faster than the 8:2 split. The 10:2 and 8:2 were on the same course and had 7 miles of single track, 2 miles of pavement and 11 miles of rough dirt road. The 5:2 course was a little harder with 11 miles of single track, 4 miles of pavement and 7 miles of rough dirt road. I felt much better doing the 5:2 than I did using the other splits.

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  4. Dan, the 5:1 is my favorite run:walk ration combination. If you've read his book , Galloway also explains that the fewer miles one has in training the sooner and more frequent the walk breaks should be taken to reap their benefits. Taking a walk break when one feels tires is sort of too late. Early and often. THat's why I am such a back of the packer....and end up in the middle or mid-back pack...and smiling.... Get Galloway's book as it helps explain many reasons why this works, though not very scientifically.
    Glad your feetsies held up , too!

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