Bobby McGee's Run:Walk Protocol

This comes from something that I did for Endurance Corner in 2006, Gordo Byrne's website. Gordo is a good foil & great friend.

"Bobby is one of the finest coaches that I've had the pleasure of working with. If you get the chance to learn from him then take it!

I have been using this for all of my runs since getting back to balanced training. It is working very well for me".

Determining where to start with the walk run method would depend on your current level and volume of run conditioning. I generally subscribe the following guidelines:
· If you run regularly (4+ X per week), then use for runs longer than 35 to 45:00
· For experienced runners I would suggest breaking up long runs & tempo runs (the latter defined as half marathon to marathon pace/effort – not off the bike, but flat pure runs)
· I would also highly recommend using the method in your longer bricks where you run more than 35 – 45:00 off the bike
· The basic model I use is 10:00 of running & 1:00 of walking, but I easily adapt this to suit the athlete’s capabilities.
The following ranges are what I recommend from easiest to most skilled:
1. Phase 1: Beginner: This assumes no running at all prior to this. 1:00 run, 1:00 walk, build rapidly (weekly) to 5:00 run, 1:00 walk.
2. Phase II: This assumes low running volume (fewer than 4 runs per week) & looking to build volume. Add 10 – 15% to all runs weekly, but break runs up into 6 to 10:00 sections, with a 1:00 walk. If using 10% increases, then move closer to 10:00 run, 1:00 walk, if increasing by 15%, then stay closer to 6:00 run, 1:00 walk
3. Phase III: This assumes advanced runner looking to increase both volume in long runs & speed in quality workouts. Have the basis be 10:00 run, 1:00 walk & build from there.
I have had runners break runs into sections as large as 30:00, but sometimes find that on chunks larger than 15:00 some athletes have a hard time starting the run again.
In the majority of athletes this is easily rectified by ensuring that the walk stride rate stays high (rather shorter steps & high cadence), that the walk is brisk with a purpose to covering ground, rather than thinking, “ah, rest”!
Also ensure that the arms are kept in running mode—allowing the arms to drop down, slows the stride rate, increases the stride length, which in turn leads to “switching off” & the lengthened levers put the pelvis & hamstrings under increased stress.
By following these guidelines the runner stays facilitated & easily restarts the next section with renewed vigor.
4. Threshold Workouts: I usually break these up into fixed times or distances any way. I design these around a total volume of 30 to 40:00. I find that longer walks here ensure a more rapid progression, i.e. velocity at the same heart rate increases fastest when longer rest periods are incorporated.
Sample workout would be 3X1.5 mile at LT (heart rate or pace, depending on the phase of training) with a 5:00 walk between each.
If the athlete does not have the speed, for example, to complete the quality sections in under 40:00, or is fast enough that the quality work is less than 30:00, then I would either break it up into time sections for the beginner, like 3X10:00, or lengthen the reps for the advanced, speedier runner, like 3X2.2 miles.
5. Tempo Workouts: Here the workout goal would be determined by considering specific event requirements. In the earlier part of this preparation phase I emphasize time sections at a specific heart rate, e.g. for half marathon run 4X15:00 at ½ marathon heart rate, with a 2:00 walk between each. Then in the latter part of the final preparation phase I’d have the same athlete run 3X5km at goal ½ marathon pace with a 2-3:00 walk break between each. I suggest a similar approach to marathon pace tempo runs & IM & ½ IM brick/combo runs. With the marathon I generally keep total volumes below & up to 15 miles (25km).
6. Long Runs: The purpose of long runs is to develop muscle endurance & train the body’s ability to metabolize lipids as a fuel source. A coach can objectively measure increases in vascularity in long runs by observing the athletes decoupling rates, (i.e. when pace slows, while HR remains constant). The basic idea is to be able to increase long run pace while maintaining predetermined sub AeT (aerobic threshold) heart rates. This is by far the most easy to improve through using the walk/run methodology. I find best results when I keep the ratio at 10:00 run, but move the 1:00 walk down as the athlete improves (by 5 to 10sec per jump) until a minimum walk period of 15sec.
Gordo Note: "10:1 worked really well for me. I tried 11:15/0:45 and that really increased the demands of the session. For now, 35-40s seems to be "about right" for getting the reset that Bobby talks about".
7. Racing: For runners who run the marathon in slower than 2:30 (at least sub 3:00) & then, by virtue of IM world bests, all IM athletes, I strongly recommend racing the walk/run method during racing as well. Sub 2:30 marathons have been achieved by runners in this fashion. This implies that if you are going to race this way, train this way. However, for the runner who wishes to run considerably faster & is able to run sub 2:30, I would still use this approach on the majority of occasions, but there would have to be long runs & tempo runs that are continuous running.
ADVANTAGES OF THE METHOD:1. Increased volume (per workout & per week/phase)2. Reduced recovery time3. Mentally easier to train & race4. Faster in the majority of cases5. Improved lipid metabolism6. Increased functional leg strength
What’s not to like?
Gordo Note: "I noted #1 to #4 very quickly in my own training. The hardest part is the humility required to walk!

Questions from a top AG triathlete:
Moving forward, do I keep this ratio for all training runs over 30mins?***Yes
What does the protocol look like for 1/2 IM?***For an athlete like you... walk 15s every other aid station (drink on exit) -- walk 45s at the 10K mark // you need to train the walk -- remember how fast you saw me walk at Saguaro. If HOT then walk 15s every aid station as you'll need the fluids.
Is this the correct protocol for IM, first 1/3 15min:15s, second 1/3, 15min:30s, third 1/3 15min:45s?***Try it on your longest runs -- use the protocol that works best for your longest runs -- for me, I walk longer than 15s early in an IM as I want to settle from the bike and establish cadence.

Le Tour again

I have been following a sports science website, called The Science of Sport, for a while now & the stuff on the tour is fascinating. Here is a excerpt written by Ross Tucker:

"...doping has an effect on the repeatability of the performance, just as much as it affects performance acutely. Many will think only of the acute doping effect, but in fact, most of the doping products exert an even bigger effect on recovery, and hence the ability to produce this level of performance over and over. Think testosterone, growth hormone, cortisone, insulin - all are used to reduce stress response or improve post-exercise recovery. Even EPO would have this effect. Therefore, one cannot infer too much from a once-off performance. Rather, you have to look at a collection of performances, which also partly addresses variability provided by wind speed, temperatures and race situation."

When you consider performances & wonder whether they may be drug induced remember that recovery is the performance key. In the tour obviously it's a multi-stage race, but in most other endurance events the drugs help the cheats by allowing them to recover more quickly & thus train harder & sooner & more - so all 3 factors: volume. intensity & frequency are raised & optimal performances are possible sooner & more frequently.

Bobbysez Blast 3

Highlight of the weekend was the Golden League Meeting in Paris, where Kenenisa Bekele showed just how good he is – even when not fully fit – by outkicking double world champion Bernard Lagat over 3000 m to keep his jackpot hopes alive. Lagat ran a personal best (7:28 to 7:33), but it still wasn’t good enough. The women’s 800 was an exciting affair, with US steeplechaser Anna Willard outrunning a stellar field in the last few strides in a PB 1:58.80.

Matt Tegenkamp, who I have long admired, but who has not quite come up to the standard predicted for him when he was in the running for a medal in the 5000m in the world champs a few years ago has run a 13:07.97 (Season’s Best) in the KBC Night of Athletics in Heusden, BEL, 18 July, a good sign – I really think he can join Bob Kennedy & Craig Mottram as the only white guys under 13:00 for the distance currently. He was narrowly beaten into 2nd by Kenyan Jonas Cheruiyot. We have yet to see anyone match the Kenyans & Ethiopians in sub 12:45 clockings.

After having been beaten repeatedly, Olympic champ Pamela Jelimo is back to her winning ways, but only just, beating Kenia Sinclair 1:59.59(season’s best) to 2:00.77. But US steepler Anna Willard is having the season of her life, winning the 800m in Paris in the Golden League, a much higher profile event in a 1:58.80 personal best, (see opening paragraph).

It was great to see Lopez Lomong, the USA 1500m runner clocking a 1:46.72 for a season’s best 800m in Belgium.

Lots of 800s this weekend, but other than Anna Willard’s run in the Golden League, the pick of the bunch has to be the Tsiklitiria (IAAF Grand Prix) men’s 800m in Athens on 13 July – 3 guys sub 1:44!:

1. Asbel Kiprop, KEN 1:43.48
2. Ahmad Ismail, SUD 1:43.82 PB
3. Gary Reed, CAN 1:43.95 SB
4. Yeimer Lopez, CUB 1:44.76
5. Dmitrijs Milkevics, LAT 1:45.00 SB

Some short news tidbits from Athletics International:

• Rashid Ramzi faces being stripped of his Olympic 1500 title after analysis of his “B” sample from Beijing confirmed a positive test for the new drug Cera, an advanced version of EPO. Ramzi claims he is innocent and the Bahrain Olympic Committee has hired a team of lawyers to fight his case.
• It is reported that Catherine Ndereba will not defend her world marathon title as she does not think she is fully prepared for such a race. Running with an injury, she placed seventh in London in April in 2:26:22.
• The kilometre splits for Meseret Defar in her brilliant 29:59.20 last weekend were 3:01.51, 3:04.13, 2:57.79, 3:00.56, 3:01.67, 3:02.04, 3:03.07, 3:02.38, 2:58.40 and 2:47.65. The second 5000 m took 14:53.54 (the first was 15:05.66) and the five fastest kilometres added up to 14:45.91 and the three quickest to 8:43.84. Her time shattered Paula Radcliffe's UK all-comers record of 30:17.15 at Gateshead in 2004 and moved her to fifth on the world all-time list behind Wang Junxia 29:31.78, Meselech Melkamu 29:53.80, Tirunesh Dibaba 29:54.66 and Elvan Abeylegesse 29:56.34.

33 years ago: 31 July 1976
Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany denied Frank Shorter (USA) the opportunity to become only the second marathoner in history to win two successive Olympic titles when he beat the American in heavy rain in Montreal. Cierpinski won in 2:09:55, with Shorter second in 2:10:46 – more than 1½ min faster than he ran in Munich. As in Munich, Karel Lismont (BEL) was one place behind him. Lasse Viren (FIN), who won both the 5000 m and 10000 m on the track, finished fifth. Four years later in Moscow Cierpinski himself scored a second win. He was subsequently, almost 25 years later, discovered to have been on the East German state-run drug program & American Don Kardong who was 4th, lost out on bronze.

In 1998, Kardong was philosophical about the affair. "In the purest sense, the judgment of the IOC is irrelevant," Kardong wrote in Runner's World magazine 10 years ago. "It is the athlete's own measure of self that matters. In my moment of truth, I lost the bronze medal to Karel Lismont. I reached down and found … a well of fatigue. I can't change that, but at least I can claim my race -- what I did and didn't do -- as my own." See http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=joyce/080822

Again my thanks to Riel Hauman of Distance Running Results.

The great endurance athletes envision a moving masterpiece that pays homage to their training efforts. Yes there is ego in that, yes some part of the intent is to entertain, but does this detract from their desire to be self actualized? I think not; rather a complexity of motive driven with supreme confidence to an end more forseen by the protagonist than the observer. And therefore all the more entertaining!

Consider All

Since the very beginning of my coaching career I have been fascinated by the holistic requirements that determine success or failure in endurance events. I recall being adamant in the early 80s that if I could just discover the well guarded training secrets of the athletes & coaches who were my athletes' competition I would be able to better apply these & then my athletes would win. Then one of my mentors Tim Noakes said something that changed all this – if you train just like a past champion you will achieve the same results, all other things being equal! Why would I want that? I wanted national records, winners – I had to forge my own way.
Last week I was working with an Olympic aspirant & world class triathlete on mental skills. Previously I had worked with this athlete on running mechanics. Listening to the coach & watching the athlete race & reading the athlete’s race reports it occurred to me that there might be a run training component missing. This was based on the deterioration in mechanics as the run progressed, listening to what the perceived challenges experienced in the run portion of the race were & seeing how this confluence affected the athlete’s mindset.
What started off as work on bio-mechanics led to observation of races to see if the manipulations helped, which led to realizations of incomplete training perhaps leading to loss of form through fatigue, which in turn led to mental fatigue & lack of confidence in the physical components which ultimately led to loss of overall confidence.
The above is a very good illustration of why no amount of science or only an understanding of the psyche of the individual athlete is ever going to be sufficient. A full understanding of all factors involved in performance, plus an unsurpassed degree of relatedness between athlete & coach, with a willingness on the part of the coach & athlete to keep track of all components & to proactively recognize & act on possible “leaks” in any regard. See the diagram that goes along with this article.
Great coaches & athletes & great teams are the ones who take care of every eventuality possible. The team requires a constantly evolving, highly detailed & systematic master plan which is rigorously kept to in order to achieve consistent predictable timeous results.

Addressing Your Mental Game

Consider that all physical training is in great part a mental exercise through which the ability to do a certain amount of work embues within you the belief that you can race a certain way. This is the only real way to build self-confidence.

Secondly try the following approach: Physical training as a mental exercise is not the process of gaining something that is outside of you, but rather the process of removing that about yourself that is NOT performance. Just like excess weight lowers your VO2 max, & the loss of it increases your VO2 max (& if it's fat your power to weight ratio!), so too the loss of unfitness, through the increase of fitness improves performance. The quality, frequency & quantity of your training instill self-belief. View training as a shedding of limiters - leaving only lean, powerful performance available.

With every workout create a mindset that plays to this. Seek the following:

• Resilience



• Mental & emotional endurance



• Consistency



• Self belief



• The ability to play when you train & race

Always show up on the start line with all you have available.

Tour de France

As a coach I often get asked, each year, whether I believe the riders are clean. I don't know, but I like what Alexander Wolff from SI.com has to say: "You can leave Colorado or California with your water bottles and Clif Bars, but eventually you'll discover, as Mart Smeets of NOS Dutch TV puts it, "If you want to dance, you put on your dancing shoes."