Playing with Intervals

I think I found my "sweet spot" as far as intervals go.  Today I ran 1:45 mins, walked 1:00 min.  And it cut 2 mins off my overall pace.  It's within "finishing" pace for my first marathon.

Early this year I decided that I would run my first marathon.  The half marathon distance had become "comfortable".  A few runner buddies decided to run the Rock N Roll San Diego Full.  It was time to face up to the challenge of 26.2 miles.

I've always used the Jeff Galloway Run/Walk/Run method.  In the beginning it helped me face the increasing distances with a plan.  I found that the active recovery of walk intervals helped me with fatigue and prevented injury.  I could do back to back half marathons with this method.  So I've turned to Jeff Galloway to train for the Marathon as well.  I chose the California International Marathon in Sacramento, CA for several reasons.  I needed a challenge and the 6 hour time limit is scary.  I DO want to FINISH, so I WILL push myself to be better.

The training method suggested that I run 1 min, walk 1 min.  But I was finding that I was SOOOO slow.  I'd NEVER finish the marathon at the 15:45 pace that I was ending up with.  So I've slowly increased the running interval over the last few weeks.

I also found an EXCELLENT walk/run pace calculator at Endocrinology Online.  I could put in my desired finish time,  my walk pace, my chosen intervals and it told me the pace that my run intervals needed to be.  I applied that info to the intervals today and I was faster!!!  And it didn't feel like that much more effort.

Math is a REALLY great tool when you are frustrated with your running results.