How to Adapt Traditional Training Plans for Run/Walk Intervals

Health & Injuries run/walk intervals both to train and race. These intervals can help increase speed and mileage for faster overall race times. However, there is a sticking point!

Should You Be Doing Longer Long Runs Experts share tips for using the run/walk method in any training program as a main progression metric, so they often exclude key running workouts, such as tempo runs and speed work. On the flip side, traditional training plans leave run/walk intervals out of the instructions.

This leaves run/walkers with a choice: Stick to run/walk plans and never try other types of runs or figure out exactly how to adapt traditional training plans to include run/walk intervals.

“It can be hard to figure out what kind of run/walk intervals to do on a normal plan,” acknowledges Andrea Dell, a running coach in Charlotte, North Carolina, who uses the run/walk method.

Fortunately, Dell and Chris Twiggs, chief training officer for Galloway Training Programs, are here to solve that dilemma. They both say that those who use run/walk intervals should practice a variety of run workouts train your body to run faster and come in many formats with different names, including How to Avoid Injury and Get Faster, the more intuitive your run/walk intervals will feel not only when you train, but when you race, too.

“You’re in charge of your own destiny with your running, and if you find a ratio and a pace that works for you, and most of all, if you’re having fun, then you’re doing it right,” Twiggs says.

Here, Dell and Twiggs give tips on exactly how to incorporate run/walk intervals into the workouts you see on traditional training plans.

How to Incorporate Run/Walk Intervals Into 5 Types of Runs

1. Add Walk Intervals to Speed Workouts

Speed workouts train your body to run faster and come in many formats with different names, including mile repeats, fartleks, and interval runs.

To adapt these training runs, you’ll need to build the walk intervals in yourself. “It’s always a great idea to throw at least one walk into your speed routine,” Twiggs says.

He suggests adding walks into the mid-point of the run intervals. For example, if your training plan calls for 400- or 800-meter repeats, take a 15- to 20-second walk at 200 or 400 meters, respectively. “That will help you practice running faster and then picking up the pace again so you end up averaging your target pace at the end of the speed session,” Twiggs says. “It’s actually quite challenging to do that.”

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Overall, a speed workout should feel “sustainably uncomfortable,” Twiggs says. “It’s okay for the heart rate to be elevated, it’s okay for huffing and puffing, but you don’t want to feel like you’re barely hanging on.”

2. Incorporate Run/Walk Intervals into Goal Race Pace Runs

If you’re training for a race, your training program will include workouts in which you run at your goal race pace. During these workouts, you should practice the run/walk a running coach in Charlotte, North Carolina, who uses the run/walk method.

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The Magic Mile is a timed run that determines how fast you can run a mile. Using that number, Jeff Galloway, the creator of the run/walk method, has determined how much time it will take most run/walkers to complete various races:

• Add 33 seconds to your Magic Mile for your 5K pace
• Multiply your Magic Mile time by 1.15 for your 10K pace
• Multiply your Magic Mile time by 1.175 for your 10-mile pace
• Multiply your Magic Mile time by by 1.2 for your half marathon pace
• Multiply your Magic Mile time by by 1.3 for your marathon pace

A Part of Hearst Digital Media run/walk intervals train your body to run faster and come in many formats with different names, including.

For example, if your Magic Mile translates to a half marathon pace of 13 minutes per mile, then the Galloway plan suggests you start with 30-second run and 30-second walk intervals. If your race pace is nine minutes per mile, run for three minutes and walk for 30 seconds.

Feel free, though, to fiddle with these intervals to find what works best for you, say both experts. “We recommend that people start at the ratio that’s based on whatever their target race pace is, see how that feels, and as they continue their training and do more race pace runs, try other ratios to see if something works better for keeping you on pace,” Twiggs says.

3. Shorten Run Intervals for Long Runs

Long runs train your body to run faster and come in many formats with different names, including endurance. The ideal pace for these long runs is slower than your goal race pace by about two minutes per mile, Twiggs says.

To incorporate run/walk intervals into a long run, tweak your run/walk race ratio by shortening your running intervals and therefore, taking more frequent walks, Twiggs says. For example, if your run/walk race strategy is one minute running with 30 seconds walking, try 30 seconds running and 30 seconds walking for long runs.

By incorporating more walks or longer walks, you can slow your overall pace, Twiggs says, and can likely stay on the road longer without becoming too tired.

4. Shorten Walks and Lengthen Run Intervals for Tempo Workouts

It would seem, on the surface, that a tempo run is the opposite of a run/walk because your goal during a tempo run is to sustain one pace—a relatively hard one—for about 20 minutes. If you find a tempo run on your traditional training plan, it is possible to incorporate the run/walk method into that workout.

To do it, simply shorten your walk intervals and increase the run intervals. “I want that workout to feel hard, so I have my runners take less recovery time between running intervals,” Dell says.

For example, for those aiming for a half marathon goal pace of 13 minutes per mile and run/walk intervals of 30 seconds running and 30 seconds walking, your tempo run may include shortened walks of 20 to 25 seconds and increased run intervals of 35 to 40 seconds. This will allow you to push your overall pace.

However, say the experts, don’t attack a tempo run like you’re running a race, where you may finish without any gas left in your tank. It’s a workout, and workouts are meant to prepare you for races, not turn into races, so you want to finish feeling like you still have some effort left to give.

“You shouldn’t feel like you’re struggling to hold onto your pace,” Twiggs says.

5. Lengthen Walk Intervals for Easy or Recovery Runs

When you see an easy or recovery run on your training calendar, use a shorter running interval and a longer walking interval than you do during a goal race pace run, Dell says. This way, you can work through any lingering soreness from more intense workouts while squeezing in additional Experts share tips for using the run/walk method in any training program or mileage (or both!).

For example, if you typically run for one minute and walk for 30 seconds, you might run for one minute and walk for one minute.

Use the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to execute easy runs. This one-to-10 scale assumes that zero is no exertion while 10 is all-out work. Easy runs should fall between a 4 and a 6. Your walk doesn’t go down to 1 or 2, Dell says. Instead, you are staying at that 4 to 6 throughout your workout.

As you work through your training plans, you will find that because of the other runs you do, you will be able to When you see an easy or during your “easy” run. In some ways, easy runs are a barometer of your progress, says Dell.