However, on a 10 mile run, the group took 3 walking breaks of about 1 minute each. I don't usually walk when I do my long runs by myself. So, will my endurance be hurt by taking the walking breaks with the group?
It is was more fun running with the group. I may try mixing in some long runs by myself and without walking to offset the group runs with walking. The other idea was to do like last week and take the walking breaks with the group for the 1st half of the run and then do the last half of the run without the group and skip the walking breaks.
Seems a bit extreme to me, PB.
I ran 18 last weekend and plan on 18 again this week. The group stopped at 10 last week, so I ran an extra 8 without the group last week and lacked th company.
This week I was thinking about breaking up the 8 miles into 4 before and 4 after with the 10 group miles (with breaks) in the middle.
Confusing enough?
And to think that I started running because of the simplicity!
I do like your idea of 4 pre-run miles and 4 post-run miles. I do that when I'm riding with someone and they live within riding distance just to get in a few extra miles on the bike.
Shelf, not too sure about the swamp idea, but it would certainly add to the confusion.
I'm a little confused about two things though. 1)Did Mr. Galloway actually train with walking breaks when he made the Olympic team? and 2)Can walking actually improve your time?
Nope. Galloway was a maniac when he was an Olympic runner, logging tons of miles and not a walk among them. The elitist die-hards you speak of on other forums say he sold out for the buck when he tried to reach out to Joe Coach Potato by putting the walk breaks into his training program. As a newbie runner, I used them but was pretty much shamed out of it by the more experienced runners at Kick. I did learn to run without needing them and don't use them today. I can say, though, that (again, as a BEGINNER) I was able to push a little harder/further knowing that just over that next hill, I got to walk and catch my breath, but as I became a stronger runner, I felt like the walks slowed me down because I had a harder time getting going again so that's also why I stopped using them. MHO is if someone "needs" to walk, they are not going at a comfortably steady pace for them and should slow down slightly but keep running. I always had a tendency to go out faster than I should have and needed them because I burnt out too quickly instead of building up with negative splits after starting steady. Especially on the long runs, consistent pace is important.
There's two issues here that we should separate. First, with a group run, you are in all likelihood running somewhat faster or slower than you would otherwise on your own. In either case, you're not hitting the exact workout your schedule might call for. If the group pushes you faster, and you take 3 measly minutes of walking breaks, I'd call it a wash. If you're running slower than usual and there's some walking breaks, then you've dogged the run on two counts.
My spin with dogging a run is there's absolutely nothing wrong with it ...just don't do it often and don't count it as a "quality" run. So if you're schedule calls for a long run of 10 miles and you end up dogging it with a slow pace and walking breaks (I'd hardly worry about 3 minutes worth though), my own tendency would be to get on the road again a few days later and log a quality 10 miler. That's just me though.
As for the elitests that blast walking breaks, let's call 'em what they really are, simply breaks. And unless you live in some runner's utopia, your run is going to be interrupted by having to wait for a green light, crossing traffic, trains, water stop, brief chat with a neighbor, step around a gate to a trailhead, tie you shoe ..whatever comes up in just about everybody's average run, there's a time 'you're not running'. Whether it be an actual planned walk period or something I mentioned above, it's impossible to be running at a pace the absolute entire time. Few people actually call it Gallowalking, but everybody has a few minutes, especially on long runs, where they're running less than their pace.