It’s been a while since I wrote about walking in ultras so I thought this would be a good time to revisit the topic. The stats from my last race showed that I walked for 38 hours and ran for 19 hours. I’m obviously moving faster while running so maybe about half the distance was covered by walking. I’m sure elites are running a much higher percentage of these races than I am, but I would guess that the vast majority of us are spending a significant amount of time walking during races. That being the case, this should probably be something we need to train, right?
I currently try to get 20-30 miles walking in each week. I do not consider this cross training though. I view this as core to my ultra training. I push the pace on these with a target to be at or under 14 minutes/mile so this is more of a workout than your typical stroll around the neighborhood. If I’m recovering from a race or a hard workout then the pace may get up into the 15-16 minute range, but otherwise I’m moving. I do prioritize my running volume over my walking as this is clearly more important. My YTD walking volume reflects this as several months I’ve had to swap walking volume for running due to scheduling issues and general lack of motivation to get out of bed before the sun’s up.
When I started aggressively adding in walking to my training my thought process was that I wanted to limit how much my pace slowed late in hundreds. The goal being to maintain a 16-17 minute pace on flat terrain instead of the dreaded 18-20 minute shuffle-slog (or worse). Over the last year though, I’ve noticed a greater impact on my early race pacing. I’ve been targeting a conservative pace and all my walking training is allowing me to walk a higher percentage of my early miles than before. Heck, there are even times were I’m walking almost as quickly as others are running. This is allowing me to run more in the second half of races and dramatically reduce how much my pace slows.
I also think there’s a secondary benefit with my nutrition. By walking more early on, my overall average effort is lower than when I had a higher run/walk ratio. The lower overall effort means my stomach isn’t as stressed and I can process more calories especially in hotter temperatures. Combined with burning fewer calories per mile walking v running and I’m pushing my caloric deficit further into the race. This is resulting in fewer lows during races, which I’m sure is positively impacting my overall endurance. It may not be a complete gamechanger for me, but I believe this has definitely benefitted me on the margin.
TL;DR Walk more to unleash your full ultra potential.