Fastest walk / jog ratio

Question

I've been going for long jogs (around 7 km - the length of a local track), but I can only jog around 5km, which means I spend a lot of time walking as well.

I was wondering if how to choose to spend the 2km worth of walking effects my overall time. E.g. it is better to jog without stopping completely, and then walk another 2km, or is it better to run 1km, walk a little, run another 1km etc ??

Or does 5 minutes jog / 5 minutes walk make more sense?

Answer 1

Presuming that your goal is to eventually run the whole way I would start with a five minute fast walk. Then run for 5 minutes(if that's the most you can currently do). Then walk, then run. Use a stop watch though, and try to be strict with yourself. Start with five minutes walk, 5 minutes jog, on your next run start to reduce the time you walk do 5 minutes jog, 4 minutes walk and gradually decrease the walking time every time you go out.

You may find you need to slow the pace of the run to be able to run more of it. Going too fast is a very common problem with beginners.

The other reason why I think this is a better approach, is because your heart rate will be raised for more of the walk/run, and you will get fitter quicker.

If possible try to walk at a reasonable pace on the walking section. This will all become much easier, the fitter you get.

Answer 2

If you're sprinting, breaking the routine into intermittent sprinting and walking is a great idea. It's similar to a High Intensity Interval Training exercise.

However, if you're jogging, perform your jog first before walking. Your goal is to increase your endurance so that you can jog all the way without walking. This accomplishes that goal for you.

As your endurance increases, you can simply extend your jogging distance. The only thing walking's good for is to enable you to catch your breath.

Now, go jog some more :).