The Van Aaken Method - Looking for ideas

Very interesting nightowl. I await your next posts about your training.

I intend to start with something similar very soon. In last months I learned how to run really slow (at or below 130bpm) and I wanted to start with walking breaks after my first race this year which is supposed to be half-marathon in Great Bentley (Essex) this Sunday. Unfortunately, last 4 days I've got sore throat and my mileage is zero so I don't expect big result there but definitely will start at least once a week 1 minute run followed by 1 minute walk as vladimir suggested.

My aim for this year is to go sub3 in marathon.

What is your aim?

Hello paprnek

good luck at Great Bentley

Last year had a bit of a mojo crisis and my running was a bit haywire not running as many miles. Had other things going on in my life as well. Hence wanting to enjoy running again and i am.

Felt i had lost a fair bit of aerobic fitness which is why i started with the 350m run 50 m walks. Did my first straight run today over 6 miles and it felt so much better. I'm loving it. I went out late this afternoon for another 4 miles to give me 10.34 miles for today (you can tell i have a Garmin)

Averaged about 140 HR for both runs have done low heart rate training in the past and believe it works but once all the miles aren't slow

Doing London and my aim is a good for age time thats sub 3:45. Good luck with your sub 3. Have you a marathon in mind.

I'm hoping to do Sidcup a 10 miler haven't doing one of them since 1989

Hello nightowl,

I did a new half-marathon PB in Great Bentley last Sunday, even though my nose was running during the whole race but sore-throat vanished on Thursday so I was able to race. If 100% well, it could have been much better but under the circuimstances my 23 seconds improvement is either a miracle or proving that following Van Aaken's method is really worth. And I have to say that since my last marathon I've done most of my training in a very slow pace (last three months) and in 4:00/km I did together only about 20km in January and it still didn't stop me to run in this pace 13miles.

Now I intend to have one easy week and then will start with mixing 130HR runs with medium fast runs and the fastest pace I would like to do in the runs that Vladimir suggested - 1min running, 1min walking.

My next race will be Orion 15 on 20th March. Maybe you heard something about this 15miler X-country in Epping Forest.

My sub3 marathon attempt will be probably in the autumn.

Oh, and I've never done a 10 miler. When is the Sidcup race?

I wish you good luck with your sub3:45 in London Marathon.

If Vladimir is reading this I would like to ask for an advise. My last marathon was 3:16:24 in October, my last half-marathon last Sunday 1:25:02

What pace would you suggest for me if I want to try sub3 marathon during 1min run/1min walk session and what would be the right duration? Thank you

Congrats on the half. Your 1:25.02 indicates you are ready for a sub 3:00. The main thing is training below your max. Ending every run knowing that you could do more. I would stay with the current training and making sure you can get in a pick up at the end of most days. As to the long run/walks do not worry about your pulse or effort/pace just get your body used to being out there for three hours. To make it simple an individual that is training for a mile would never limit his/her long run to only a mile- they would go ten times the distance- that is not reasonable for a marathoner, but do not limit yourself by not going the time required. Another way to do the run/walk is to do an hour easy then move into for another hour. Next time run for 75 minutes and 75 minutes of run/walk; continue this to 90 & 90 and you will be there. This is for those who find starting off with a walk after only a minute of running is mentally difficult. By doing the run/walk as the second part you can work on your form (it tends to break down in the latter stages of races/long runs). Best of luck.

Paprnek

Well done on your pb, that is a good time especially with the fact that you weren't very well in the lead up for the race

Sidcup is on Sunday i'm a bit excited and nervous at the same time as not raced since Oct 30th. Its a 3 lapper but flat and fast some say its boring as its round a housing estate. But that doesn't bother me

Its looking good for your Autumn marathon plenty of time

Yes i've heard of the Orion 15 its a good course if tough will need to check on that one even if i use it as a training run the snag being its sandwiched between 2 night shifts

It is weird doing the 1 min run/walk right from the start but its ok once you get into it but may try vladimirs suggestion of doing it in the 2nd half of the run

Nightowl, I suggested a different method for him because you had already gone thru the 350-50's which is difficult for many. Another method is to run a 400 and then walk across the track to start the next one. This is a great way to establish pace (running your 400's at marathon pace). Some find this boring, but I ran a nice one of these somewhere in Germany at a track that had a pond in the middle (with a bridge across it). It made for a nice experience and on the pond there were kids in paddle boats fishing as well as ducks and "newly weds" (or at least they made it look like they were). It made the workout go quickly (even though I think it was a four hour run). I plan to do a like run once the weather changes with 1200 and a walk across a bridge (about 150 meters) to get a pace down for a half marathon. The distance is just what is available. Nice thing about running is you can just go out the door and run from telephone pole to telephone pole or block to block (the variations are unlimited) if you want. Most of all remeember to enjoy the experience.

I've been able to train through pretty much any injury I've ever had using van Aakens run/walk method. Nobody ever listens to me but this is what I do, and I can usually come back pretty fast because of it:

run 1 minute

walk 5 minutes

then if nothing hurt the first minute, run 2 mins

walk 5 mins

if nothing hurt in the 2 min segment, run 3 mins

walk 5 mins

and so on until I get to running 5 mins, then I start decreasing the walk by a minute...if whatever injury I have starts to hurt, such as shin splits, I don't increase the run or decrease the recovery, just keep it the same for awhile, or go the opposite direction if needed.

I usually go for the length of time I'd normally be out for that day.

I've found this to work better than any other form of cross training.

If nothing hurt I might think I was dead. But this interests me. I may have a go. Thanks.

Cheers Vladimir - i understand i just get a bit excited at times :)

Chuckster - Read about that in THE Book Joe Henderson had a chapter (in the English version) where he eventually did the same. But like you when i suggest it to someone else they don't want to know

This is interesting. I'm just getting over a case of PF which lasted for about 1 year. Nothing really seemed to help, including rest, except actual running itself. After I took about 2 months off with no running whatsoever, I started to back slowly, running just 20-30 mins. a day a few times a week. Then, I gradually increased the time and frequency (but not the speed) until I found that I was almost cured of PF. (I usually walk for about 15 mins. before and after any run). I think that running itself actually cured me of the PF. I could feel that the more I ran, the better my injured foot felt, strange but true. Nothing else worked as well, I think.

[quote]Prefontaine was definitely a much better runner, /quote]

Somehow you always knew this thread would degenerate into a Pre vs. Norpoth match.

Oh, yeah, Pre was much better except he couldn't beat Harold. LOL

Glad it's getting back to EVA. I think he summed up his training as (1) run slow, (2) run long and (3) don't eat like a pig.

Didn't van Aaken also have a chart, perhaps for a college student, of how to sleep like 5 hours a day and get 5 runs in? I don't think it was feasible but it was a nice chart to show how most people could run a lot more than they currently do. I think it was van Aken but I'm not sure.

aceonthethames wrote:

Oh, yeah, Pre was much better except he couldn't beat Harold. LOL

Whoops, Pre 4th....... norpoth 6th.

See, this is history in the making.

One thing happens, then you make up something else.

fwiw you are right. It was in his book Van Aaken's Method.

There is an example of a student's day. Everything is scheduled there from wake up through all runs, meals and lessons and also time for learning, going to theatre etc. Very interesting but as you said probably not feasible in a real life.

I have to say - he forgot to squeeze there some time for few pints of ale :-).

Nightowl, hope you did well in today's Sidcup 10-miler.

fwiw - yes as paprnek mentioned it is in the book at the moment don't have the book to hand

paprnek - thanks didn't go quite to plan it started off quite sleety but it did stop in time for the race

Finished in 1:31 which is ok but shows i have some work to do if i am going to achieve my goal

After an initial mile of 8:43 the next 8 miles stuck between 9:05-9:14 so fairly stable and finished with a 8:50 mile

HR quite stable looking at my stats so while i wasn't as fast as i would like i reckon i could have carried on for a few more miles

I used to do the 5 a day schedule two times a week, usually the first 4 runs were great and each would be faster than the last, then the 5th run would be horrible as my body was ready to go to bed.

10K really slow

5K fartlek

5K @Daniels easy pace + 2x500 @5K pace

10K @Daniels marathon pace + 1000 @10Kpace

8K really slow

I found I could recovery pretty easily doing this because the runs were so short.

I was thinking of maybe of introducing something like that once a week perhaps dependant on my working shifts but possibly starting at 3 or 4 times a day

paprnek wrote:

fwiw you are right. It was in his book Van Aaken's Method.

There is an example of a student's day. Everything is scheduled there from wake up through all runs, meals and lessons and also time for learning, going to theatre etc. Very interesting but as you said probably not feasible in a real life.

I have to say - he forgot to squeeze there some time for few pints of ale :-).

Nightowl, hope you did well in today's Sidcup 10-miler.

I don't think it's that bad at all as long as you get your priorities straight. I'm sure you can squeeze a couple of 10k runs if you cut back your time spent in front of internet.

Vladimir describes doing something even more intense: 7 one hour runs/day for a week. I think they'd run one hour, rest one hour, run one hour and so on... I don't know how often Van Aaken recommended doing that, but that's something I've always wanted to try. Unfortunately, I broke my ankle and can't run at all right now. Not to mention I have a job and children... Someday!