Does walking help your running?????

get a bike, walking 9 miles a day is just crazy

Yes, but the amount of help is dependent upon the pace that you walk, just like running. If you walk fast enough to sweat and get your heart rate up, it will only help your running.

You are strengthening your leg muscles and raising your heart rate, therefore fractionally strengthening respiratory muscles also.

Any form of excercise in moderation to supplement your running is a good thing. I know quite a few who swear by swimming once a week.

You just have to make sure your eating enough because walking 9 miles your burning a fair few calories. And... just for the record I also think your insane walking that much.

I very much believe that it does. I walk to and from work each day (about 6 miles) and I find it has helped when I've been coming back from injuries in that it never takes me very long to get back to a respectable level of mileage. As well, if I'm tired at the end of the workday, the walk home wakes me up so that I can get my evening workout in.

Monty

If nothing else, it will help you stay at racing weight. Walking burns a good ammount of calories.

5krunr wrote:

get a bike, walking 9 miles a day is just crazy

Let's think about this. Is duration key? Walking 9 miles at a brisk pace would provide you with a decent sustained activity that far outweighs the short bike ride.

Then again, by having a bike to get to and from places, the individual would have more time for their main objective - running.

I can't decide. So switch it up. Some days walk the distance and good pace. Other days use a bike and hurry back home so you can put in a longer run.

I do have a bike, but it's very hard to bike in 4-6" of snow. I also do 70-80 miles a week in excess of the walking. And classes are lke 1.5 miles away, i just do that trip multiple times.

If 2 hours of walking a day had a net benefit for a 70-80 mpw runner, then most serious runners would be doing it.

Think about it. If walking was even 1% helpful to the serious distance runner every HS and college kid would get a job mowing lawns in the summer. If you have so much extra energy that you feel fine walking 45 miles a week and running 70 .... start running 10-20 more miles a week and take a bus or rid your bike in the snow.

Yes, walking that much on the whole is good exercise, but you don't need "good exercise" you need good training and good recovery between runs.

Top British distance runner from the early 90's, Jack Buckner used to incorporate long brisk walks into his training regime, it seemed to work for him.

better to spend some walking time running slowly or even very slowly, because you can improve recovery and practice your running technique.

yes you can actually improve your running technique at very low speeds, try it.

14-flat-PR wrote:

Yes, walking that much on the whole is good exercise, but you don't need "good exercise" you need good training and good recovery between runs.

Tell that to all the Africans without cars that kick your ass all the time. The reason we lose in endurance events is because we lack early basic physical conditioning. Kids don't walk anywhere anymore, mommy drives them everywhere instead. You absolutely need basic "good exercise" so that you'll be physically more sound.

Talk to the Japanese marathoners here in Boulder ... I see quite a few of them walking in the morning or mid-day. They seem to be able to mass produce sub 2:10 guys at will.

Renato Canova would agree I think. In a post a while back, he said that training did not only include the amount and intensity of actual running, but was related to a person's entire lifestyle and a person with an active lifestyle would be better than one with a sedentary lifestyle with all else being equal. It's not a matter of counting up walking miles (ooh I need to get in my 9 walking miles today) or thinking of them as cross-training, but just choosing to be as active as possible whenever the oppertunity occurs.

Right on with that, NYCross. I would think most folks who live in a decent city (i.e., a place where walking as transportation is even possible) and who run would agree that the extra walking they do only helps their running. I walk about 5K round-trip to and from work every day, and that doesn't count any walking I do at lunchtime or in the evening after work. An average day for me probably consists of 5-6 miles of walking, plus my 8-10 mile run in the morning. When I go somewhere where I don't walk like I normally do, I don't feel as well. And that's regardless of whether or not I've been able to run.