Marathon Strategy

In the last 20 years, many marathon training groups have encouraged participants to adopt a run/walk strategy in order to complete the marathon. A recent study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport looked at 22 male and 20 females who completed a marathon using either a running only or a run/walk strategy. They evaluated many cardiovascular markers a week prior to the marathon and then 4 days after the marathon. They didn't find any significant differences in runners using the different strategies. However, those using the run/walk strategy posted similar times and reports less muscle discomfort. Hard to argue with that!