Hi Reader
Watch the middle of an Ironman run and you'll see the same thing happen. Most people run until they can't run any more, then shuffle along feeling sorry for themselves, and their pace drops off a cliff somewhere between 20 and 25 kilometres.
Simon Butterworth, who finished Kona at 79, does it differently, and has done for a long time. He started walking through aid stations around 2012, after Bobby McGee ran clinics in Boulder, and he's been using run-walk ever since. When he started running again after his knee replacements, he began with 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off.
Bobby calls the approach broken endurance. His claim is that if you run and walk from the moment you leave T2, you can hold the same pace all the way round. The runners around you will go past early on, and later in the race you catch them up. His example was a runner who changed to eight or nine minutes of running followed by one minute of walking.
I've had Bobby McGee on the podcast several times, and I can't understand why more people won't adopt it. If you're a practical person, I don't see the argument against it.
The catch, as Simon Butterworth said, is that you have to try it. Don't wait until race morning. A winter long run is a much better place to find out what suits you, and the same goes for any change you're thinking about. If you don't run experiments and instead just repeat what you've always done, you won't improve.
This is the sort of thing we dig into inside the SWAT Inner Circle, where members get my eyes on their plans so they aren't guessing. It's £65 a month, there's no minimum term and you can cancel any time. Find out more and join here https://www.simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle
Pick one long run in the next fortnight, run-walk it, and reply to tell me what happened. I'd like to know.
Wardy
P.S. Simon Butterworth’s full conversation is worth your time - particularly how he finished the Kona run in the dark after his back gave out around mile 10, and what he’d say to anyone with a replaced joint who still wants to run.
Simon Butterworth: The oldest finisher at ironman WC 2026
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Simon Ward
Performance coach for endurance athletes over 50
Helping you train smarter, race stronger, and stay in the sport for the long haul.
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