Ten and Ones Vs. Continuous
What are ten and ones you ask? Well Ten and One’s (10 and 1s) is a concept that if you run for ten minutes then walk for one minute throughout your training and your race, you can extend your running distance. To anyone unfamiliar with the concept it may seem strange. Surely running continuously is better. Well that depends. As with most things about running you have to find what works best for you. The concept of ten and ones feels strange when you first start out. At the beginning of long runs or on distances under, say ten kilometers it may seem to slow you down. However, as you increase the distance, it starts to make a whole lot more sense.
The idea is (at least partially) that when you take a walk break every ten minutes you give your body the chance to reduce the buildup of lactic acid in your muscles. Also, near the end of a marathon, say at the 35 kilometer mark, you only have to push yourself to the next walk break instead of to the finish. Believe me it is easier to keep running for five more minutes than for seven more kilometers.
Ten and Ones work very well on marathon speeds of 3 hours or longer. I have personally ran a 1 hour 43 minute half marathon doing ten and ones. Training for ultra marathons is much easier using this technique as well.
So if you haven’t tried it and you are doing a Half Marathon or longer, give it a try. You might never go back.