Run/Walkers Need to Master These 2 Skills to Unlock Faster Times. Here’s What They Are and Exactly How to Practice Them

You might think the run/walk method explains itself—and it nearly does. You’ll find 95 percent of the instructions right there in its name. But what about that final 5 percent?That missing percentage is the time you spend transitioning between your runs and walks. Jeff Galloway, the late creator of the run/walk method, uses two terms to describe these periods of speeding up and slowing down. He calls them “accelerating” and “gliding,” respectively, and they matter more than you might realize.In fact, Chris Twiggs, the chief training officer and national program director of Galloway Training, tells Runner’s World that accelerating and gliding correctly are essential to getting the most out of the run/walk method.“If a runner says, ‘I don’t like all the starting and stopping’ when talking about the run/walk method, I know immediately what the issue is,” Twiggs says. “They’re not smoothly accelerating and gliding between their runs and walks.”The result? Every few minutes, you feel like you’re either a sprinter launching out of the blocks or a car slamming on its brakes. Both of those not only waste a lot of energy but also put unnecessary strain on your muscles and joints.The way to fix this is by practicing the acceleration glider drill, Twiggs explains. Once runners have mastered this technique, they not only find that they feel more energized and less sore, but they also usually find that their race times improve.So what exactly is the acceleration glider drill, how and when should you do it, and what benefits can you expect from practicing it? Here’s everything you need to know to incorporate it into your training routine.What Is Accelerating and Gliding? To reap the greatest benefit from the run/walk method, you don’t want to transition between walking and running too quickly. These should be smooth and gradual changes in your pace, Twiggs explains.“You should feel more like you are shifting gears, and not like you’re abruptly starting and stopping. The first part is smoothly taking yourself from a walking pace up to the pace you want to maintain while running,” he says. That’s called the acceleration.Let’s assume you’ve been running for a while and your watch beeps to signal that it’s time to walk. Now gliding comes in. “This is the great part of the run/walk method,” Twiggs says. “We just take our foot off the gas and allow ourselves to slowly glide down to a walk again. But we’re not immediately putting on the brakes. We want to allow our momentum to carry us several more seconds. By doing this, we’re getting basically a free push from that momentum that we built up during the run.”That’s exactly what you practice in the acceleration glider drill. At least once a week, you’ll smoothly cycle through your different speeds—from walking to your goal run pace—to familiarize yourself with changing gears during your run/walks.The benefit of regular practice? The run/walk method starts to feel more natural. You’ll also carry less fatigue from workout to workout because you’re putting less strain on your joints and muscles, Twiggs says.Best of all, as you become more efficient in accelerating and gliding, you’ll conserve more energy over the course of your run/walk. For many, that leads to stronger runs and faster race times.The Acceleration Glider Drill How to Do It Jog very slowly for about 15 steps (this doesn’t need to be exact).Jog faster for about 15 steps to increase your speed to a regular running pace.Over the next 15 steps, gradually slow down to a jog.Using momentum, glide for as long as you can. (At first, you may only glide four or five steps. Eventually you should go for 20 or 30 steps.)Repeat 4 to 8 times.When to Do It Twiggs recommends practicing the acceleration glider drill at least once a week before one of your midweek easy runs, and adds that it’s also a great addition to your warmup routine before a race.You can even benefit from it during the race itself. “If you find yourself struggling late in a race or you feel your form is starting to come apart a little, put yourself through the acceleration glider drill,” he suggests. “This gives you something to focus on to help take you out of that pain cave, and then allows you to run a little bit more smoothly than you had been up to that point.”Tips for Success Most runners understand accelerating fairly quickly. “We’re going from slow to fast, but not immediately. We’re taking our time building up speed—that’s easy enough for us to do,” Twiggs says. But gliding can present more of a challenge. In fact, Twiggs himself struggled with it at first and asked Jeff Galloway for guidance to nail the technique.The concept of gliding clicked for Twiggs when he and Galloway practiced it on a slight decline, rather than level pavement. “I found that it was much easier for me to glide when I was already going downhill a little bit. The extra momentum made it easier to maintain that higher running cadence for a distance before I gradually shifted to a walk,” he explains.Practicing your gliding on a slight downhill—as long as it’s not too steep—can help the mechanics of gently slowing from a run to a walk come more easily. “But once you unlock that, it makes everything so much easier and so much more comfortable,” adds Twiggs.Another tip? Set a goal for how far you’re going to glide.When you do your first few glides, see how far you naturally go and make a note of it. Then jog back to where you started and try to glide a little bit farther, Twiggs suggests. Every time you practice, keep trying to extend that glide phase for a few more steps. But don’t force the effort. Just try to focus on slightly increasing your cadence. “This helps keep your momentum going without additional energy expenditure,” explains Twiggs. The glide should let you coast right into your walk interval, without stealing any time from the walk itself.Accelerating and gliding are critical run/walk skills—and they do require some practice. But once you’ve mastered them, you’ll experience the payoffs before, during, and after your runs: You’ll start your workouts feeling fresher, conserve more energy in the middle miles, and you could even nab a PR that’s been just out of reach.“Once you’re accelerating and gliding smoothly, it’s absolutely a game changer in finishing a race strong,” Twiggs says.Morgan is a gear editor who has been with Runner’s World since 2017. She started as an intern ghostwriting The Warmup, a bygone version of the daily RW newsletter. Now, she tests and reviews anything you might find on runners’ feet-from crew socks and compression boots to carbon-plated super shoes. A lifelong runner and shoe geek, Morgan has been chasing the perfect pair of kicks since she joined her grade school cross-country team. Since then, she ran as a Division I walk-on for the cross-country and track & field teams at the University of Delaware, where she studied English and Biology. She has one full marathon under her belt, and has raced more halfs and 5Ks than she can count.