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Having paced a number of marathons, I tend to pass runners that are walking from mile 20 onwards. These runners have the haunted look of total exhaustion, and often find it very hard to start running again.
If you have to walk in a race due to exhaustion or muscle fatigue, it is too late to get much benefit from the walking break. Taking a walking break before you are forced to walk will allow your muscles to bounce back. The walk can be anything from a few seconds at aid stations [[Aid Stations]] to a structured run/walk plan. Anecdotal evidence suggests that walking for 2-4 minutes is a good approach.
== Will it make me slow? ==
If you walk for 2 minutes at 20 min/mile, you will cover 0.1 mile. If you had been running at 7 min/mile, that would have taken 42 seconds rather than 120. Therefore the cost is 78 seconds, which is not an outrageous amount of time. Given the way the muscles can bounce back in those two minutes, the break can pay for itself.
It is not clear to me if the optimum marathon strategy is to run the whole race at a reasonably even pace, or if it is faster to take walking breaks[[Walking Breaks]]. I have seen no research or evidence one way or another.
== Practice ==
== Are walking breaks right for you? ==
If you have never run a marathon, but are planning on a sub-4 marathon, I would suggest adding in about 3 walking breaks[[Walking Breaks]]. If you think you will be slower than 4 hours, you may want to consider a few more.
If you are an experienced marathon runner, you should know if walking breaks [[Walking Breaks]] are right for you. If you've been forced to walk at the end of a race, then you should add them in. If you can run the whole race, but your pace plummets at the end, consider adding them in or joining a pace group. If you can run the whole race at an even pace, or negative splits, walking breaks [[Walking Breaks]] may or may not make you faster.
== Is it a 'real' marathon if you walk? ==