At the end of January (2021), I was finally able to return to my mountain village in Nepal and begin running the mountains again. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me, running these roads and trails again after being gone for almost a year. But running on the flat roads of Kansas are so, so different than running the steep inclines here in Nepal, so I had to figure out a plan so that I would get stronger without pushing so hard I got injured.

So, I adopted a Run-Walk progression. At first I did the complete routes with the run-walk but eventually I was able to limit most of the run-walk to the uphills and mostly ran the ridgeline and the downhills. I average about 250m/820ft of climbing with every run. After 6-weeks, I’m doing better all the time but still walking some. But I have time, so no reason to push too hard.

So, how did I do it. Well, I started with a Run 0:20 + Walk 1:30. And every run after that, I added 10% to the run portion. And I was running 5x/week. So, it took me about 5 weeks (I was sick for a week) to go from 20-seconds of running to 90-seconds of running. Now my goal is to keep increasing the run portion and slowly decrease the walk portion at the same time.

R 0:20 + W 1:30	R 0:22 + W 1:30	R 0:24 + W 1:30	R 0:26 + W 1:30	R 0:29 + W 1:30
R 0:32 + W 1:30	R 0:35 + W 1:30	R 0:39 + W 1:30	R 0:43 + W 1:30	R 0:47 + W 1:30
R 0:52 + W 1:30	R 0:57 + W 1:30	R 1:03 + W 1:30	R 1:09 + W 1:30	R 1:16 + W 1:30
R 1:24 + W 1:30	R 1:30 + W 1:30

But with my new progression, I’ll just be increasing the runs by 5-seconds and reducing the walks by 5-seconds. But like I said, for the ridgeline and downhills, I’ll just run – this run-walk is mostly for the steep uphill climbs. Once I get to running 2:00, I’ll reassess what to do next.

R 1:30 + W 1:30	R 1:30 + W 1:30	R 1:30 + W 1:30	R 1:30 + W 1:30	R 1:30 + W 1:30
R 1:35 + W 1:25	R 1:35 + W 1:25	R 1:35 + W 1:25	R 1:35 + W 1:25	R 1:35 + W 1:25
R 1:40 + W 1:20	R 1:40 + W 1:20	R 1:40 + W 1:20	R 1:40 + W 1:20	R 1:40 + W 1:20
R 1:45 + W 1:15	R 1:45 + W 1:15	R 1:45 + W 1:15	R 1:45 + W 1:15	R 1:45 + W 1:15
R 1:50 + W 1:10	R 1:50 + W 1:10	R 1:50 + W 1:10	R 1:50 + W 1:10	R 1:50 + W 1:10
R 1:55 + W 1:05	R 1:55 + W 1:05	R 1:55 + W 1:05	R 1:55 + W 1:05	R 1:55 + W 1:05
R 2:00 + W 1:00	R 2:00 + W 1:00	R 2:00 + W 1:00	R 2:00 + W 1:00	R 2:00 + W 1:00

I would recommend this slow run-walk progression to anyone who is new to running and/or the terrain your starting your training on has more climbing.

Below is my complete Run-Walk Progression that I am using in Nepal: