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I know several fellow runners are regulars on here and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with Jeff Galloway's run/walk technique? I have been somewhat injury prone in the past so I'm looking for a program that is better for my body and his seems to fit. Part of my problem though is that I have to get myself to accept walking as an okay part of a race, and that I can actually run as fast (or faster) by taking the breaks.

It worked for me in a 1/2 marathon. Walking enabled me to recover and run faster, especially after I hit a wall. I walked a few times after mile 10, but it was probably no more than 25 yards. My time (7:40/mile) was better than my practice times (usually 8-9:00/mile)

PM pigsteak, he trained by Galloway's run/walk plan. I think piggie liked it. I don't train for marathons (yet) but when I try to get back into running shape I do a lot of walk/run. It works for me.

I am not familiar with this plan, but instead of running and then walking and then running, why not just keep your pace a bit slower throughout? You'll have the same time (if not a tad faster since you never have to walk) and you'll still be training your endurance. The slower I go for the first few miles, the better. You will also be less likely to get strains......

ive done it in several marathons. it seems to help if you are persistant in the walking early and so much for each minute or mile. However, i have never had good running times with it and it does seem to extend wall fatgue for me. I'm considering running a 41st one this late fall or winter and have kept that option open (the galloway). I havent run anything this summer but have biked a lot. what seems to work just as well is to pick a varied course without too many difficult, acute hills. maybe a biggie right at the wall or like that, but not entirely flat or one dimensional. run a slower and more relaxed pace. shorten your climbing strides but keep your pace repetitions going at the hill parts, and get the first 20 over with. then comes the wall 10k. keep comcentrationg on just the rythm of your feet and legs and your breathing. close out as much external stimuli as you can and think positive. your discipline has gotten you this far and will get you to the finish. remember, you can do almost anything for a mile. added: no matter how well you run a marathon (even when you set your pr) you are going to be sore and loglegged after 20 or so miles - jus keep going!

In the two marathons that I've done I know that my main problem is going out too fast and then crashing. In my first it was mile 22 before it hit me and I had to start run/walking (not that I had a choice). In the last one I managed to run the entire thing, but I lost a ridiculous amount of time over the last 8 miles. At mile 18 I was on pace for about 3:30, but I ended up finishing in 3:47.

I really want to avoid that sort of a result as well. I'm not looking for an 'easy' training plan. I'm willing to put in the work, but I would just like to know that all of the time I spend training will actually help me on race day.

tsparks wrote:In the two marathons that I've done I know that my main problem is going out too fast and then crashing. In my first it was mile 22 before it hit me and I had to start run/walking (not that I had a choice). In the last one I managed to run the entire thing, but I lost a ridiculous amount of time over the last 8 miles. At mile 18 I was on pace for about 3:30, but I ended up finishing in 3:47.

I really want to avoid that sort of a result as well. I'm not looking for an 'easy' training plan. I'm willing to put in the work, but I would just like to know that all of the time I spend training will actually help me on race day.

It will. You will hit at 20 or so no matter how hard you train. I used to mix uo three things into my training. a sunday long run of 18 - 20 (done sloooowly) - leave the watch at home on those:) 1 night of hill reps, 2 or 3 - 10k runs done during the week. The main component was the 10ks. dont hold back on them - run them in the rain, feeling a little bad, etc. The learning from those is what pays off during the mental challenge post 20 miles.

My fastest marathons were ones in which i earned my times during the first half - thus having banked a slower pace for the second.

Once i started walking i tended to cop a "i gotta walk more" attitude. In training sometimes it's good to do a slow run. There is a lot of things to learn by that. If you do end up having to walk remember - it is a sin against humanity to walk a downhill

Also remember why you are doing the marathon - the learning and fun of running right? PR'ing is hard esp boston qualifing etc where it comes down to minutes. Each finish that you earn deserves a celebration.

Actually I didn't hit the wall in the marathon that I ran. I felt like I could have run another few miles even...I didn't, but it did make the 50k seem like it was mentally/physically possible for me. I attribute this to always negative splitting (here's an article on it which you might find useful http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13487 ).
If you have a problem with injury, I definitely recommend integrating walking into your program. It helps ramp up your running program without having the impact of running. Alternatively you can follow the rule of no more than a 10% increase in speed or distance each week.
But everyone else is right..your time will suffer at least as compared to running the entire time with negative splits. Although avoiding the wall is a much more important goal, hitting that will kill your time more than anything.
FYI, one way to keep yourself running is to limit your walk section to the water stops (or every other) and walking time to no more than a minute at a time. Getting started running again can be hard, but if you use it in training that'll be easier.
Best of luck in the training..thats the hardest part I think. Staying healthy & uninjured is part of the game.
-Dale
ps Take this all with a grain of salt. Its knowledge I've garnered in my one marathon as well as all of the other endurance events I've done (triathlon being the majority).

I'm sure it couldn't hurt ya. The whole run walk thing seems to work for a lotta people out there who do marathons or ultras. But I realy don't know too much about the whole training / racing thing, I'm just out to finsh.

Google Rob Apple sometime, this guy has done hundreds of ultras. I had the pleasure of sharing the a course with him in the Highland Sky this past summer. The guy must be the king of pacing, run / walk, or something. I know that at mile five or six I passed him at a creek crossing. He let a bunch of people go in front of him because he was skidish about the log walking creek crossing thing. Everbody is asking "Where's Rob?" "Is Rob behind us?". So we get to like mile 19 and there goes Rob running down the road passing everybody back as they hit the wall from20 to 26. I don' know what this has to do with your Galloway plan, just interesting thoughts on pacing.

it takes some getting used to, wlaking in training and the race. I had a great friend I trained with who was in his fifities, and dropped his PR from 3:40 to 3:18 in 18 months on the program. his logic makes sense, so see if it works for you.