Last week was the first time in a long time that I’ve run 3 days in a row. It seems like something hurts on every run, so I’ve been taking a day off in between and cross training. (Perhaps it’s time for a visit to my chiro…)
But I have back to back half marathons in two weeks. I think I’ve written a check my body can’t cash, so I’ve accepted that the second race is going to be hella slow. I decided that perhaps I should actually practice a little Galloway.
Wednesday’s 6 miler gave me the perfect opportunity. My foot had started hurting at mile 4 on Tuesday’s 7 mile run plus I had a minor cold that was messing up my breathing.
So, off I went. Right from the start I did a .45 mile run/.05 mile walk. After mile four, when my breathing started to really suck, I did .2 mile run/.05 mile walk.
In the end, the six miles ended up being an acceptable slow run pace. Even more amazing? My pace was only 6 seconds per mile slower than the 7 mile run the day before where I’d run the whole thing.
Now if I could just figure out what it is going on with the ball of my right foot…
Do you use Galloway or some version of run/walk? What tips can you give me?
Ive done one race.
I was passed REPEATEDLY REPEATEDLY by all the Galloway runners…and I ran the whole time.
As a racewalker who frequently “leapfrogs” with some of the slower Galloway method folks, just PLEASE do not make your “shift” to walk speed immediately after passing someone. Really not nice to make others break stride and lose their pace because of YOUR clock. 🙂
I do use a Galloway method. I run 5 minutes and walk 1. Sometimes I get caught up in the excitement of a race and run the first couple of miles straight but the plan is always to run/walk.
My last marathon I just walked a minute at every mile marker. Easy to keep track of.
I’ve never planned to take walk breaks in races but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t done it – plenty of times. But it usually happens when I’ve been a little too ambitious about my pace.
My biggest tip is: Don’t feel like you’re too good for Galloway’s runner. That’s what I thought at first. After finally being able to run for 60 minutes without stopping, I wasn’t going to take walking breaks!
Then I tried it, and I even got faster!