Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Galloway Method Tips

As many of you already know, I have used the Galloway Method several times during races, especially during longer races. It was a huge factor during the Disney Marathon and an even bigger one during the Philadelphia Half Marathon, where I scored an incredibly huge PR. It just works. In fact, unless you're particularly fast (like elite or near elite) I would venture to say that using this method can make you a lot faster, all while helping you avoid injury. How many things in running can make that claim?

Well, Jeff Galloway has partnered with several bloggers to share some tips with you all and guess what? I was picked, so you can benefit from these too!

I'm very excited because this method has really helped me during my running journey so now I get to pass it on. Here are some facts about the Galloway Method directly from Jeff Galloway himself:



"The training journey for a marathon or half marathon raises your body's physical performance capability and your sense of what you can do in life.

Running helps to bring body, mind and spirit together in a unique and wonderful way

In researching my book MENTAL TRAINING I discovered that running turns on brain circuits for a better attitude more vitality and empowerment better than other activities studied.

In researching my book RUNNING UNTIL YOU'RE 100 I found numerous studies showing that runners have healthier orthopedic units than non runners even after decades of running.

Training:

When a runner takes walk breaks early and often enough for the individual the muscles are strong to the end.  See RUN WALK RUN at www.jeffgalloway.com for recommendations by pace per mile.

The "exhaustion wall" can be avoided by running longer long runs up to or beyond race distance-using the appropriate run-walk-run strategy.

Marathoners tend to improve time by an average of more than 15 minutes when they increase their longest run from 20 miles to 26 miles.

To recover fast, run the long runs at least 2 min/mi slower than you could currently run in a marathon

The right run-walk-run strategy from the beginning of each run, gives any runner control over fatigue, injury-elimination, and recovery.

In numerous surveys, runners improved over 13 minutes when they shifted from running continuously to use of the right run-walk-run strategy."




I should point out that the last point he mentions here is no joke. I witnessed the improvement myself. My first Half Marathon, the Divas Half Marathon, I managed to squeeze out 3:26, and feeling like I was about to collapse at the finish line. For my second Half, I did the Philadelphia Half Marathon and did the Galloway Method in 2:1 intervals. Not only did I finish in 2:50 which is a huge PR, but I finished in much better shape at the end.



Be on the lookout for more great tips from Jeff here on the blog and my social media channels.



6 comments:

  1. Love Jeff Galloway! Thank you for sharing these!

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    1. You're welcome. There are more coming as well.

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  2. I'm definitely intrigued by this and can't wait to hear more. With my current state of motivation, maybe a different training plan is what I need?
    Also I used a run 3 min, walk 1 min interval method for my entire marathon in Honolulu and was pleasantly surprised that I recovered very quickly, when usually marathons take me down for 1-2 days after.

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    1. I know some people, and I include myself there, look at this with trepidation. In my case, I admit it's a bit of an ego thing. I want to run the whole way. But the Garmin does not lie. I can be significantly faster with it. And you are dead on about recovery. Your body takes much less of a beating this way.

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  3. I need to get the Running until 100 book! We chatted withe Jeff and Barbara at the Princess Expo last week and I always enjoy them so much. The 4/1 run/walk method is how I qualified for Boston last year. On Sunday, I ran my half the whole way, but now want to try a half using run walk to see if I could PR that way. It will be a fun test!

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  4. Love Galloway. Without him, I would have stopped doing longer distances! Mentally and physically it works for me!

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