Run Faster

In a recent(?) article on Active.com, Jeff Galloway again discusses his controversial run-walk-run advice for long runs, known in some circles as the “Gallowalking” method. He says:

According to numerous surveys, you’ll also run faster–13 minutes faster in a marathon with walk breaks than in a continuously run event.

My problem with this claim is two-fold. First, I don’t recall ever seeing any actual scientific support for these claims of such dramatic improvement, only anecdotal evidence. The problem with that is that it doesn’t necessarily take into account the different things someone might have done in training between the non-walking race and the run-walking race. For example, did the runner train using the same training plan for both races? Did he follow the plan consistently? Was his general health the same?

Second, as others have pointed out, to get such a dramatic improvement, or even to run the same overall time in a run-walking race as compared to a run-only race, you would have to run significantly faster during your running segments than you would if you were just running. For example, if you wanted to run a 3:30 marathon and were planning on walking for a minute every mile, your running segments would have to be at about a 7:34 pace as compared to about an 8:01 running-only pace. Quite a difference.

Don’t get me wrong…I do think that there can be benefits from taking some walking breaks. As Galloway says, you do use your muscles differently when walking than running, so it makes sense that talking some walking breaks will reduce fatigue, as well as allowing you to recover more quickly. And, certainly, for someone that loves to run but finds that they get injured often, the Galloway run-walk-run method may very well be the perfect solution. But for me, I think I’ll just stick to running my races.

If you want to learn more about Jeff Galloway or his training recommendations, take a look at these resources:

• http://www.jeffgalloway.com
• http://galloway.runnersworld.com/
• Marathon: You Can Do It!
• Half-Marathon: You Can Do It

Related Posts:

• Run-Walk-Run Revisited

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