Galloway - The Run Walk Run Method

Jeff Galloway

The Run Walk Run Method

Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.

This book has been very carefully prepared, but no responsibility is taken for the correctness of the information it contains. Neither the author nor the publisher can assume liability for any damages or injuries resulting from information contained in this book.

All the joys of runningwithout the pain!

Running turns on brain circuits for a better attitude, more vitality, and personal empowerment better than other activities studied. Millions start and re-start their running career because they know they will feel better, think better, and enjoy life better if they run regularly but break down in pain or exhaustion because they run non-stop.

My Run Walk Run (RWR) method can take away the pain and bring the joy of running to almost everyone. Veteran runners are running faster and avoiding injuries. Millions of new runners are discovering that strategic walk breaks leave them feeling good during and after a run, able to enjoy family, career and social activities with the mindset of an athlete.

As you might imagine, these converts to the method are telling their friends, and showing them how to experience these life-changing enhancements at any age. As each new Run Walk Runner infects at least 10 others to try the method, a new running boom is spreading across the globe.

Shoe and clothing manufacturers are not making enough of the popular running products. Races are expanding and popular ones are filling up sooner than ever. So many of these new runners were quite comfortable, sedentary citizens before deciding to take on a series of rigorous physical challenges. Why did they do this?

Feedback from hundreds of thousands of runners over the past 40 years has a consistent theme. Even a confirmed couch sitter can receive a sense of empowerment and joy not experienced in other activities. Once these enhancements are experienced, who wants to go back to the old life?

When talking to groups of new runners, most tell me that they didnt even consider trying it until they heard about Run Walk Run. Many of them tried to run non-stop for short distances and had to stop within a city block or less due to pain, excess breathing, or failure of the running muscles. As soon as they used the right Run Walk Run strategy, a whole new world opened up.

Almost everyone wants to have control over their destiny. Run Walk Run allows each of us to be the captain of our running ship, adjusting the running, the walking, and the pace, so that one can get the workout desiredwithout the negatives of overexertion.

Ten years ago, in major races, about ten percent of the runners were taking walk breaks. Observers today estimate that about 40-50% are using the Run Walk Run method in some formand the percentage is growing every year. According to thousands of reports every year, the Galloway RWR method is the only reason that many novice runners thought that they could even try to run. Within a year or two they are finishing marathons and half marathons. You know who they arethe ones who are passing others during the last few miles of the race.

There are few things in life more exhilarating than passing people at the end of a race.

Because each runner can control the amount of running and the amount of walking, each can be successful every day. Without the pressure of having to run for any specific distance, every running moment can be enjoyed, as friends can talk and laugh during a workout.

Surprisingly, veterans are running faster with the right placement of walk breaks. Not only are energy reserves and muscle resources conserved. Adaptations are made and fatigue is erased during the race so that Run Walk Runners are strong to the end, passing others. This activates the will to do ones best which non-stop runners tend to lose by the end of a hard race or workout.

There are many tools in this book that give the individual control over his or her destiny. The most powerful effect of the Run Walk Run strategy is the activation of the most effective tool we have: the conscious brain. As we set up the right ratio of running to walking each day, we turn on circuits in the executive brain that infuse energy, improve attitude, gear up physical systems, trigger positive hormones, and keep the components in synch and communicating with one another.

The regular use of this conscious brain gives us control over our experience. As we fine-tune our pace with the right Run Walk Run strategy we develop a sense of belief in the process of becoming better. Formerly confirmed sedentary citizens find themselves going out the door on an oppressively cold day because of the joy delivered by each run. Studies show that as one gets into running, dietary choices tend to become more healthy, work productivity increases, and runners look for and find other ways of improving the quality of their life.

The daily empowerment from balancing running and walking is reinforcing but the greatest reward is the positive activation of the spirit. That mysterious positive will to go on is what makes us uniquely human. Of all of the activities that offer spiritual enhancement, running is one of the most comprehensive: bringing together body mind and spirit as a powerful team.

Every year I meet and talk to runners ages 4 to 84+ and have met with runners in all continents except Antarctica. We share the same positive enhancements. The best part is that most can run for the rest of their lives.with the right Run Walk Run adjustments.

Run Walk Run: The Beginning

In 1974 I was asked to teach a class in beginning running. I had opened my specialty running store, Phidippides, and wanted to help average citizens enjoy the benefits of running. Honestly, I also wanted to increase the number of potential customers.

During the first class I discovered that none of my students had been running for at least five years. About one third had never done any regularly scheduled exercise. During the first lap around the track I realized that walk breaks would be crucial if I wanted each class member to finish either a 5K or 10K without injury or exhaustion.

Three pace groups naturally emerged. The beginners called themselves basket case physical specimens. At the other end of the conditioning spectrum was a group of young guys who had been regularly engaged in other sports and were in good shape. There was also a middle group. As I ran with each group on each workout I focused on breathing rate. The huff-and-puff rule emerged: when you hear huffing and puffing increase, take more frequent walk breaks and slow the pace.

Throughout the first class I adjusted the Run Walk Run amounts so that each person felt successful in completing the distancewhich gradually increased during one run each week. Most admitted that they started to look forward to each run because of the improved attitude during and afterward.

At the end of the 10-week term was the exam: either a 5K or 10K. Each studenteven the self-titled basket casesfinished one or the other. When I polled each at the end, I received my best reward: none of them had been injured.

I had never been with a group of 20 or more runners for more than two months without some injuries. When my novices had started to feel aches I increased the frequency of walk breaks and their bodies adapted.

During the next two years I experimented with various ratios of walk breaks as I worked with beginning runners who ran in groups from my store, and in individual consultations. In 1976 Galloway training programs began. I continued to find that walk breaks could almost eliminate injury.