With running, as in life, without a plan you have no direction. You set yourself up for failure, and you are at risk of serious bodily injury. All of that can be avoided with a training plan. Not just any training plan will do, either. It has to be a plan that provides the opportunity for you to progress at a rate that will gently push you, but not too hard. Too hard and you’ll be tempted to quit.<\/p>\n
So what would I suggest? After looking at, and rejecting every other training plan that I could find, I settled on the Jeff Galloway Run-Walk-Run Training Program. Why? Because it works for everyone from a person who can’t run 100 feet, to a 2:28 marathon runner! Now that’s what I call versatile! The thing that first caught my attention was the word “walk”, something that seems strange for a marathon training program. But there is a method to the madness.<\/p>\n
For me, endurance running seemed like an almost impossible task. I can run, and run fast! Back in the day, I could beat just about anyone – but only for 100 meters. Past that, forget about it! I really don’t have a natural abundance of slow twitch muscle fibers that are the hallmark of distance runners. I have tried to run long distances, and hated it. I have been force marched, dragged, and prodded through long distances, and been made sick and miserable in the process. So what makes the Run-Walk-Run program different? It’s the added component of walking. Walking to run? That sounds crazy, but it works!<\/p>\n
How far can you run? I’m not talking about how far you dream of running. I mean how far can you run without tiring yourself out to the point that you have to quit? Is it 10 feet? 10 blocks? 10 miles? Everybody has a number. Even the elite Kenyan runners can’t go on forever! At some point, fatigue sets in, your body runs out of gas, and you are just done! But let’s say that you only needed to run a fraction of your maximum distance. Does that sound like a better idea? Stopping before your muscles are fatigued is what the Run-Walk-Run training program is all about.<\/p>\n
Let’s say that you take stock of your current physical condition, and you know that you can run at an easy jog for 10 seconds. Does that sound possible? Now let’s quit thinking about miles, and instead, we will focus on a single minute. Just 60 seconds. Take a nice, easy jog for 10 seconds, and for the remainder of that single minute, you walk. Not a fast walk, but a nice stroll to let your muscles relax and recover. Just 10 seconds of slow running and 50 seconds of walking. Does that sound like it is possible? When that minute is over, all you have to do is repeat the process. Guess what? You are running! I told you that you could do it!<\/p>\n
This is the basis of Run-Walk-Run. Before your muscles reach the point of fatigue, you take a walk break to allow time for them to recover, and then you start running again. This exchange of stress and recovery has been the hallmark of interval training for many years, but putting it into practice for endurance running is simply brilliant! Staying below the threshold of fatigue allows you to run longer, go farther, and steer clear of over use injuries. But if you walk, then you’re not running, right? Who says? You might hear that comment from some bigoted, know-it-all, crack pot, wannabe Kenyan, but the truth is that there is no rule book for running that says that you can’t walk – even during a race! The “dirty little secret” of endurance running is that, at some point in a race, almost everybody walks! It may be only for a few seconds at a water stop, or it may be late in the race (when it doesn’t help you very much), but walk they most certainly do! The difference is only a matter of degree. Walk a little, or walk a lot. They still walked! Once that inflated ego trip is out of the way, you are free to get off your cookie enriched butt, and get out there and run – and that’s what really matters.<\/p>\n
Are you always going to walk more seconds that you actually run? Maybe. Maybe not. According to Jeff Galloway, the fastest recorded runner that used the Run-Walk-Run method, finished the marathon in 2 hours and 28 minutes! Are you ever going to be that fast? Probably not, and it doesn’t matter. You can use the program as a tool to get you to the finish line and enjoy the entire journey, or you can use it as a training tool to become as fast as your body and genetics will allow you to run. The choice is yours. Either way, do it for you. You can find Run-Walk-Run training plans in many of Jeff Galloway’s books, or you can find them for free at his web site – www.jeffgalloway.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Next up, we’ll take a look at what you need to put that plan into action and start running.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With running, as in life, without a plan you have no direction. You set yourself up for failure, and you are at risk of serious bodily injury. All of that can be avoided with a training plan. Not just any … Continue reading