Galloway Method for Beginners

I'm training on my own for my first 15km run (and hopefully, 21k also). My knees are getting better albeit still experiencing some pains once in a while. As my way of training, I've been trying to increase distance to put my personal limits to the test. My running friends suggested that I try the Galloway Method. It was named after Jeff Galloway, the famous coach runner. He intended the Galloway Method for beginners like me and the main goal of this method is to keep runners injury-free.

Basically, you just alternate running and walking until you finish the distance desired. Jeff Galloway suggested useful ratios between running and walking depending on your speed. You can see this in his website. However, if you do not want

to be very strictly theoretical about it, you can simply feel your own pacing and craft your own ratio. My friend suggested I run for 7 minutes straight then walk 1 minute. If I do this, I can finish 15km without feeling out of breath up to the last.

Alternating running and walking, Jeff Galloway says, prevents fatigue. It gives leg muscles some time to recover during the walking break. Keeping this in mind, I decided to vary the Galloway Method and make it more suited for me. Instead of walking, I would jog. So in effect, I run and jog alternately. And instead of keeping tab of the minutes that pass by, I would just feel my legs. If I'm getting tired, I will slow down a bit and jog. After about thirty seconds or so, I will gradually increase my speed again.

And it works!

I was able to run my first 13.2km last Saturday. That's the longest distance I've ran so far, and only 1.8km short of my goal. I finished 13.2km in 1 hour and 30 minutes. My legs did not feel very sore the following day. I hope I can keep this up and be ready for my first official 15km run in April. :)