Run Walk Run: It began in 1974

A few months after opening my specialty running store, Phidippides, in 1973, I was asked to teach a class on beginning running. Through this class, I saw an opportunity to help non-runners enjoy the benefits of running. Since business was slow at the store, I also wanted to increase the number of potential customers.

During the 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 their lifetime. 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.

As I ran with each group, I focused on breathing rate. The “huff and puff” rule emerged: when you hear huffing and puffing, 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 distance, which gradually increased during one run each week. Most admitted that they started to look forward to each run because of their improved attitude during and afterward.

At the end of the ten-week term was the “exam”: either a 5K or a 10K. Each student finished! When I polled each at the end, I received my best reward: none of them had been injured!

During the next two years, I experimented with various ratios of walk breaks as I worked with beginning runners at my store. In 1976, the Galloway Training Program began. I continued to find that walk breaks could almost eliminate injury.

Many veteran marathoners refused to take walk breaks at first. As the former beginners moved into longer-distance events such as marathons, they continued to adjust to walk breaks and started to record faster times than the veterans. This led to the use of walk breaks in all pace groups.

Principles behind Run Walk Run:

Continuous use of a muscle will result in quicker fatigue
The longer the run segment, the more fatigue
Run Walk Run is a form of interval training
Conservation of resources
Quicker recovery
Less stress on the “weak links”
Ability to enjoy endorphins
Reduce core body temperature

The Galloway Run Walk Run method

It’s a smart way to run – by giving you cognitive control over each workout.
Allows you to carry on all of your life activities – even after long runs
Motivates beginners to get off of the couch and run
Bestows running joy to non-stop runners who had given up
Helps improve finish times in all races
It gives all runners control over fatigue
Delivers all of the running enhancements without exhaustion or pain

Why do some runners have trouble taking walk breaks?

Research has shown that the lessons in the early school years are powerfully embedded in the subconscious brain. While it is natural to feel anxious and then receive negative hormones when we depart from these hard-wired patterns, conscious actions can re-train this ancient brain.

The cognitive focus on specific run segments/set amount of walks can hard-wire new patterns into the reflex brain. This gives you control over your attitude as you feel the positive results from using strategic walk breaks. You empower the conscious brain to take control using mantras and systematic actions. This frontal lobe component can override the subconscious brain and retrain it to accept and embrace Run Walk Run.

Walk breaks

Speed you up: an average of 7 minutes faster in a 13.1-mile race when non-stop runners shift to the correct Run Walk Run ratio – and more than 13 minutes faster in the marathon
Give you control over the way you feel during and after
Erase fatigue
Push back your wall of exhaustion or soreness
Allow for endorphins to collect during each walk break
Break up the distance into manageable units
Speed recovery
Reduce the chance of aches, pains, and injury
Allow older or heavier runners to recover fast and feel as good as in the younger (slimmer) days
Activate the frontal lobe – maintaining your control over attitude and motivation