Walking Back To Happiness

 

If, like me, you are trying to get back into running after a self-imposed sabbatical then you are likely to frown upon the idea of walking. Indeed, I have previously been lambasted as "not a real runner" because I have the temerity to use an iPod and could not beat a ravenous cheetah in a sprint finish. If that precludes me from being a runner then I am damn sure walking does too.

But I have been reading up on the Galloway programme this week and realise there is a large body of people that believes it can work. And the bodies of this body are generally less creaking and sweaty and held together by ailing joints and calf tears.

The walk/run method occurred to me the last time I got injured. I ran 5k, felt a tinge in my calf and stopped. I walked back and found the time was not as appalling as I would have imagined. This made me wonder whether it was a foolproof way of getting through a marathon.

I admit it is anathema to me. The whole concept of being able to do a marathon is surely to run it. Walking seems to be somehow a cop-out or failure. Or, worse, cheating. But Jeff Galloway believes that walking need not only be a benefit for the likes of myself for whom finishing is the goal, but also for people trying to break three hours, which sounds a staggering claim.

So does it work? I would love to hear from anyone who advocates the Galloway approach, especially anyone who has posted a fast time on it. A quick look at his programme shows that it certainly seems far easier than some. For a start you have three days off a week. Two of the active days involve only a 30-minute run. Another is given over to walking. The big run on Sunday varies but you do three 20-mile plus runs before the marathon.

Depending on your pace the ratio of running to walking varies. For an eight-minute miler it will be four minutes running to 35 seconds walking. For a nine-minute miler it will be four minutes to one minute.

This sounds a strange way to run. In fact, it sounds a surefire way to break your rhythm and seems a coward's way out of achieving something that appeals in the first place largely because of its difficulty. Why not just get a bike and be done with all this hardship? Then there is also the issue of having to walk in the early stages when even I would not be coughing up blood and calling a taxi.

However, the testimonials say that doing this means you need only do a 14-mile long run, that your nine-mile runs will feel like three, and that, unlike most of the real runners, you will finish strongly. Galloway claims many runners who walk after every mile break three hours.

For the average runners this makes some sense. We have all done those runs where you feel like death at the end, when you are reduced to an apathetic shuffle and are being passed by ice cream vans and electric scooters. You keep running because you think it is some sort of badge of honour, but walking, recapturing your breath and saving the last vestiges of energy would surely help in these testing circumstances. The Galloway method is a glorified version of this.

Galloway points out that a runner who walks slowly for a minute loses around 20 seconds. So if you have a walk break after every mile for the first 20 you lose 400 seconds or around six-and-a-half-minutes. It is not inconceivable that you would make that up by feeling fresher during the running sections and in the last six miles.

Galloway says this stuff works because he has books to flog. He also says it works because our legs keep their bounce and avoid fatigue in the overworked muscle groups like the calf. Shifting between walking and running means you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles. Needless to say, recovery is less painful, you may be able to walk downstairs the following week and there is a good chance you will avoid being hooked up to an oxygen tank in the med tent for a week post-London.

Admittedly, it seems to be at odds with the concept that running is actually fun, but if you are a runner who walks then tell me if it is the answer. Maybe I was right after all when I started this blog by suggesting that running was a good walk spoiled. And maybe Bruce Springsteen had it wrong all along. If the Boss really wanted to be relevant to a modern day audience at Glastonbury then perhaps he should have finished his marathon set by crying: "Baby, we are indeed born to run but only after inserting copious walking breaks to save resources and avoid fatigue." I'm not sure it's going to catch on.

Comments

[Simon, norway]

I think I would rather run the entire marathon and end up a dribbling mess at the end of the marathon than walk and feel fresh... a 4 hour marathon where one runs the entire way is much more satisfying than 3hrs.45min with lots of walking....

[CFH]

Galloway? Try Baden-Powell - scouts' pace

[highstakes]

i would run a marthon to win this place http://sickproperty.blogspot.com/