Help Runners!

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  • annamook
    annamook Posts: 28
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    Congrats you are a runner. If you keep it up, you will get faster and be able to run for longer periods of time. Eventually, you'll be addicted to it : )
  • penmosha
    penmosha Posts: 132 Member
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    I only started to run at 45. I'm not the fastest or the fittest and it aint pretty, but I'm out there shaking my *kitten*. some days I'm good, some days I shuffle. I used to be self-concious but now dont care. Enjoy your runs, drink plenty of water and invest in good insoles for your trainers (I can recommend sofsoles athletic - £19.99 JJB Sports- your trainers will feel like new). WE may not see you at 2012 but you are a RUNNER
  • CarsonRuns
    CarsonRuns Posts: 3,039 Member
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    There is a revolution happening in running these days, brought on by former US Olympic Marathon runner, Jeff Galloway. Galloway's method involves intentional run-walk throughout the entire run, whether or not you're running in a race or simply doing a few miles around your neighborhood. The process is very simple -- walk one minute, run/jog/shuffle step for 3-4-5 minutes, making adjustments as you go. You can stretch out the run time, increase the walk time, don't walk at all, or whatever works for you on any given day. The reasons? The main reason is to avoid injury, the second is to increase your love of running (as you'll be able to do what "you're comfortable with", and not your gazelle neighbor. The third is distance -- with walking and running you'll be able to go much further than you'd ever imagine, and perhaps one of the last is pace. If you take regular walk breaks, your body will retain its energy stores longer, thus allowing you to actually run faster on aggregate than you would by running the entire time. I just did this process for an entire marathon and even though I had to rough it while many non walkers passed me by, I eventually caught up and passed many of them, as when it came to miles 20-26, the crowd got very thin as this is where the "wall" consumes a lot of runners who either give up completely or barely make it in, vowing to never do it again... Yes, I'm generalizing... I'm not making a blanket statement. But walking and running is wise and is proven to work very effectively. Mr. Galloway has run in many Boston Marathons, which require a very fast pace and only the best of the best distance runners qualify for this race. Yep, folks will scoff at this and try to belittle it, but that's ok.
    I wouldn't necessarily call it a revolution. That's a bit of a stretch.

    Gallowalking is a good way to get started, but the OP states that she is already running 20 minutes. Going to the Galloway method would constitute a step back. Yeah, Gallowalking is one way to get through a marathon, but I'd dispute that the aggregate is faster for anyone that is capable of running a marathon at 8:00 miles or faster. A PROPERLY TRAINED runner who follows the right pacing plan will run a marathon faster than they would Gallowalk it. What Gallowalking does is take the pace control out of the runners hands. The hardest part of running a marathon is controlling your pace in the early miles so that you have enough left to finish strong. Sure, you can find examples of Gallowalkers that PR'd after starting to use that method, but it doesn't take into account their increased level of fitness from the additional training. How much faster could they have gone had they paced properly and not walked? It's an impossible study to conduct, but anecdotal evidence will demonstrate that no one is running world class times using Galloway's methods.

    Yes, you certainly did do a LOT of generalizing there. Those people bonking between 20 and the finish were either under-trained or ran too ambitious of a pace in the early going. As I stated above, Gallowalking takes the guess work out of pacing.

    I'm almost certain that Galloway never competed in the Boston Marathon using his own methods. He was a world class, Olympic athlete that qualified for, and competed in that race by running.
  • FitMary2011
    FitMary2011 Posts: 7
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    In every workout I do, I have to remind MYSELF that I am working out FOR ME. Not for someone else's timer, not for someone else's speed. FOR ME. And today I may run a 12 minute mile (which is pathetic because I can walk a 12 minute mile), today I might not even be able to run at all (because it simply doesn't feel good) and tomorrow I may run like Forrest Gump! On and on and on.

    You run, you walk, you do yoga, you weight lift, you swim.... you do it FOR YOU! and hell ya, it counts!

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