“EVERY ONE OF THE ATHLETES WALKED SIGNIFICANTLY IN THIS RACE.”
–Jeff Galloway During my second half-marathon I managed to get a personal record (PR) within a minute, running the half-marathon in 2:03:17. A dominant rule I played by is to keep running; walking will only slow me down.
My motto: “get to the next bench.” Fatigue sets in when the motto begins to be 'get to the next bench.” The body breaks down, the mind negotiates and the spirit is crushed. Turns out there is a different strategy than playing by the “go fast’ rule that dominates running training.
Late American Olympian and author of the book “The Run Walk Run Method,” Jeff Galloway said, “Run Walk Run is a strategy to eliminate breakdown. Inserting the walks before the weak link is damaged allows stress to be managed, repaired, and adapted, while other areas are recruited to get the job done. It’s possible to stay injuryfree while continuing to increase distance with the early and regular insertion of walk breaks.”
Galloway wants runners to be smarter so as not to hurt your body as it breaks down when increasing distance and speed.
The run-walk-run method, or the Galloway method, uses a strategy to incorporate walking intervals as breaks to prevent injury and gain control over your fatigue.
He said, “There is no list of rules. The most wonderful aspect about running, compared to other sports, is that each of us determines where, when, how far, and how fast to run. We are the captains of our running ships and have complete control over how we do it each day.”
The world’s fastest runners in Iten Kenya, do not begin training for marathons running hard and running fast, they go slow, painfully slow and then they go fast. They look at it like warming up the engine of the body before they can really ramp it up and not injure themselves in the process.
What running long distances has revealed is that some rules are not beneficial. Resiliency requires the rules to change and to make necessary adjustments. We don’t need to keep running or going fast in life to keep up–that’s a rule that's not beneficial because it requires people to go at a pace no one is meant to handle to begin with. Give yourself permission to walk, slow down, go less distance when fatigued, lessen task load, make adjustments, and figure out the rules running your life that are not beneficial.
Galloway suggests adjustments:
•If challenge is approaching, don’t hesitate to drop back to more walking and less running or stop running.
•If things aren’t going well in the beginning of a workout or race, the body will rebound with strength later when easing back running and walking more.
•If reverting to training pace with the runwalkrun strategy is used in long runs.
•If you are exhausted and not injured or sick–walk the rest of the distance when facing certain challenges at the end of a workout.
Some walk break benefits by Galloway to consider:
• Increase speed an average of 7 minutes faster in a 13.1-mile. Race when non-stop runners shift to the correct runwalkrun ratio—and more than 13 minutes faster in the marathon. (average improvement based upon statistical surveys)
•Give yourself control over the way you feel during and afterward.
•Erase fatigue.
•Push back your wall of exhaustion or soreness.
•Allow for endorphins to collect during each walk break—you feel good!
•Break up the distance into manageable units (e.g., “Just 30 seconds until a walk break!”)
•Speed recovery.
•Reduce the chance of aches, pains, and injury.
•Allow yourself to feel good afterward— carrying on the rest of your day without debilitating fatigue.
•Give you all of the endurance and empowerment of the distance of each workout—without the pain.
•Allow older runners or heavier runners to recover quickly, and feel as good or better as the younger (slimmer) days.
•Activate the frontal lobe, maintaining your control over attitude and motivation.
You are winning as a runner and in life, if you keep moving!
September 20, 2026, the Garmon Marathon Toledo in partnership with Dave’s Running takes place in Downtown Toledo for the second year.
The race is designed for runners of all levels–from 5k beginners to next-level 10k runners, seasoned half-marathon runners, and full marathoners.
Gallaway, Jeff Franks, “The Run Walk Run” third edition PDF, 2025 https://books.google.com/books ✲
