This morning was my first run using the Galloway run/walk method.  I feel like I need to give you some background before I go on, though.  A couple of years ago, I started walking for fitness.  After a few months of walking,  I started jogging.  Why?  Because, for me, walking just took too dang long.  I think it was warm and there I was, W…A…L…K…I…N…G and it seemed like I was NEVER going to get back home – so, one day, I just started running. 

At first, I just ran a little bit, then inched further and further with continuous running until one morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, while at a conference, I got out of the bed, went downstairs to the hotel gym, got on the treadmill and ran a WHOLE THREE MILES.  I didn’t intend to, it just happened and I was hooked.  I wasn’t yet a ‘runner’.  I still haven’t fully claimed that title, but that discussion’s for another day.

But anyway…  So, I started off walking and decided running was faster and dare I say, more fun.

Have I gone full circle with this run/walk thing?  The Galloway method for running/training dictates that one should run for a certain distance or time and then walk for a small distance or amount of time. (Here’s some info about it: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/walk_breaks.html)   The logic is that it gives you a little time to catch your breath and give your joints a little break.  You are supposed to get the same befits from the run as if you’d run the entire way.  I started thinking about this idea since my knee is not fully on board with running right now.  (This knee has a mind of its own!) 

This morning, I ran the prescribed time with walk breaks.  I ran 9 minutes, walked 1 minute (alternating until I’d run 35 minutes) and I have to say that it was really pretty nice.   Will this help build my endurance back up and eventually stretch it to last for 26.2 miles?  I feel like it will.  Does it matter that I’m not running ‘the whole way’?  It shouldn’t but I will admit that I hesitated each time I was supposed to walk.  I kept thinking “I can keep going.  I’m not tired and nothing’s hurting.”  Is the point to get tired or is the point to reach a target?  Is that attitude what lead to my overuse injury in the first place?  Does it matter if I walked for 3 minutes of my 35 minute run?  Questions, questions.

I don’t have many answers right now.  That’s okay.  I’ve got a long time to figure it out.

Until next time – I CAN DO THIS!