I have never been a big fan of any Galloway plan for one very simple reason.  Before I discuss that reason, I’ll very briefly discuss the “Galloway method” of running a marathon.  It relies on frequent walk breaks in between bursts of running.  In other words, it’s like running intervals during speed work.  The racer will run for a specified amount of time and walk for a specified (albeit lesser amount of time).

Now, you may be thinking that I’m some kind of running snob who thinks a marathon finish is less than pure unless the runner runs the ENTIRE 26.2 miles.  That’s not the case at all.  In fact, of my 9 marathons, I have only completed ONE running the entire way start to finish.  Even my PR at Grandma’s Marathon was with one bathroom break at the halfway point and numerous stretch stops in the last 7 or 8 miles.

My concern with the Galloway method is quite simple.  His subjects tend to always take their walk breaks at inopportune times (read: right in front of me), and their abrupt stops in the “running lane” or left hand side of the road bring many a runner to a screeching halt in the midst of their attempts at their own pacing.  So, Galloway runners out there, please, please, please, please, for the love of God, continue to take your walk breaks, but please move your group to the far right side of the road and out of the way of those who choose to adhere to a different strategy.  OK, thanks.

So, fast forward to Marathon Sunday morning at 5:20 a.m.  YES, 5:20 a.m.  It was the 2nd morning of waking up at 3:30 a.m. for a 5:30 a.m. race, as I did Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge on Saturday a.m.  At the starting line, I was a bit nervous for the following reasons:

1) previous night’s sleep = 2.5 hours.

2) previous day’s pace = faster than I wanted to go as I was pacing Beverly to her goal.

3) a couple of glasses of wine for and a larger than required plate of pasta for a dinner that happened later in the evening than probably smart.

4) i was running a marathon for crissake!

Enter Jeff Galloway to the podium for his introduction and advice.  Tracie and I had been using a multiple marathon training plan (8 weeks between) by Hal Higdon, so I expected to take Galloway’s advice with a grain of salt.  Let me tell you, however, it SAVED MY DAY AND MY RACE:

On the podium, Galloway congratulated the runners on their training, thanked the sponsors, offered encouragement, etc.  However, the advice that he offered that I will never forget was, “DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAKE WALK INTERVALS AND BE SURE TO TAKE THEM BEFORE YOU NEED THEM.”  This may sound familiar to runners, as we heed similar advice when it comes to hydration and nutrition during long runs.  It’s always best to tend to these things BEFORE you actually feel the effects, because when you feel the effects, it’s often too late to do anything about it.  In other words, dehydration and fatigue / calorie deficit have already set in.

Surprisingly, I choose to follow the plan that Galloway offered.  My initial plan was to try to run even splits of approximately between 9:45 and 10:00, which would’ve brought me in between 4:15 and 4:30.  Consider also that my overall weekend goal was 6:30 hours to complete both the half and the full.  Having done the half in 1:57ish, I had to do the full in 4:33ish to achieve the goal.  Sounds easy except when you consider the factors detailed above.  Quite frankly, I felt like garbage at the start….of a friggin’ MARATHON.

The garbage feeling apparently did nothing to prevent the dreaded “ooops i started to fast” phenomenon.  My splits early on were averaging in the 9:30 range, which was WAY TOO FAST to sustain.  In previous fulls when this happened, I would crash and burn around the wall and end up doing walk / run intervals with much more emphasis on the walk portion of the intervals.

However, in this race, and somewhere at the 10K mark, I devised a strategy using the advice Galloway offered:  If I could just get to mile 16 running (and at the pace I was maintaining 9:30s), I would do 10 intervals of walking a quarter of a mile and running 3/4 of a mile.  It worked like a charm!  Despite a four minute stop at mile 9 to tend to some personal business, I hit my splits from 1 – 16 at around a 9:30 average.

At the 16 mile marker, I thanked the running gods (and Jeff Galloway) for allowing me a walk break.  It was dissatisfying being passed by the many people who I had recently passed, but it was equally satisfying passing them again (many over and over) during my speedier 3/4 mile running intervals.

I carried this on for the final 10 miles and ended up coming in at 4:25ish.  I NEVER could have done this without the pre-race advice.  In previous races, I had never incorporated STRATEGY into my walk breaks, which meant that I would inevitably get bogged down in mental and physical fatigue which led to longer and less structured walk breaks.  The structure allowed me to conserve energy and GOAL OUT the final 10 miles when I otherwise didn’t have it in me to do so.

So, thank  you Mr. Galloway; and YES, I did take my walk intervals to the right despite the fact that it was counter to my “walking the tangents.”