The Run Walk Run Method

by Jeff Galloway

  I will never try to drag anyone kicking and screaming into Run Walk Run®. Each runner can choose to run or walk as much or as little as they wish. The benefits are numerous, but some runners believe that running means no walking at all in a race or workout. There are only a handful of runners who do this on all of their runs. A runner has the right to insist that non-stop running is the only way to run for himself or herself—but no right to impose this on anyone else.

  You don’t even have to answer the usually negative remarks made by these runners. You have a proven method that can get you to finish any run with strength, and never be out of commission for friends and family.

  You are the captain of your running—and walking—ship.

  How to reprogram the subconscious reflex brain to use Run Walk Run®.

  Most children have been instructed while in physical education class or on a sports team to never walk. A common coaching statement that is embedded in the subconscious reflex brain is that walking is failure. There are reasons why coaches will instruct their students to keep running during short events, but it is neither necessary nor productive to follow this advice for the rest of our lives.

  It‘s a fact that this childhood programming is very powerful and hardwired as a subconscious reflex behavior pattern. When we start to take a walk break, even 20 years after we finished our last cross country race or PE class, stress builds up in the reflex brain and anxiety hormones are produced. This subconscious brain may also trigger your memory to remind you what your coach said (or at least a fuzzy remembrance).

  But there‘s hope. We can reprogram the reflex brain to accept the taking of walk breaks as normal by using a cognitive strategy. This shifts control away from the subconscious and into the executive center that does the retraining. Here‘s how.

  Use the Magic Mile to determine a realistic goal pace and a conservative long run pace.

  Set your Run Walk Run® ratio based upon the pace per mile of both the goal pace and the long run pace using the Galloway Run Walk Run® chapter in this book.

  Load yourself up with all the positive Run Walk Run® mantras and key phrases. Memorize these or write them down so that you can talk back to the reflex brain’s negative messages:

  Walk breaks make me strong—to the end.

  Walk breaks allow me to do what I want to the rest of the day.

  Walk breaks speed my recovery.

  Walk breaks help me run faster.

  Walk breaks let me control fatigue.

  Walk breaks break up the distance into doable segments.

  Walk breaks give me control over my running enjoyment.

  Get a Run Walk Run® timer or program your watch for segments. The $20 timer is available at www.JeffGalloway.com and gets you into a rhythmic pattern of RWR. This is a great way to reprogram the reflex brain.

  At the end of each run, make a conscious statement about how the Run Walk Run® method is superior to your old way—“I have a tool to enjoy running for life.”

  You determine how much you run and how much you walk.

  One of the wonderful aspects of running is that there is no definition of a runner that you must live up to. There are also no rules that you must follow as you do your daily run. You are the captain of your running ship and it is you who determines how far, how fast, and how much you will run, walk, etc. While you will hear many opinions on this, running has always been a freestyle type of activity in which each individual is empowered to mix and match the many variables and come out with the running experience that he or she chooses. Walk breaks can keep the first-time runner away from injury and burnout, and can help veterans to improve time.

  Chapter 4:

  Principles Behind Run Walk Run®

  The next chapter will highlight the mental benefits of the method. I believe that the most empowering part of Run Walk Run® is that it is a cognitive strategy—giving you control over your exercise, attitude, fatigue, and energy.

  Our human organism is designed to improve and repair itself when a gentle stress is followed by a recovery period. Running continuously will cause a stress buildup that can be eliminated when walk breaks are taken early and often. During each walk, the body’s systems can adapt, the orthopedic units can rebuild and restore themselves. Here are some of the principles behind this process.

  Continuous use of a muscle results in quicker fatigue. During a walk break the muscle can adapt, recover, erase fatigue, and rebound to perform better and longer.

  The longer the run segment, the more fatigue. Many runners run faster by reducing the run segment and walking more frequently.

  Run Walk Run® is a form of interval training. The human organism can handle a gentle increase in stress if there is a recovery interval regularly inserted. Knowledgeable coaches have used this interval training concept for over a hundred years to prepare athletes for increased distance and speed.

  Conservation of resources. Running continuously uses up energy resources and muscle performance more quickly. When walk breaks are inserted early and often enough, there is more fuel in the tank later in the run. In addition, muscles are revived during each walk break. This means little or no slowdown at the end.

  Elimination of cramping. After analyzing the reports from thousands who have cramped during training runs and races, I’ve found that the leading cause is non-stop running. The right Run Walk Run® strategy, from the beginning, has eliminated cramping for most who have suffered from this painful experience.

  Quicker recovery. Walk breaks allow for muscles to recover faster from any workout. The earlier and the more frequently walk breaks are inserted, the quicker the recovery and the sooner one can resume the desired type of running. Time goal runners can do the strenuous speed sessions needed to improve. Fitness runners can resume regular activity, and enjoy activities with friends and family even after extremely long runs. Frequent walk breaks allow even first-year runners to enjoy the satisfaction of finishing half marathons, and even marathons, every month.

  Less stress on the weak links. Most runners experience downtime due the irritation of a few sites in a few body parts. Without using Run Walk Run®, these aches, pains, and injuries occur over and over again, due to individual range of motion, genetics, etc. Running continuously will continue to build up the stress and damage, often resulting in an injury. Each walk break can release the stress buildup, allow the tissue to adapt, or shift workload to other areas. I’ve heard from hundreds of runners that had been diagnosed with serious orthopedic problems and assumed they would have to stop running. A liberal insertion of walking, from the beginning of all runs, has brought these folks back into running—often allowing for running longer distances again.

  Enjoy endorphins during the run. Endorphins help to manage pain from running and can deliver a side effect of improving attitude and injecting relaxation, making one feel better than before. The body organism stimulates endorphin release when one starts running. When running continuously, the endorphins tend to be needed to kill the pains and aggravation of running. Most runners experience the endorphin afterglow of a run, but Run Walk Runners can get the attitude boost during many of the walk breaks. Because a gentle walk doesn’t generate continuing damage, there is no new pain produced. The endorphins can then inject their good attitude hormones into receptor sites in billions of cells throughout the body.

  Reduce core body temperature increase. Running is a lot more work than gentle walking, and produces a significant increase in the core body temperature on a hot day. Running on a day in which the temperature is 60°F (14°C) or higher will result in heat buildup, more sweating and dehydration, and more work for the body to keep you from overheating. Running continuously can keep building heat stress on the body, resulting in heat disease, slower times in races, longer recovery, and loss of desire to run. The early and frequent insertion of walk breaks has significantly reduced temperature increase in my clients who have had heat problems previously, allowing them to adapt to running in warm weather.


  Chapter 5:

  The Mental Benefits of Run Walk Run®

  While the physical benefits of the Run Walk Run® (RWR) method are amazing, the mental enhancements could be more significant. The motivation to run, or to improve, is influenced significantly by the various components of the brain. Stress in life and the stress of running can stimulate our subconscious brain to secrete negative attitude hormones.

  But when we focus on the RWR method, this cognitive strategy shifts mental control to the conscious brain (the human brain—executive decision center) that can override the subconscious. By using a proven Run Walk Run® strategy and believing in it, you can stop the production of negative hormones and stimulate positive hormones as you move forward. Just having a plan will reduce the sensation of stress and give one more control over attitude.

  You are the captain of your running ship. Having a strategy allows one to gain control over fatigue, aches and pains, breathing rate—over the run itself. Being in command reduces stress and is empowering by itself.

  Running helps us think better. Pre-test/post-test studies show that runners solve problems quicker and better after a run. Non-stop running tends to produce such a high level of stress, fatigue, and pain that mental focus shifts to the misery index. Frequent walk breaks release the physical stress, allowing the brain to be free to focus on other areas, and to create, think, and solve.

  Better mental energy. During a run, mental circuits are turned on that result in increased activity of logical and creative patterns in the frontal lobe. Early and frequent walk breaks allow the brain to shift gears and become energized. This increased level of activity can last for hours. I hear from countless runners every year who tell me the insertion of the right walk breaks made the difference.

  Running can help you set up cognitive strategies for other areas in life. During the run, circuits are turned on in the conscious executive brain to solve running problems, watch for road hazards, increase heart rate, etc. This increased mental activity is often applied to problems at work, at home, hobbies, etc. Almost every day a runner will tell me that he or she had been struggling with a work issue for days or weeks and it was during a run that the solution was revealed. Walk breaks allow the mind to relax, shift gears, and be ready to solve problems.

  As you focus on each segment, you empower the conscious brain. Run Walk Run® is a cognitive strategy that can shift control to the conscious, executive brain. In the process, you can deny the subconscious brain its chance to secrete negative attitude hormones under stress. By focusing on positive thoughts you can stimulate positive attitude hormones and reprogram the subconscious brain patterns to be more upbeat.

  Take a walk break and recite a mantra. This keeps you under the control of the conscious brain. Verbal statements will activate the logical left side of the frontal lobe to avoid drifting off under the subconscious brain control.

  The mental empowerment of walk breaks. Every week dozens of runners tell me that when they tried to run continuously they became discouraged, often assuming that they were not designed to run. Just the thought that they could walk as desired was the freedom needed to start again.

  Runners like to be in control—Run Walk Run® gives you control. You never have to be exhausted from a run. By walking more frequently, you can feel better during the run, recover more quickly, and reduce or eliminate pain. You determine how often to walk and how long to run or walk, and reap the benefits of running without the downsides. Designating the amount of running and the amount of walking, allows you to focus on a running segment that you know you can do.

  Walk breaks allow you to enjoy the endorphins. Physiologists tell us that strenuous activity will trigger the release of endorphins. The primary role of these hormones is to kill pain. Running continuously will irritate certain areas usually producing damage and endorphins. Taking a walk break will stop the continuous stress, allowing the endorphins to perform the secondary role that we love: injecting an attitude boost. Experts believe that endorphins are the most positive of the positive attitude hormones experienced by humans.

  Why do some runners have trouble taking walk breaks?

  Research shows that the lessons learned in the early school years are powerfully embedded in the subconscious brain. While it is natural to feel anxious and then receive negative hormones when we depart from these hard-wired patterns, conscious actions can retrain this ancient brain. The cognitive focus on specific run segments and set amount of walks can hardwire new patterns into the reflex brain.

  This gives you control over your attitude as you feel the positive results from using strategic walk breaks. Through the use of mantras and systematic actions, you empower the conscious brain to take control. This frontal lobe component can override the subconscious brain and retrain it to accept and embrace the Run Walk Run® method.

  Chapter 6:

  How Can the Run Walk Run® Method Eliminate Injury?

  Our bodies are designed to walk for long distances. Running continuously is much more difficult and stressful. Even as we adapt to the running motion, each of us has a few weak links that take on more stress. These are the areas that ache, hurt, or don‘t work correctly when we run too far or too fast for the current level of fitness. Weak links commonly hurt when we restart our training after some time off, don‘t provide sufficient rest after a hard workout, or eliminate walk breaks because we feel good.

  In some cases, pain-killing hormones, such as endorphins, will mask the damage. Most commonly, exercisers go into denial, ignore the first signs of irritation, and keep training until the stressed area breaks down.

  Most of the aches and pains experienced by my runners and walkers are located in these weak link areas—the muscles, joints, tendons, etc. that take more stress due to the individual range of motion, body structure, type of workout, etc. The process starts during a normal workout when micro tears develop in muscles and tendons due to the focused stress of continued movement and irritation of these key parts. The number of these tiny injuries will increase on long or faster workouts, especially during the last third. But in most cases, the rest period after a workout will allow for healing of most or all of this damage.

  Walk breaks stop or significantly reduce the continuous buildup of stress on the weak links. By increasing the frequency of the walk breaks and shortening the length of the run segment, most of the runners I’ve coached, who have been injured, have been able to continue running as the injury healed. Non-stop runners who have had repeat injuries have been amazed at how the strategy of Run Walk Run® can prevent future incidents.

  The concept is to stay below the threshold of irritation. The most common way to do this is to keep reducing the duration of the run segment, with frequent insertion of walk breaks.

  With shorter running segments and longer walks, there is less pain, and the endorphins can inject into receptor sites on billions of cells. This sends a positive attitude boost throughout mind and body.

  Run Walk Run® is a dynamic system that can be adjusted each day to allow for more healing and to prevent early stage injuries from getting worse. Being sensitive to possible irritation and adjusting the Run Walk Run® strategy can speed recovery dramatically from the more strenuous workouts.

  As you take action, you shift brain control into the conscious, executive brain, and you can gain major control over your orthopedic health.

  Can I run while injured?

  Thousands of runners have reported that by using liberal walk breaks, they were able to continue running, while allowing the injury to heal. In some cases, the blood flow generated by walking with gentle and short jog segments has been cited in healing some injuries as opposed to a complete layoff from running.

  The following is training advice, given from one runner to another. For medical advice, see a doctor.

  Choose a doctor who wants you to run in some form, as soon as you can. Explain that you are using the Galloway Run Walk Run® method in which very short running segment
s are gradually introduced into gentle walks. When you find such a doctor, get his or her advice about returning to running. Some injuries, such as stress fractures, will not allow for running for a number of weeks. Consult with your doctor.

  Most injuries require at least a day or two of no running to get the repair started in the damaged area. Most running injuries I’ve had have allowed for walking or aqua-jogging. These two exercises can maintain conditioning so that the return to running is easier. Again, check with the doctor to see if these exercises would be appropriate.

  When given the OK to ease into running, start with 5 sec of running/55 sec of walking. This will maintain most of your running adaptations and has been the most successful strategy for running and healing at the same time. If the injury will not allow for this, go back to walking or take additional days off and treat the injury.

  Monitor the damaged area as you start back. If the symptoms get worse, stop running for a few days and consult with a doctor.

  As symptoms decrease, you can either increase distance or increase the amount of running while decreasing the amount of walking. Do so gently.