Galloway Method explained.............

As part of my analysis of my marathon time at Run for the Lakes, I can't help but analyze the Galloway method that I used:

• Run 75 secs
• Walk 60 secs
• Number of intervals 145 1/2

So what does this mean, it means I get to do some extrapolation of my numbers as it relates to running and walking which the numbers geek inside me loves.

For those that just want the analysis, here goes, I first guesstimated my approximate paces for run-walk intervals as I am not sure of how fast (run pace) or slow (walk pace) I managed but it gives you an idea of how much running you still do even when you run 1 1/4 to 1 ratios. You can see my guesstimates for my run-walk ration here and my actual mile splits at the end of this post (my Garmin totaled 26.5 miles).

Galloway Method – estimates for Run for the Lakes Marathon
Estimate 1	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	10,875	181.25	16.91	10.72	4.68
Walking	8,640	144.00	9.29	15.50	6.77
Total	19,515	325.25	26.20	12.41	5.42
Estimate 2	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	10,875	181.25	17.20	10.54	4.60
Walking	8,640	144.00	9.00	16.00	6.99
Total	19,515	325.25	26.20	12.41	5.42
Estimate 3	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	10,875	181.25	17.47	10.37	4.53
Walking	8,640	144.00	8.73	16.50	7.21
Total	19,515	325.25	26.20	12.41	5.42
Estimate 4	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	10,875	181.25	17.73	10.22	4.46
Walking	8,640	144.00	8.47	17.00	7.42
Total	19,515	325.25	26.20	12.41	5.42

So using estimate 2, I ran for ~17 miles at a 10 min 31 sec pace and walked ~9 miles at 16 min 0 sec pace. Doing this pace with the run-walk brought me home in 5 hrs 25 minutes. The way I viewed the run-walk approach is that I did 145 accelerations with 60 seconds of recovery between accelerations. If I had run all of the miles at this pace, my marathon time would have been 4 hrs 36 minutes, if I had walked every mile, my marathon time would have taken almost 7 hrs. So the run-walk approach cost me around 50 minutes off of my best case result but saved me 90 minutes off of worse case.

Considering the knee pain, it allowed me to finish the race with some energy left over and based on my other 35+ marathons it might have been the easiest especially when you consider training, etc....

Galloway provides the following chart for Walk Break Ratios to give you an idea of ratios to pace:

See more at: http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training

He lists the following principles for the run-walk approach on his site:

• Continuous use of a muscle will result in quicker fatigue
• The longer the run segment, the more fatigue
• Run Walk Run is a form of interval training
• Conservation of resources
• Quicker recovery
• Less stress on the “weak links”
• Ability to enjoy endorphins
• Reduce core body temperature

To which I think all I have proven all to be true. My weak links were my training and knee and I maintained a consistent pace which I have not done so in the past.

So what changes should I make for the next race, I could simply increase the run by 15, 10 or 5 seconds per interval which would result in marathon times of (respectively):

• 5 hrs 16 minutes 37 seconds
• 5 hrs 19 minutes 8 seconds
• 5 hrs 21 minutes 55 seconds

Interesting experiment to verify and the good news is in less than 2 weeks I can, so I think I will shoot for 85 seconds of running followed by 60 seconds of walking. Surely I can manage 10 more seconds, right and if I do I save about 9 minutes off my next marathon. First up though I need to test the knee today to see if I can run.

I love this kind of over analysis, stay tuned for more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

15 Seconds Faster
Next Race	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	11,745	195.75	18.64	10.50	4.59
Walking	7,255	120.91	7.56	16.00	6.99
Total	19,000	316.66	26.20	12.09	5.28
10 Seconds Faster
Next Race	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	11,462	191.04	18.19	10.50	4.59
Walking	7,686	128.10	8.01	16.00	6.99
Total	19,148	319.13	26.20	12.18	5.32
5 Seconds Faster
Next Race	Seconds	Minutes	Miles	Pace (min)	Marathon Time (hrs)
Running	11,136	185.60	17.68	10.50	4.59
Walking	8,183	136.38	8.52	16.00	6.99
Total	19,319	321.98	26.20	12.29	5.37

Run for the Lake Marathon mile splits:

Mile	Mile Pace	Total Pace
1	12:10.39	12:10.39
2	12:18.28	24:28.67
3	12:10.90	36:39.57
4	11:56.52	48:36.09
5	12:27.87	1:01:03.96
6	12:17.83	1:13:21.79
7	12:19.70	1:25:41.49
8	12:21.24	1:38:02.73
9	12:14.07	1:50:16.80
10	12:15.01	2:02:31.81
11	12:09.10	2:14:40.91
12	12:01.69	2:26:42.60
13	11:48.19	2:38:30.79
14	12:17.48	2:50:48.27
15	12:23.92	3:03:12.19
16	12:16.33	3:15:28.52
17	12:15.92	3:27:44.44
18	12:16.27	3:40:00.71
19	12:12.19	3:52:12.90
20	12:51.85	4:05:04.75
21	12:16.91	4:17:21.66
22	12:34.18	4:29:55.84
23	12:22.42	4:42:18.26
24	12:33.80	4:54:52.06
25	13:32.42	5:08:24.48
26	12:03	5:20:27.48
27	5:20.35	5:25:47.83

Run for the Lakes Marathon - Follow-up

I thought I would try to capture a bit more of what seemed to work.

When I mentioned I had tried CoQ10 and Glutathione (synthesized from Cysteine) to keep my energy up, it was based on this youtube video from UltrAspire, the presenter is Charles Corfield, an ultrarunner.



To me everything he presented made a lot of sense which is why I found his theory on CoQ10 and Glutathione, quite intriguing. In the talk he said that it was up to the user to experiment with the dosages and decide for yourself if it works, he suggested the following:

Experiment you can try
•Take 1 NAC capsule every 5 miles
•Take 1 CoQ10 (100mg) capsule every 5 miles

At Run for the Lakes, I took one of each around 2 hrs (~11 miles) and 4 hrs (~19 miles) so about 1/2 of his recommendation.

Another decision I made was to wear my Nathan vest which made me look weird at a marathon but I was comfortable with it. It allowed me to carry everything I needed and with the exception of needing a water bottle refilled to skip all of the aid stations. I felt guilty running or walking through the aid stations as the volunteers were very enthusiastic especially the young kids.

For the Galloway method, I used my run-walk app and set it up with the 75-60 repeat. Turns out I did 145 repeats. It was quite interesting how it seemed to focus me and how quickly the second loop seemed to flow by. Again, maybe it was the fatigue pills, the weather, the course and the Galloway method all working together. I do know that my current hope is that my knee gets no worse and ideally feels better and I can repeat the experiment at Lake Wobegon.

I was quite thankful that I was at Run for the Lakes versus Chippewa as I am very sure if I had tried to do Chippewa, I would have had yet another DNF. At Run for the Lakes any downhill was painful, the hills at Chippewa along with the uneven surface would have destroyed me.

Run for the Lakes Marathon Result

Went in pretty uncertain of everything, knowing that I have a meniscus tear in my knee, knowing that my last 4 weeks of running were at best poor, so to say that I had concerns about pain management and pace would be a global understatement. 

But I did have a plan, the same plan I had before everything went off track, it was to run using the Galloway method and for this race I decided on a conservative method: run for 75 secs - walk for 60 secs. 

Unbelievable to me, it worked. At a couple points I tried to test the knee, significant pain increase after 90 seconds of running so I think I did everything just about right. The course was very enjoyable with minimal camber, no concrete, a nice breeze, sunny skies, friendly volunteers and a well marked course. 

I also tried the CoQ10 and NAC pills and had no issues with low energy and I sprinkled in some S-Caps and nausea was a non issue as well. Last I carried my own drinks, only drinking water with Nuun tablets. I had heard about using CoQ10 and Nac-Acetyl Cysteine on a nutrition video I grabbed off of YouTube, it basically said taking in anti-oxidants would allow your body to continue to use energy well. 

All I know is that between the Galloway method and the pills everything worked. My mile times were consistent throughout with only a couple mile splits off track. I was blown away at my consistency, my mile times ranged from 11:49 to 13:30, and the 13:30 was one of only two miles slower than 12:35. Every other mile was between 11:55 and 12:25. Oh yeah my time was 5:25:43. 

The time was better than anticipated and the post race recovery seems very good.This may take some to figure out as to what caused everything to work. Hopefully the knee recovers and I can do my next marathon in 2 weeks.

Run for the Lakes Update

Well, I am one day out from Run for the Lakes and I am a go to do the race.

That said I am not exactly going into it with great confidence. Since my last post I have been dealing with constant knee pain and up through Wednesday I was really thinking about pulling the plug.

First some background, over the last 4 weeks, I was able to hobble through a couple of longer runs but they were not fun nor effective for giving me confidence that I could maintain a marathon finishing pace. The problem with the knee is after we returned from vacation each run seemed to hurt more. I was in San Jose last week and I went for a 4 mile run and got through it but it was a struggle. The next day I went to Rancho San Antonio and had to walk more than I ran and my pace was very slow when I did run. On Saturday I went for a 7 mile run with my daughter in Lebanon and that run pretty much told me that I was nearing a decision point. I took Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off to let the pain and swelling subside which takes me to Wednesday. I had hoped that with 3 days off I would be able to start the run pain free or at least reduced but after a 1/4 mile I knew I had reached my decision point.

So I headed over to Twin City Orthopedics in Burnsville, they have walk-in appointments and less than 10 minutes later I was getting it checked out. They took X-rays to make sure that they looked good and then examined the knee. The doctor pointed out on the X-ray that I had the start of osteoarthritis in the knee which he considered somewhat normal since he knew I had knee surgery 10+ years earlier. He then took the knee through the movements and gave me the news of a torn meniscus which surprised me a little as I was hoping that Kevin's diagnosis of a bursa/tendon issue was the cause, oh well.

He said I could run on it and it would be all about my ability to manage the pain. Since I have had surgeries for my previous meniscus tears, my concern is how much meniscus do I have left in this knee. So I am hoping to avoid surgery, he of course said if I wasn't running on it, that for normal everyday activities I would probably be able to avoid it. Since the knee isn't catching and taking into account that probably half of the meniscus might already be gone from the first surgery, he seemed to think it's a smaller tear and might be manageable even for running. Of course it would take a MRI or surgery to confirm.

What he offered to do is to give me a steroid shot in the knee with the belief it could reduce the swelling and that should give me a shot at the marathon on Saturday. He said no running on it until the marathon to give it the best chance to help. He wasn't as confident about the rest of the races for the year but thought this marathon would provide me some insight.

So there it is, on to Brainerd for a marathon test.

Based on how things go it will probably dictate my year as if I have significant pain then surgery may be where I want or need to go. My hope is that I can manage it and run the races for this year as planned. Stay tuned.