This led to the use of walk breaks in all pace groups. As the former beginners moved into longer distance events such as marathons, they continued to adjust to walk breaks and started to record faster times than the veterans. Many of the veteran marathoners refused to take walk breaks at first. I continued to find that walk breaks could almost eliminate injury. In 1976, Galloway Training Program began. Each student finished! When I polled each at the end I received my best reward: none of them had been injured!ĭuring the next two years, I experimented with various ratios of walk breaks as I worked with beginning runners at my store. Most admitted that they started to look forward to each run because of the improved attitude during and afterward.Īt the end of the 10 week term was the “exam”: either a 5K or a 10K.

Throughout the first class, I adjusted the Run Walk Run amounts so that each person felt successful in completing the distance – which gradually increased during one run each week. The “huff and puff” rule emerged: when you hear huffing and puffing, take more frequent walk breaks and slow the pace.

During the first lap around the track I realized that walk breaks would be crucial if I wanted each class member to finish either a 5K or 10K without injury or exhaustion.Īs I ran with each group, I focused on breathing rate. About one third had never done any regularly scheduled exercise during their lifetime.

Since business was slow at the store, I also wanted to increase the number of potential customers.ĭuring the class I discovered that none of my students had been running for at least five years. Through this class I saw an opportunity to help non-runners enjoy the benefits of running. I was asked to teach a class in beginning running a few months after opening my specialty running store, Phidippides in 1973.

Download 10k run plan for beginners