Running into Jeff Galloway

First question. How do you call someone who is a Running Expert, a Marathon Coach, an Olympic Athlete, an Author-- all rolled into one? Jeff Galloway!

Second question. Did I mention that he's the Creator of the Run-Walk-Run method which I'm following for my marathon training?  Well, last night I met "the" Jeff Galloway and listened to him talk for 3 hours.

Third question. What could be more awesome than that? Attending his talk for FREE...thanks to TBR, all Dream Marathoners get a free ticket each to meet Jeff.

Three months into his famous run-walk-run program and I get to meet him in person.  And he gets to sign my one-month-old-Kris-Kringle-gift Galloway book: Marathon You Can Do It.  How amazing!

Tonight, I learned a lot but to share a few...I learned that:

you can add Water Running to your Cross Training options
and I will definitely try it this weekend

as much as I don't have a time goal for the Dream Marathon,
as much as I want to just finish all 42k,
as much as I expected that the Walk Breaks can slow one's time goal,
taking walk breaks in between runs can actually make you finish faster

it is very possible to run a marathon every 4 weeks
if you bring the 4 run/1 walk further to 30 sec run/30 sec walk

Water running, as the name implies, is practicing running while your legs are underwater.  Jeff said to have a floating device where your feet won't touch the ground and then you run.  The water's resistance strengthens muscles.  By alternating off and on, the main running muscles will retain their resilience longer.  Do this for 15 minutes every week.

Walk breaks work because on each successive walk, most or all of the fatigue is erased, giving you strength at the end.  And because of less fatigue, walk breaks eliminate injury.  Walk breaks can change a bad run into a regular one and sometimes a great one.  Less fatigue and less injury lead to running faster.  Because of his innovation, Jeff has been running without injury for 32 years.

I could keep on running through my mental notes from Jeff but for now, I write about the run-walk method to encourage my friends out there to start running cause Jeff has definitely stirred a twist in marathon training putting smiles on beginners' faces upon finishing their first marathon through his ideation of the walk breaks. As for me, I'll follow what Jeff wrote on my book...

Clarissa, keep running!