Get my free course for beginner runners: http://www.healthynomics.com/get-started-running/
For the show notes for this episode, go to http://www.healthynomics.com/22
In this episode, I talk with Jeff Galloway.
Jeff has inspired millions with his “Run, Walk, Run” method and ability to resonate with beginner and experienced runners alike.
If you are not familiar with Jeff Galloway, here is a bit more about him:
- represented the United Stated as a runner in the 1972 Olympics (10,000 meters and an alternate for the marathon).
- Author of North America’s best selling running book: Galloway’s Book on Running.
- Running Runner’s World monthly columnist.
- Founder of the Run Walk Run method, which has opened up running to millions.
In this podcast, you will learn about:
- How Jeff got started running and how he manages to run one marathon per month with his wife at the age of 70.
- How running changed Jeff’s life for the better.
- The origin of the run, walk, run method of running and why it works so well for beginners.
- What to do when you feel pain and how to better your chance for running pain-free.
- Whether it’s better to run for time or distance.
- How to know when you’re ready to progressive from running with walk breaks to continuous running.
- Tips to start running with a goal to lose weight.
- Is there a best way to breathe when you run?
- And much more…
If you enjoyed this episode with Jeff Galloway or any other Healthynomics Podcast episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Reviews go a long way in helping the podcast reach more runner's ear buds. Thanks!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Healthenomics Podcast episode 22
with guest and running legend,Jeff Galloway. Welcome back,
everybody. I'm Mark Kennedy,your host. I'm a little bummed
out today as I've decided topull out of my half marathon
race, I'm supposed to be runningin, I guess, about ten days from
now. I put in three good monthsof training and Achilles injury
(00:24):
crept up on me.
Took a little bit of time off,got some treatments, some
physiotherapy, massage therapy,acupuncture. Got some treatment,
tried another run, was barelyable to squeak through three,
four kilometers out the paincreeping up again. So I'm a bit
bumped out, but I gotta takesome of my own advice and, you
(00:46):
know, to play the long game.Running's, it's just hard
because the nice weather hasfinally arrived in Toronto, and
I can't run. And all thesepeople, I see them, you know,
putting in the miles, those lastfew miles before they race, in a
few days.
So anyways, I'm a bit bummed,but running's for life, and I
need to remind myself of thatlong term thinking is critical.
(01:09):
Before we get to today'sinterview with Jeff Galloway, I
wanna let you know about a freeemail course that I've created.
If you're a beginner runner orcoming back from running after
some time off, the course offerssome tips to help you get set up
for long term success, injuryprevention, running for weight
loss, running form, how to dealwith pain, and lots lots more.
(01:29):
Go to freerunningcourse.com tosign up. On to today's interview
with Jeff Galloway.
For those of you not familiarwith Jeff and his work, here's a
bit about him. He's a USOlympian from 1972. He ran the
10,000 meters and was also analternate for the marathon team.
He trained with StevePrefontaine, Frank Shorter, Bill
(01:50):
Rogers, Amby Burfoot, JackBashler. He's the author of
North America's best sellingbook, Galloway's Book on
Running.
He's a Runner's World monthlycolumnist. He's the founder of
the Run Walk Run method, whichhas opened up running to
millions of people. Over 350,000runners and walkers have
reported their achieving goalsby using Galloway training
(02:11):
programs. Whether you're a totalbeginner runner or training for
your first marathon, Jeff dropsa ton of running wisdom on us
today. You'll also wanna listenall the way through to the end
as I'm giving away a copy of oneof Jeff's books to one lucky
listener.
So keep listening. The shownotes for this episode will be
at healthenomics.com/20two.There you'll also be able to
(02:33):
download a transcript to thisepisode. Enjoy the show
everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Welcome to the Healthenomics Podcast. Boosting
your health and fitness IQ oneepisode at a time. And now your
host, Mark Kennedy.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Hi there, Jeff. Welcome to the Healthenomics
podcast. Thanks so much forcoming on to the to the show
today.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, Mark, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Awesome. So for those listening, and many will know
who you are, but for for thoselistening who are not familiar
with, you, can you give everyonejust a little background on you?
Maybe sort of where you're from,how you got into running, and,
what you're doing with regardsto the sport now?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, the, the Cliff Notes version, goes like this. I
was a fat kid at age 13 forcedto go out for sports by my
school, and I discovered,friendships and, fun in running
with others. And I got hookedduring the first ten weeks that
I joined the team. Didn't reallyprogress very quickly or very
(03:37):
well during my high schoolyears, but just got a little bit
better each year and enjoyed thecamaraderie and what it was
doing for my mind and my spirit.And so I continued through
college, again, not with much,improvement every year.
Went into the navy for threeyears, came out, and decided to
(04:00):
really give it a go and dowhatever I could do. And over
the next two and a half years, Iwas able to qualify for the
Olympic team in Munich in 1972.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So is it?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
In the process, I had to do a lot of things, that
most, of the athletes on anOlympic team don't have to do.
Most of them are quite talentedand succeed, without having to
do a lot of research orwhatever. I was self coached
through high school and college,and I spent a good deal of time
(04:35):
reading about, running trainingand the training methods of
various athletes. I triedvarious things. I weeded things
out the hard way, found whatworked for me, and, compared
notes with just a whole lot ofathletes.
And I have continued doing thatto this day. I, still spend a
(04:58):
good amount of time, looking atthe research, and I've been able
to amass an a database of peoplethat have had success with my
program over the last fortyyears, and it numbers over
300,000 people. Wow. My I basemy advice on what has worked, in
(05:19):
any given area, best for thatdatabase of people.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's great. So, and are you are you still running
today?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I am. I, my wife and I run together on most of our
runs, and we run a marathonevery month and usually another
race like a half marathon inbetween. It's a wonderful thing
to be able to explain to people,and this is the force of my
(05:51):
life, that running does not haveto hurt. You can get all of
those amazing benefits to mind,body, and spirit, which running
uniquely gives, and not have tohurt if you have the right, walk
breaks and you combine the righttraining elements.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Mhmm. Well, I wanna dive into a bit about your, your
run walk method a little bitlater, but can you I mean, you
talked a little bit aboutalready, but, can you talk a bit
more about some specific waysthat running's helped you, aside
from maybe just the the physicalbenefits, but, just sort of
benefited your life in general?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, it changed my life in in just about every way.
When I started as a 13 year oldkid, I was struggling
academically, and I reallythought that I was
intellectually inferior to theother students at this prep
school. And as soon as I got inwith the other kids, I opened
(06:52):
up, and we would have argumentsover various topics. And I
realized that in thesearguments, my way of thinking
and and my intelligence was notinferior to them, and most of
them were on the honor roll. AndI, also, got on the honor roll
as a result of, just theperceptions and the reassessment
(07:19):
based on my peers.
The other areas that running hashelped are now being documented
by research in terms of themental benefits, and what they
show. And I'm revising my mentaltraining book right now. So I'm
very familiar with a lot of thelatest, waves of research. But
(07:42):
what's really incredible aboutrunning in particular, but
exercise in general, is that itturns on brain circuits for a
better attitude, for personalempowerment, and for vitality
better than any other activitiesthat have been studied. In
addition, running, and and someother strenuous, activities,
(08:04):
strenuous, aerobic activitiesactually cause new growth of new
brain cells and quicker decisionmaking because of the hormones
that are produced when we run.
So there are tremendousbenefits, but by far long term,
most folks really see that themental side of running is even
(08:29):
more powerful than the physical.Mhmm. Again, my role and the
thing that has given me the mostgratification in life is that
I'm able to help people get offthe couch and accomplish some
amazing things. First, they dosomething like a half marathon
or a marathon, and they are soempowered mentally by this whole
(08:52):
experience that they do alltypes of other things in their
lives that they tell me theywould never have been able to
do. So it's a wonderful lifejourney.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah. That really resonates with me as well. I've
been running for about justtwenty years. And, yeah, just
the running, just theconsistency has just paid off in
so many areas of my life. I cansay, you know, career, family
life.
I've got two little kids. I gota three year old and a seven
month old. So, you know, I needthe running. That's my stress
(09:22):
reliever and my sort of me time.But Absolutely.
Yeah. So for me, my wife, likesto say like, you know, if I'm
she can tell I'm a anxious,she's like, go for a run. So
it's kinda like I'm a dog. Youknow? Just get out there, go for
a run, and come back.
You'll feel better. And it's,usually the case that works. So,
that's great. Let's dive into alittle bit about the run walk
(09:45):
method, which I've got your bookon my bookshelf. I can see it
right now.
And I recommend it to a lot of,beginners that that that I talk
to. So I'd love to know sort ofhow how did the the method how
did it start? What gave you sortof the idea? Give us a bit of a
history, and then how has ittransformed throughout the
throughout the years?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Started in 1974. I was asked to teach a course in
beginning running, and none ofthe people in the class had been
doing any running at all for atleast five years. So I knew that
we were gonna have to have a avery bare bones running program
with a lot of walking to to getpeople, into shape without
(10:27):
overdoing it. Divided up intothree groups based on ability
level, which actually became theprototype for the way that we do
our Galloway programs to thisday now forty years later. But
what I found is that by theplacement of walk breaks from
(10:50):
the beginning, we, at the end ofthe class, ten weeks, saw every
participant finish either a fiveor 10 k.
But the remarkable thing wasthere were no injuries. And I
realized even early that earlyin using it that it was the walk
break strategically placed atthe right point that allowed
(11:13):
folks to stay injury free, andthat's been the case to this
day. That's that's what we use.I started using walk breaks for
beginners, right after thatclass in '74, but, didn't really
use it for competitive runners,until the late seventies when a
(11:35):
number of the beginners who weretaught to use the right run,
walk, run were starting to runsignificantly faster than
veterans. And so then theveterans said, you know, we want
some of that.
And and so we have done alltypes of surveys over the years,
and the, the research has beenpretty consistent in showing
(12:00):
that in a marathon, when aperson's, goes from nonstop
marathon running to the rightrun, walk, run, the average
improvement is over thirteenminutes faster with run, walk,
run, and over seven minutesfaster in a half marathon.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Wow. And so what what are some of the reasons aside
from, of course, injuries as youstated that, that you think it
works so well. And and I'm surethere's, the mental aspect and,
also perhaps just helping them,you know, building the habit.
But what are some of the reasonsaside from injury prevention
(12:37):
that you think, it works sowell?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well, there are dozens of of reasons that have
been pretty well documented, butthe most significant ones are
the, reduction of musclefatigue. And that that's the
number one reason why peopleslow down. If you have the right
strategic placement of walkbreaks, then the muscle stops
from being exhausted. It keepsreviving itself. It's designed
(13:04):
to revive itself.
However, on the other hand, ifyou run nonstop, you're going to
reach a failure point wheresomething is either gonna break
or the muscle simply doesn'twork anymore. And it's totally
avoidable because the body isdesigned to adapt and
resuscitate itself and erasefatigue as you go. Other
(13:26):
benefits, it's very well knownthat if you use a muscle tendon,
a weak link, the same waycontinuously, then it will
fatigue and break sooner. Andwith walk breaks, you keep
erasing that buildup of stresson a given area so that it, can
(13:47):
keep going without breakingdown. Another key element is the
mental aspect because if youhave a an amount of running that
you are totally convinced youcan do, then you're mentally
confident.
You know that you can do thatnext segment. And mental
confidence is a huge asset inrunning or anything else in
(14:10):
life. The the beauty of run,walk, run is it not only gives
you the mental confidence, itgives you the physical ability
to keep on going over and overagain. The and then, you know,
the the overriding benefit ofrun walk run is that it gives
each person control over theirdestiny. They never have to be
(14:34):
exhausted.
They can avoid almost every acheand pain that could come, and
this feeling of being able tocontrol all that is really
amazing. It it really allowspeople to have control over
their running.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah. That that really resonates with me as
well. I think a lot of peoplethat I talk to, they say them a
runner, and the first thing theysay is, I can't do that. You
know, that sounds that soundshard. That sounds painful.
But, I don't think it needs tobe that way. And one of the
things people always comment tome is they have problems getting
(15:13):
around, I guess, the pain. Theythink it has to be painful in
order for it to be beneficial.So and I'm sure you get that
question all the time. So how doyou how do you approach people?
Like, what do you tell themwhen, I mean, obviously, they
may have some pains because ifthey haven't, you know, moved in
that way for a while, they mayhave some aches and pains. But
what's your approach to gettingpeople started, you know, when
(15:34):
they when pain is an issue forthem?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Well, most people have had some bad experiences
from running. I mean, PEcoaches, regular coaches from
sports teams often will userunning as punishment and will
also, use non, well, they won'tuse walk breaks. They they will
(15:59):
push people until they breakdown. The the thing that I tell
people who come to me with that,I can't run, is that what I've
discovered after having nowheard back from over 300,000
people that have had successwith the method, many of them
(16:20):
did not have success when theytried other methods. But what
the resounding, statement is,that it's it's not not running
per se as an activity thatcauses pain.
(16:40):
It's nonstop running. Andrunning is from the very
beginning of our sport, a freeform activity. Each person
decides how fast they're gonnarun, in terms of workouts, how
far they're going to run,whether they take walk breaks or
not, and then what technique andform and everything else. There
(17:03):
is no rule book. And so when aperson has had problems before,
in almost every case, when I'veworked with them, I've been able
to find a run, walk, run thatwill allow them to do what they
really wanted to do.
But the best part about it isthey get all those mental
benefits too.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Mhmm. Yeah. That's great. That that would help a
lot of people, I think. Andanother question I get sort of
on the same sort of topic, RunRock One is for beginners, what
what should they aim to whenthey go out for a run, should
they run for a certain time oror distance?
What's what's more importantfor, for a beginner?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well, the most important, aspect for a beginner
is to be conservative. Start outvery, very gently.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
The human body is designed to walk, and, it is
designed to adapt into therunning motion. If you do it
very gradually and graduallyintroduce running with the right
amount of walking, the the bodyjust keeps adapting, and it'll
find the right balance. The waywe work with beginners, and
(18:14):
you'll see this in my book,Getting Started, and also in A
Woman's Guide to Running, whichhas essentially the same
beginner program. And the way wedo it is we start beginners off
with only five to ten seconds ofrunning
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And the rest of the minute walking. So in short
segments, the body can adapt torunning without getting
overwhelmed. At first, abeginner, we would not have a
beginner go more than about ten,maximum fifteen minutes, even if
they're doing five seconds ofrunning, fifty five seconds of
(18:54):
walking. We want to beconservative. We want to very
gently introduce the body tothat running motion.
And then each, workout, which,we recommend doing every other
day, not every day, the newrunner could increase those,
(19:15):
minutes of five fifty five orten seconds running and fifty
seconds walking. They couldincrease the number of minutes
by three to four minutes, eachworkout. And as, a beginner goes
through the first month, he orshe would gradually build up to
(19:35):
thirty minutes. At that point,the beginner could decide to add
to continue adding more minutesat five fifty five or ten fifty,
or the beginner could, thendecide that they want to run
more and walk less. So Mhmm.
They could start a gradualtransition with, five more
(19:56):
seconds of running and five lessseconds of walking, moving to
something like fifteen secondsof running and forty five
seconds of walking. And verygradually, if you, introduce a
little more running with lesswalking, there the body will
accommodate to that. And ifthere are any issues with it,
(20:16):
you simply back up to what youwere doing before. But the the
ultimate goal, as we teach it,is not to run continuously
because, again, runningcontinuously causes aches,
pains, injuries, exhaustion, andburnout. And there's no reason
to ever go there with the rightstrategic walk break.
(20:37):
Most of our beginning runnersthe first year will get up to a
one in one ratio, but the,configuration of that, of one in
one is most commonly eitherthirty seconds running, thirty
seconds walking, or twentyseconds and twenty seconds, or
my wife and I actually usefifteen seconds fifteen seconds
(21:01):
when we run our marathons. Mhmm.Because we found that we recover
so much faster with the shorterincrements.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Is it hard to hold people back, beginners that
they're doing say the five andfifty five or ten fifty and you
know, all of a sudden they feela little bit better. Is it is it
hard to hold them back fromincreasing their their running
time too fast?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah. So I'd say probably, thirty to fifty
percent of new runners willreach a threshold about two to
four weeks into one of thesebeginning running programs, and
they they feel so darn good,that they get overly confident
and think, well, I can run awhole lot more now. And Mhmm.
(21:44):
Unfortunately, they try that,and, unfortunately, they have
something that, breaks down onthem. And and, again, it never
has to happen, but, human natureis human nature.
And if you can, on the otherhand, have a cognitive plan, A
cognitive plan, you'll find inall of my books. There are
(22:09):
schedules that tell you what todo three days a week. Three days
a week is all that's needed tosustain and to improve your
running. And if you follow athree day a week program and and
follow a plan like you'll see inmy books, these are proven
(22:30):
programs, and they keep you awayfrom the negative stuff that
could go on.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mhmm. Now should new runners worry about their
running form? Because I know alot of people, when they're just
getting started, they'reconcerned they're gonna look
funny or they haven't run-in awhile. It feels a bit awkward.
So what do do runners, shouldthey worry about their form when
they're just getting started, oris that something that comes
later with more runningexperience?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
My suggestion is to adhere to four, easy principles
of efficient running. The thegoal, especially for a beginner,
but really any distance,oriented person is efficiency.
And, the best way mechanically,best ways mechanically that I
(23:17):
have found to accomplishefficiency are to keep your feet
low to the ground Mhmm. To touchlightly with your feet, and to
keep your stride lengthrelatively short, and finally,
to have an upright body posture.Now that the the research backs
(23:38):
up all of those mechanicalcomponents.
And then once a person runs niceand gently according to whatever
their, mechanics are, the nextstep would be to allow the body
parts to just naturally adapt towhatever is their natural
(24:00):
motion.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
The research says that those who run-in a natural
fashion according to thesemechanical principles, tend to
run very efficiently. And thosewho decide that they're gonna
try some other form that's notnatural to their body break down
and have all types ofinefficiency problems.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Mhmm. And if you look at the professionals, I mean,
I've watched some some livemarathons elites go by and they
don't all run the same.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
No. They don't. As a matter of fact, there's more
diversity in form among elitesthan there is among average
runners. Wow. But the the bottomline on elites is that they
succeed often times in spite oftheir form.
They really chose their parentsextremely well.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah. That's true. Now I wanna talk a little bit
about weight loss. I'm sure youget a lot of people coming into
your programs where they've got,you know, various different
goals, but, probably, one yousee a lot is they wanna lose a
little bit of weight. What doesthe training for a beginner look
like for someone who wants tolose weight, as opposed to
(25:16):
someone who maybe wants to getfit and faster?
I mean, do they differ? Can youtalk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, of course, you've got a lot of variables in
there. And, you have to reallylook at, prior priority of
goals. Mhmm. Once you set upyour priority, you can pursue
goals, based on thosepriorities. So, a person who
comes to me wanting to loseweight and train for some event,
(25:52):
I first will tell them that theyneed to be very conscious of
their nutrition, and there are anumber of really good websites
and apps that will allow them togain a cognitive control over
that.
And that's what I stronglyrecommend that they log in what
(26:14):
they eat and then analyze it andlook at it to make sure that
they're not, deficient in someof the recommended daily
allowances of key nutrients.That said, the weight loss thing
is, a simple act of beingconscious about everything you
(26:34):
eat, because the way that I haveseen people go astray, which is
also backed up by research, isthat they allow their
subconscious brain to generatetheir eating behavior patterns.
The subconscious brain is goingto tend to go towards
gratification or dopamine,responses to foods. And, so you
(26:59):
naturally are going to if youallow your subconscious to make
your food choices, you're gonnahave things like potato chips
and ice cream and Mhmm. Reallygood tasting things Yeah.
Will definitely compromise yourgoals weight loss, and they'll
also compromise your goals in inbeing more fit because you're
(27:20):
gonna not get the nutrients thatyou need. So, having a conscious
plan and then having, thesewebsites help you set up a
calorie deficit towards yourgoal. Write everything down that
you are eating and, log it in tosee what your nutritional report
(27:43):
card is gives you cognitivecontrol over your eating. And if
you go through this day afterday, you intuitively will start
avoiding things that compromiseyour goal and, also, increase
your intake of good things, ofof healthy foods.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Mhmm. Yeah. You often hear of people training for
marathons, and I know actually Ihave a couple friends that
actually gained weight trainingfor and and successfully running
a marathon. Think, know, a lotof people do all this running
and, they think it's sort of afree pass because they reward
themselves. They can eatwhatever they want.
And, it's it's certainly not thecase, especially if weight, you
(28:26):
know, controlling your weight orweight loss is your priority.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes. And, there is a weight gain that occurs to most
runners. Excuse me. This weightgain that occurs to most runners
who get into a, half marathon ormarathon program after being
fairly sedentary or not doingmuch exercise, the weight gain
(28:54):
is based on the fact that thebody makes adaptations to help
you run farther, run longer.Mhmm.
And the adaptations involve,producing over a six month
period more blood plasma, moreblood volume, which adds a
little weight to your body.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It also increases the storage of glycogen in and
around your muscle areas and tosome extent in some of the other
storage areas. Glycogen is thestored form of carbohydrate that
your muscles need throughoutevery single run. Mhmm. And it's
(29:33):
exclusive fuel that you wouldneed during the first, twenty,
thirty minutes. But, theglycogen stores as they're added
on during long distance trainingwill also cause an adaptation to
store four times the amount ofwater.
(29:57):
So, you know, what this meanswith the added glycogen, the
added water around the glycogen,and then the blood extra blood
plasma is somewhere between fiveand eight pounds for an average
sedentary runner who gets outthere and run Mhmm. Runs, these
long events. Now that said, it'snot, I don't think it's a good
(30:23):
idea for beginning runners totry to lose a lot of weight
during the training program.Most of the folks that, I have
heard from who've tried to dothat have either run out of gas
on a series of long runs anddon't end up finishing, so
they're not really prepared fortheir long event, or they leave
out certain nutrients that,compromise their performance and
(30:47):
can compromise their health. Andone of the health issues is, the
immune system.
If you're if you don't get keynutrients, on a weekly basis,
and week after week, then youcan definitely lower your immune
system and be susceptible todisease, especially when you're
(31:07):
stressing yourself through theselong runs. So, anyway, having a
cognitive plan, and using thesereally good websites can give
you control over that processtoo.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Mhmm. That's great. Sort of a last thing I wanna
talk about is breathing. I knowthat comes up. I get the
question once in a while.
And, you know, breathing is sortof the the one thing that we all
need to do and, sort of the mostnatural automatic thing we do,
but yet new runners, typicallystruggle with the breathing and
(31:41):
is there a certain way theyshould be breathing, you know,
counting, in, out steps. Whatwhat do you say to people about,
breathing? What's your advicethere?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, I, used to ask runners what they, were
concerned about when they askedme what's the best way to
breathe, because breathing issuch a natural thing, and, most
people, tend to do it right. Andand what most people come back
(32:13):
with is, well, I I'm reallyhaving trouble getting enough
air at certain point in a run.And then I'll say, you mean
you're huffing and puffing? Theysay, yeah. Well, that is a sign
that you are exceeding yourspeed limit or you are exceeding
your, running limit versuswalking.
(32:36):
In other words, you're runningtoo far, not walking enough from
the beginning. And once youcorrect the pace from the
beginning and the run, walk,run, in most cases, you're gonna
see people get their breathingtotally under control. So, you
know, there is no technique ifsomebody's huffing and puffing a
(32:57):
lot, that is going to stop thehuffing and puffing.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
It it's a case of managing pace and and managing
run, walk, run. In a lot ofcases in our Galloway programs
around the the country, we'reseeing people, who weren't
running weren't taking walkbreaks, who end up running the
same pace with run, walk, runthat they were struggling for
(33:24):
with before, but now they're nothuffing and puffing at that
pace. So run, walk, run canactually help you, achieve pace
goals without the huffing,puffing. But, finally, there is
a, technique of breathing thatcan help you absorb more oxygen
from the air that you breathe,and what I call it is lower lung
(33:46):
breathing. It's diverting theair that you inhale into the
lower part of your lungs whereyou get greater absorption.
If on the other hand, we breathethe way we normally do when
we're sitting at our desk, it'sa shallow breathing, and, we
don't really get the, reallygood absorption, in the upper
(34:10):
part of our lungs. So the bestway I found to facilitate lower
lung breathing is during yourwarm up in the first mile or so
of your run. Exhale just alittle bit before you inhale, so
that you, will have a tendencyto breathe in air and and then
you want to divert it down toyour lower lungs. Put your hand
(34:33):
on your stomach, and as you'reinhaling and exhaling, you wanna
hear your you wanna feel yourstomach rising and falling and
not your upper chest. So thattechnique has really helped a
lot of people, and if youpractice that regularly, warming
walking for your warm up andthen early stages of your run,
most people within six monthshave shifted right over into
(34:56):
lower lung breathing.
The other advantage of that isthat you can avoid side pain.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Mhmm. Like stitches, you mean?
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah. That, you get that a lot with beginners as
well. They get, it's quitecommon. That's great. So thanks
for that advice.
Before we wrap up too, I wantto, give away one of your books,
to to one of the listeners. So Iwas thinking, anyone who would
like to win a copy of, anyone atJust Books, leave a comment at,
(35:26):
on the blog healthenomics.com/21for this episode. Let's say by
May 8, this is 2015. Leave acomment there, anything you
wish, or if you have a question,leave it there, and I'll pick
one winner at random, and youcan pick, which of Jeff's books
you would like to have.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that's great. And any questions that any of
your listeners have, you can goto jeffgalloway.com where
there's an email function andI'd be glad to answer them.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Oh, that's amazing. So yeah, just in wrapping up
today, where can listeners go tofind out more about you and your
work? What's the best place?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Well, jeffgalloy.com has a a whole lot of free
information, and it also hasaccess to our autograph books
from the website. Our timers arethere too, our run, walk, run
timers that really take all theguesswork out of taking walk
breaks and, help make you intosomething like a Pavlov's dog
(36:25):
when you go
Speaker 1 (36:26):
out and do your
Speaker 3 (36:26):
run and walking. And it has a lot of other resources
there. So visit, and if you haveany questions, just let me know.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
That's fantastic, Jeff. Thanks so much for your
time and expertise today. And,yeah, hopefully, we'll talk to
you soon.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
I look forward to that, Mark. You're doing a good
job.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Thanks for listening to the Healthinomics podcast at
www.healthinomics.com.
This is the Healthenomics Podcast episode 22
with guest and running legend,Jeff Galloway. Welcome back,
everybody. I'm Mark Kennedy,your host. I'm a little bummed
out today as I've decided topull out of my half marathon
race, I'm supposed to be runningin, I guess, about ten days from
now. I put in three good monthsof training and Achilles injury
(00:24):
crept up on me.
Took a little bit of time off,got some treatments, some
physiotherapy, massage therapy,acupuncture. Got some treatment,
tried another run, was barelyable to squeak through three,
four kilometers out the paincreeping up again. So I'm a bit
bumped out, but I gotta takesome of my own advice and, you
(00:46):
know, to play the long game.Running's, it's just hard
because the nice weather hasfinally arrived in Toronto, and
I can't run. And all thesepeople, I see them, you know,
putting in the miles, those lastfew miles before they race, in a
few days.
So anyways, I'm a bit bummed,but running's for life, and I
need to remind myself of thatlong term thinking is critical.
(01:09):
Before we get to today'sinterview with Jeff Galloway, I
wanna let you know about a freeemail course that I've created.
If you're a beginner runner orcoming back from running after
some time off, the course offerssome tips to help you get set up
for long term success, injuryprevention, running for weight
loss, running form, how to dealwith pain, and lots lots more.
(01:29):
Go to freerunningcourse.com tosign up. On to today's interview
with Jeff Galloway.
For those of you not familiarwith Jeff and his work, here's a
bit about him. He's a USOlympian from 1972. He ran the
10,000 meters and was also analternate for the marathon team.
He trained with StevePrefontaine, Frank Shorter, Bill
(01:50):
Rogers, Amby Burfoot, JackBashler. He's the author of
North America's best sellingbook, Galloway's Book on
Running.
He's a Runner's World monthlycolumnist. He's the founder of
the Run Walk Run method, whichhas opened up running to
millions of people. Over 350,000runners and walkers have
reported their achieving goalsby using Galloway training
(02:11):
programs. Whether you're a totalbeginner runner or training for
your first marathon, Jeff dropsa ton of running wisdom on us
today. You'll also wanna listenall the way through to the end
as I'm giving away a copy of oneof Jeff's books to one lucky
listener.
So keep listening. The shownotes for this episode will be
at healthenomics.com/20two.There you'll also be able to
(02:33):
download a transcript to thisepisode. Enjoy the show
everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Welcome to the Healthenomics Podcast. Boosting
your health and fitness IQ oneepisode at a time. And now your
host, Mark Kennedy.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Hi there, Jeff. Welcome to the Healthenomics
podcast. Thanks so much forcoming on to the to the show
today.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Well, Mark, it's good to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Awesome. So for those listening, and many will know
who you are, but for for thoselistening who are not familiar
with, you, can you give everyonejust a little background on you?
Maybe sort of where you're from,how you got into running, and,
what you're doing with regardsto the sport now?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well, the, the Cliff Notes version, goes like this. I
was a fat kid at age 13 forcedto go out for sports by my
school, and I discovered,friendships and, fun in running
with others. And I got hookedduring the first ten weeks that
I joined the team. Didn't reallyprogress very quickly or very
(03:37):
well during my high schoolyears, but just got a little bit
better each year and enjoyed thecamaraderie and what it was
doing for my mind and my spirit.And so I continued through
college, again, not with much,improvement every year.
Went into the navy for threeyears, came out, and decided to
(04:00):
really give it a go and dowhatever I could do. And over
the next two and a half years, Iwas able to qualify for the
Olympic team in Munich in 1972.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
So is it?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
In the process, I had to do a lot of things, that
most, of the athletes on anOlympic team don't have to do.
Most of them are quite talentedand succeed, without having to
do a lot of research orwhatever. I was self coached
through high school and college,and I spent a good deal of time
(04:35):
reading about, running trainingand the training methods of
various athletes. I triedvarious things. I weeded things
out the hard way, found whatworked for me, and, compared
notes with just a whole lot ofathletes.
And I have continued doing thatto this day. I, still spend a
(04:58):
good amount of time, looking atthe research, and I've been able
to amass an a database of peoplethat have had success with my
program over the last fortyyears, and it numbers over
300,000 people. Wow. My I basemy advice on what has worked, in
(05:19):
any given area, best for thatdatabase of people.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
That's great. So, and are you are you still running
today?
Speaker 3 (05:30):
I am. I, my wife and I run together on most of our
runs, and we run a marathonevery month and usually another
race like a half marathon inbetween. It's a wonderful thing
to be able to explain to people,and this is the force of my
(05:51):
life, that running does not haveto hurt. You can get all of
those amazing benefits to mind,body, and spirit, which running
uniquely gives, and not have tohurt if you have the right, walk
breaks and you combine the righttraining elements.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Mhmm. Well, I wanna dive into a bit about your, your
run walk method a little bitlater, but can you I mean, you
talked a little bit aboutalready, but, can you talk a bit
more about some specific waysthat running's helped you, aside
from maybe just the the physicalbenefits, but, just sort of
benefited your life in general?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Well, it changed my life in in just about every way.
When I started as a 13 year oldkid, I was struggling
academically, and I reallythought that I was
intellectually inferior to theother students at this prep
school. And as soon as I got inwith the other kids, I opened
(06:52):
up, and we would have argumentsover various topics. And I
realized that in thesearguments, my way of thinking
and and my intelligence was notinferior to them, and most of
them were on the honor roll. AndI, also, got on the honor roll
as a result of, just theperceptions and the reassessment
(07:19):
based on my peers.
The other areas that running hashelped are now being documented
by research in terms of themental benefits, and what they
show. And I'm revising my mentaltraining book right now. So I'm
very familiar with a lot of thelatest, waves of research. But
(07:42):
what's really incredible aboutrunning in particular, but
exercise in general, is that itturns on brain circuits for a
better attitude, for personalempowerment, and for vitality
better than any other activitiesthat have been studied. In
addition, running, and and someother strenuous, activities,
(08:04):
strenuous, aerobic activitiesactually cause new growth of new
brain cells and quicker decisionmaking because of the hormones
that are produced when we run.
So there are tremendousbenefits, but by far long term,
most folks really see that themental side of running is even
(08:29):
more powerful than the physical.Mhmm. Again, my role and the
thing that has given me the mostgratification in life is that
I'm able to help people get offthe couch and accomplish some
amazing things. First, they dosomething like a half marathon
or a marathon, and they are soempowered mentally by this whole
(08:52):
experience that they do alltypes of other things in their
lives that they tell me theywould never have been able to
do. So it's a wonderful lifejourney.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah. That really resonates with me as well. I've
been running for about justtwenty years. And, yeah, just
the running, just theconsistency has just paid off in
so many areas of my life. I cansay, you know, career, family
life.
I've got two little kids. I gota three year old and a seven
month old. So, you know, I needthe running. That's my stress
(09:22):
reliever and my sort of me time.But Absolutely.
Yeah. So for me, my wife, likesto say like, you know, if I'm
she can tell I'm a anxious,she's like, go for a run. So
it's kinda like I'm a dog. Youknow? Just get out there, go for
a run, and come back.
You'll feel better. And it's,usually the case that works. So,
that's great. Let's dive into alittle bit about the run walk
(09:45):
method, which I've got your bookon my bookshelf. I can see it
right now.
And I recommend it to a lot of,beginners that that that I talk
to. So I'd love to know sort ofhow how did the the method how
did it start? What gave you sortof the idea? Give us a bit of a
history, and then how has ittransformed throughout the
throughout the years?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Started in 1974. I was asked to teach a course in
beginning running, and none ofthe people in the class had been
doing any running at all for atleast five years. So I knew that
we were gonna have to have a avery bare bones running program
with a lot of walking to to getpeople, into shape without
(10:27):
overdoing it. Divided up intothree groups based on ability
level, which actually became theprototype for the way that we do
our Galloway programs to thisday now forty years later. But
what I found is that by theplacement of walk breaks from
(10:50):
the beginning, we, at the end ofthe class, ten weeks, saw every
participant finish either a fiveor 10 k.
But the remarkable thing wasthere were no injuries. And I
realized even early that earlyin using it that it was the walk
break strategically placed atthe right point that allowed
(11:13):
folks to stay injury free, andthat's been the case to this
day. That's that's what we use.I started using walk breaks for
beginners, right after thatclass in '74, but, didn't really
use it for competitive runners,until the late seventies when a
(11:35):
number of the beginners who weretaught to use the right run,
walk, run were starting to runsignificantly faster than
veterans. And so then theveterans said, you know, we want
some of that.
And and so we have done alltypes of surveys over the years,
and the, the research has beenpretty consistent in showing
(12:00):
that in a marathon, when aperson's, goes from nonstop
marathon running to the rightrun, walk, run, the average
improvement is over thirteenminutes faster with run, walk,
run, and over seven minutesfaster in a half marathon.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Wow. And so what what are some of the reasons aside
from, of course, injuries as youstated that, that you think it
works so well. And and I'm surethere's, the mental aspect and,
also perhaps just helping them,you know, building the habit.
But what are some of the reasonsaside from injury prevention
(12:37):
that you think, it works sowell?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Well, there are dozens of of reasons that have
been pretty well documented, butthe most significant ones are
the, reduction of musclefatigue. And that that's the
number one reason why peopleslow down. If you have the right
strategic placement of walkbreaks, then the muscle stops
from being exhausted. It keepsreviving itself. It's designed
(13:04):
to revive itself.
However, on the other hand, ifyou run nonstop, you're going to
reach a failure point wheresomething is either gonna break
or the muscle simply doesn'twork anymore. And it's totally
avoidable because the body isdesigned to adapt and
resuscitate itself and erasefatigue as you go. Other
(13:26):
benefits, it's very well knownthat if you use a muscle tendon,
a weak link, the same waycontinuously, then it will
fatigue and break sooner. Andwith walk breaks, you keep
erasing that buildup of stresson a given area so that it, can
(13:47):
keep going without breakingdown. Another key element is the
mental aspect because if youhave a an amount of running that
you are totally convinced youcan do, then you're mentally
confident.
You know that you can do thatnext segment. And mental
confidence is a huge asset inrunning or anything else in
(14:10):
life. The the beauty of run,walk, run is it not only gives
you the mental confidence, itgives you the physical ability
to keep on going over and overagain. The and then, you know,
the the overriding benefit ofrun walk run is that it gives
each person control over theirdestiny. They never have to be
(14:34):
exhausted.
They can avoid almost every acheand pain that could come, and
this feeling of being able tocontrol all that is really
amazing. It it really allowspeople to have control over
their running.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah. That that really resonates with me as
well. I think a lot of peoplethat I talk to, they say them a
runner, and the first thing theysay is, I can't do that. You
know, that sounds that soundshard. That sounds painful.
But, I don't think it needs tobe that way. And one of the
things people always comment tome is they have problems getting
(15:13):
around, I guess, the pain. Theythink it has to be painful in
order for it to be beneficial.So and I'm sure you get that
question all the time. So how doyou how do you approach people?
Like, what do you tell themwhen, I mean, obviously, they
may have some pains because ifthey haven't, you know, moved in
that way for a while, they mayhave some aches and pains. But
what's your approach to gettingpeople started, you know, when
(15:34):
they when pain is an issue forthem?
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Well, most people have had some bad experiences
from running. I mean, PEcoaches, regular coaches from
sports teams often will userunning as punishment and will
also, use non, well, they won'tuse walk breaks. They they will
(15:59):
push people until they breakdown. The the thing that I tell
people who come to me with that,I can't run, is that what I've
discovered after having nowheard back from over 300,000
people that have had successwith the method, many of them
(16:20):
did not have success when theytried other methods. But what
the resounding, statement is,that it's it's not not running
per se as an activity thatcauses pain.
(16:40):
It's nonstop running. Andrunning is from the very
beginning of our sport, a freeform activity. Each person
decides how fast they're gonnarun, in terms of workouts, how
far they're going to run,whether they take walk breaks or
not, and then what technique andform and everything else. There
(17:03):
is no rule book. And so when aperson has had problems before,
in almost every case, when I'veworked with them, I've been able
to find a run, walk, run thatwill allow them to do what they
really wanted to do.
But the best part about it isthey get all those mental
benefits too.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Mhmm. Yeah. That's great. That that would help a
lot of people, I think. Andanother question I get sort of
on the same sort of topic, RunRock One is for beginners, what
what should they aim to whenthey go out for a run, should
they run for a certain time oror distance?
What's what's more importantfor, for a beginner?
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well, the most important, aspect for a beginner
is to be conservative. Start outvery, very gently.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
The human body is designed to walk, and, it is
designed to adapt into therunning motion. If you do it
very gradually and graduallyintroduce running with the right
amount of walking, the the bodyjust keeps adapting, and it'll
find the right balance. The waywe work with beginners, and
(18:14):
you'll see this in my book,Getting Started, and also in A
Woman's Guide to Running, whichhas essentially the same
beginner program. And the way wedo it is we start beginners off
with only five to ten seconds ofrunning
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And the rest of the minute walking. So in short
segments, the body can adapt torunning without getting
overwhelmed. At first, abeginner, we would not have a
beginner go more than about ten,maximum fifteen minutes, even if
they're doing five seconds ofrunning, fifty five seconds of
(18:54):
walking. We want to beconservative. We want to very
gently introduce the body tothat running motion.
And then each, workout, which,we recommend doing every other
day, not every day, the newrunner could increase those,
(19:15):
minutes of five fifty five orten seconds running and fifty
seconds walking. They couldincrease the number of minutes
by three to four minutes, eachworkout. And as, a beginner goes
through the first month, he orshe would gradually build up to
(19:35):
thirty minutes. At that point,the beginner could decide to add
to continue adding more minutesat five fifty five or ten fifty,
or the beginner could, thendecide that they want to run
more and walk less. So Mhmm.
They could start a gradualtransition with, five more
(19:56):
seconds of running and five lessseconds of walking, moving to
something like fifteen secondsof running and forty five
seconds of walking. And verygradually, if you, introduce a
little more running with lesswalking, there the body will
accommodate to that. And ifthere are any issues with it,
(20:16):
you simply back up to what youwere doing before. But the the
ultimate goal, as we teach it,is not to run continuously
because, again, runningcontinuously causes aches,
pains, injuries, exhaustion, andburnout. And there's no reason
to ever go there with the rightstrategic walk break.
(20:37):
Most of our beginning runnersthe first year will get up to a
one in one ratio, but the,configuration of that, of one in
one is most commonly eitherthirty seconds running, thirty
seconds walking, or twentyseconds and twenty seconds, or
my wife and I actually usefifteen seconds fifteen seconds
(21:01):
when we run our marathons. Mhmm.Because we found that we recover
so much faster with the shorterincrements.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Is it hard to hold people back, beginners that
they're doing say the five andfifty five or ten fifty and you
know, all of a sudden they feela little bit better. Is it is it
hard to hold them back fromincreasing their their running
time too fast?
Speaker 3 (21:24):
Yeah. So I'd say probably, thirty to fifty
percent of new runners willreach a threshold about two to
four weeks into one of thesebeginning running programs, and
they they feel so darn good,that they get overly confident
and think, well, I can run awhole lot more now. And Mhmm.
(21:44):
Unfortunately, they try that,and, unfortunately, they have
something that, breaks down onthem. And and, again, it never
has to happen, but, human natureis human nature.
And if you can, on the otherhand, have a cognitive plan, A
cognitive plan, you'll find inall of my books. There are
(22:09):
schedules that tell you what todo three days a week. Three days
a week is all that's needed tosustain and to improve your
running. And if you follow athree day a week program and and
follow a plan like you'll see inmy books, these are proven
(22:30):
programs, and they keep you awayfrom the negative stuff that
could go on.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Mhmm. Now should new runners worry about their
running form? Because I know alot of people, when they're just
getting started, they'reconcerned they're gonna look
funny or they haven't run-in awhile. It feels a bit awkward.
So what do do runners, shouldthey worry about their form when
they're just getting started, oris that something that comes
later with more runningexperience?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
My suggestion is to adhere to four, easy principles
of efficient running. The thegoal, especially for a beginner,
but really any distance,oriented person is efficiency.
And, the best way mechanically,best ways mechanically that I
(23:17):
have found to accomplishefficiency are to keep your feet
low to the ground Mhmm. To touchlightly with your feet, and to
keep your stride lengthrelatively short, and finally,
to have an upright body posture.Now that the the research backs
(23:38):
up all of those mechanicalcomponents.
And then once a person runs niceand gently according to whatever
their, mechanics are, the nextstep would be to allow the body
parts to just naturally adapt towhatever is their natural
(24:00):
motion.
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
The research says that those who run-in a natural
fashion according to thesemechanical principles, tend to
run very efficiently. And thosewho decide that they're gonna
try some other form that's notnatural to their body break down
and have all types ofinefficiency problems.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Mhmm. And if you look at the professionals, I mean,
I've watched some some livemarathons elites go by and they
don't all run the same.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
No. They don't. As a matter of fact, there's more
diversity in form among elitesthan there is among average
runners. Wow. But the the bottomline on elites is that they
succeed often times in spite oftheir form.
They really chose their parentsextremely well.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah. That's true. Now I wanna talk a little bit
about weight loss. I'm sure youget a lot of people coming into
your programs where they've got,you know, various different
goals, but, probably, one yousee a lot is they wanna lose a
little bit of weight. What doesthe training for a beginner look
like for someone who wants tolose weight, as opposed to
(25:16):
someone who maybe wants to getfit and faster?
I mean, do they differ? Can youtalk a little bit about that?
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, of course, you've got a lot of variables in
there. And, you have to reallylook at, prior priority of
goals. Mhmm. Once you set upyour priority, you can pursue
goals, based on thosepriorities. So, a person who
comes to me wanting to loseweight and train for some event,
(25:52):
I first will tell them that theyneed to be very conscious of
their nutrition, and there are anumber of really good websites
and apps that will allow them togain a cognitive control over
that.
And that's what I stronglyrecommend that they log in what
(26:14):
they eat and then analyze it andlook at it to make sure that
they're not, deficient in someof the recommended daily
allowances of key nutrients.That said, the weight loss thing
is, a simple act of beingconscious about everything you
(26:34):
eat, because the way that I haveseen people go astray, which is
also backed up by research, isthat they allow their
subconscious brain to generatetheir eating behavior patterns.
The subconscious brain is goingto tend to go towards
gratification or dopamine,responses to foods. And, so you
(26:59):
naturally are going to if youallow your subconscious to make
your food choices, you're gonnahave things like potato chips
and ice cream and Mhmm. Reallygood tasting things Yeah.
Will definitely compromise yourgoals weight loss, and they'll
also compromise your goals in inbeing more fit because you're
(27:20):
gonna not get the nutrients thatyou need. So, having a conscious
plan and then having, thesewebsites help you set up a
calorie deficit towards yourgoal. Write everything down that
you are eating and, log it in tosee what your nutritional report
(27:43):
card is gives you cognitivecontrol over your eating. And if
you go through this day afterday, you intuitively will start
avoiding things that compromiseyour goal and, also, increase
your intake of good things, ofof healthy foods.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Mhmm. Yeah. You often hear of people training for
marathons, and I know actually Ihave a couple friends that
actually gained weight trainingfor and and successfully running
a marathon. Think, know, a lotof people do all this running
and, they think it's sort of afree pass because they reward
themselves. They can eatwhatever they want.
And, it's it's certainly not thecase, especially if weight, you
(28:26):
know, controlling your weight orweight loss is your priority.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yes. And, there is a weight gain that occurs to most
runners. Excuse me. This weightgain that occurs to most runners
who get into a, half marathon ormarathon program after being
fairly sedentary or not doingmuch exercise, the weight gain
(28:54):
is based on the fact that thebody makes adaptations to help
you run farther, run longer.Mhmm.
And the adaptations involve,producing over a six month
period more blood plasma, moreblood volume, which adds a
little weight to your body.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
It also increases the storage of glycogen in and
around your muscle areas and tosome extent in some of the other
storage areas. Glycogen is thestored form of carbohydrate that
your muscles need throughoutevery single run. Mhmm. And it's
(29:33):
exclusive fuel that you wouldneed during the first, twenty,
thirty minutes. But, theglycogen stores as they're added
on during long distance trainingwill also cause an adaptation to
store four times the amount ofwater.
(29:57):
So, you know, what this meanswith the added glycogen, the
added water around the glycogen,and then the blood extra blood
plasma is somewhere between fiveand eight pounds for an average
sedentary runner who gets outthere and run Mhmm. Runs, these
long events. Now that said, it'snot, I don't think it's a good
(30:23):
idea for beginning runners totry to lose a lot of weight
during the training program.Most of the folks that, I have
heard from who've tried to dothat have either run out of gas
on a series of long runs anddon't end up finishing, so
they're not really prepared fortheir long event, or they leave
out certain nutrients that,compromise their performance and
(30:47):
can compromise their health. Andone of the health issues is, the
immune system.
If you're if you don't get keynutrients, on a weekly basis,
and week after week, then youcan definitely lower your immune
system and be susceptible todisease, especially when you're
(31:07):
stressing yourself through theselong runs. So, anyway, having a
cognitive plan, and using thesereally good websites can give
you control over that processtoo.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
Mhmm. That's great. Sort of a last thing I wanna
talk about is breathing. I knowthat comes up. I get the
question once in a while.
And, you know, breathing is sortof the the one thing that we all
need to do and, sort of the mostnatural automatic thing we do,
but yet new runners, typicallystruggle with the breathing and
(31:41):
is there a certain way theyshould be breathing, you know,
counting, in, out steps. Whatwhat do you say to people about,
breathing? What's your advicethere?
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Well, I, used to ask runners what they, were
concerned about when they askedme what's the best way to
breathe, because breathing issuch a natural thing, and, most
people, tend to do it right. Andand what most people come back
(32:13):
with is, well, I I'm reallyhaving trouble getting enough
air at certain point in a run.And then I'll say, you mean
you're huffing and puffing? Theysay, yeah. Well, that is a sign
that you are exceeding yourspeed limit or you are exceeding
your, running limit versuswalking.
(32:36):
In other words, you're runningtoo far, not walking enough from
the beginning. And once youcorrect the pace from the
beginning and the run, walk,run, in most cases, you're gonna
see people get their breathingtotally under control. So, you
know, there is no technique ifsomebody's huffing and puffing a
(32:57):
lot, that is going to stop thehuffing and puffing.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Mhmm.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
It it's a case of managing pace and and managing
run, walk, run. In a lot ofcases in our Galloway programs
around the the country, we'reseeing people, who weren't
running weren't taking walkbreaks, who end up running the
same pace with run, walk, runthat they were struggling for
(33:24):
with before, but now they're nothuffing and puffing at that
pace. So run, walk, run canactually help you, achieve pace
goals without the huffing,puffing. But, finally, there is
a, technique of breathing thatcan help you absorb more oxygen
from the air that you breathe,and what I call it is lower lung
(33:46):
breathing. It's diverting theair that you inhale into the
lower part of your lungs whereyou get greater absorption.
If on the other hand, we breathethe way we normally do when
we're sitting at our desk, it'sa shallow breathing, and, we
don't really get the, reallygood absorption, in the upper
(34:10):
part of our lungs. So the bestway I found to facilitate lower
lung breathing is during yourwarm up in the first mile or so
of your run. Exhale just alittle bit before you inhale, so
that you, will have a tendencyto breathe in air and and then
you want to divert it down toyour lower lungs. Put your hand
(34:33):
on your stomach, and as you'reinhaling and exhaling, you wanna
hear your you wanna feel yourstomach rising and falling and
not your upper chest. So thattechnique has really helped a
lot of people, and if youpractice that regularly, warming
walking for your warm up andthen early stages of your run,
most people within six monthshave shifted right over into
(34:56):
lower lung breathing.
The other advantage of that isthat you can avoid side pain.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Mhmm. Like stitches, you mean?
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah. That, you get that a lot with beginners as
well. They get, it's quitecommon. That's great. So thanks
for that advice.
Before we wrap up too, I wantto, give away one of your books,
to to one of the listeners. So Iwas thinking, anyone who would
like to win a copy of, anyone atJust Books, leave a comment at,
(35:26):
on the blog healthenomics.com/21for this episode. Let's say by
May 8, this is 2015. Leave acomment there, anything you
wish, or if you have a question,leave it there, and I'll pick
one winner at random, and youcan pick, which of Jeff's books
you would like to have.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Well, that's great. And any questions that any of
your listeners have, you can goto jeffgalloway.com where
there's an email function andI'd be glad to answer them.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
Oh, that's amazing. So yeah, just in wrapping up
today, where can listeners go tofind out more about you and your
work? What's the best place?
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Well, jeffgalloy.com has a a whole lot of free
information, and it also hasaccess to our autograph books
from the website. Our timers arethere too, our run, walk, run
timers that really take all theguesswork out of taking walk
breaks and, help make you intosomething like a Pavlov's dog
(36:25):
when you go
Speaker 1 (36:26):
out and do your
Speaker 3 (36:26):
run and walking. And it has a lot of other resources
there. So visit, and if you haveany questions, just let me know.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
That's fantastic, Jeff. Thanks so much for your
time and expertise today. And,yeah, hopefully, we'll talk to
you soon.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
I look forward to that, Mark. You're doing a good
job.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Thanks for listening to the Healthinomics podcast at
www.healthinomics.com.
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