quote:<HR>You guys are all a bunch of bitter SOB's....
The point of a marathon is to finish it 1st, and do it as quickly as possible. ... There are genuine reasons to dislike gallowalkers, chiefly...
- They can be totally ignorant. Walking 5 abreast blocking guys trying to run through them.<HR>

FWIW (which isn't much):

1. I don't consider the only -or primary- point of participating in a marathon to be 'to finish it first'. If that was the case, there ought to be 100 people in these races and not 1,000 or 10,000. There are other worthwhile goals.

2. I've never seen a pack of runwalkers spread across the road 5 wide. WALKERS? Yes. TNTers? Most certainly. Both the running kind and the walking kind. But not runwalkers.

A few runwalkers do have a nasty tendency of overtaking me during their run cycle, stepping right in front of me, and then braking for their walk. This ticks me off. This is not the majority at all... but it happens. The watch beep is kind of like listening to headphones or talking on a cellphone; a few people lose situational awareness and forget about others.

But that's A FEW.

Good luck to everyone. Be careful out there.

http://This message has been edited by srlopez (edited Aug-02-2005).

A few things to note...

Now that marathons are turning into large-scale participatory "events" as opposed to your purist's traditional "race", I would say that there are a heck of a lot of people completing the marathon by either run/walking or walking alone.

For big marathons, it seems like the run/walkers and walkers might even outnumber the purist runners. What is the median time of NYC, Chicago, R'n'R San Diego??? Just guessing off the top of my head it must be around 5+ hours. There's gotta be a lot of run/walkers there. Maybe this is partly why some people have their panties in a bunch over "Gallowalking".

My only objection is trying to sell everybody on taking walk breaks. At a certain point, it would should be counter-productive to running your fastest race to walk. Somehow I doubt Evans Rutto or Paul Tergat are going to shave a minute or two off their marathon times by taking a walk break because they'll never make up the time they've lost by walking.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by aurang:
Andy said it best, the emphasis is mine:
Fits right in with the instant gratification/bad work ethic syndrom devouring our nation.
avoid having to develop the self-discipline to actually TRAIN for the event.
Flame away.<HR>

No flames here, just some personal experience and reflection. I fail to see how individuals who take up a healthful pursuit and set lofty goals and follow a carefully prescribed program to get them to those goals is symptomatic of anything harmful in our society! I would argue that we'd be much better off if far more people got off of their behinds and "gallow-walked" their way to a marathon finish.

That having been said, I've actually found that Galloway's program has fit in with my own personal aspirations of being in this sport for the long run rather than what the original author claimed was short-term gratification. I've also found that the enforced moderation espoused by this training plan has been far more effective as a tool for self-discipline than other, more aggressive training strategies might be.

At 41, I realize I am not going to be winning any races. But I run because I live a healthful lifestyle, and because I enjoy it. I run because I enjoy the competition and cameraderie of races, even though, by some definitions, I am not truly racing. In order to develop my skills and use running as a lifelong means of enjoying fitness, competition and cameraderie, avoiding injury to these old bones is essential. Galloway's program offers excellent training to that end.

I'm also a Type A personality, as I'm sure many of us are! In some of the other sports in which I've participated, I've been driven to go Farther! Faster! More Furiously! right from the get-go. Galloway's program enforces a moderation in training that is not only healthy but is also a useful tool for those of use who need that discipline and taming of our Type A personalities!

That having been said, I've been doing many of my long runs without walk breaks now. Yesterday I ran 20.14 without walk breaks, and it felt great at a 9:56 pace. But I credit my early season training with the Galloway program to getting me to this point. And I still use walk breaks for some of my training runs. I use them for some moderate distance runs (10-12 miles) when I am interested in pushing my pace a little faster, getting my muscles and neurological system used to a slightly faster pace without the risk of injury that might accompany doing a steady run at that pace. Sort of a form of "gentle" mile repeats, if you will.

See, it's belittling comments like those above that make those of us who DO see a role for this kind of training want to shrink into the background and avoid these discussions. I'd love to have a place such as this board where those of us who set reasonable goals and develop carefully thought out training plans to accomplish these goals can discuss Galloway's program. Without being belittled and cast as somehow emblematic of our country's evils!

I would also love to have some reasoned discussions and dissections of the science and physiology of the Galloway program, rather than some of the more dogmatic and emotionally-driven responses that don't interest me in the least.

--Robin

quote:<HR>Originally posted by aurang:
I'm now a purist runner because I don't think it's much of an accomplishment to walk/run in order to finish with a smile on your face?

Here's a newsflash: the clock is running, results are published and preserved for years. If that's not a race, I don't know what is. If you want some sort of "participatory event", insist that no one times you using computer chips and doesn't put up the results anywhere.<HR>

Who the heck are you to determine what goals someone should have for an event? Some want to just finish, some want to finish under 5 hrs, some want to finish under 3 hrs, some wantr to win. GREAT! It makes it a better event for all to have all these types. You aren't a "purist" runner in my book -- a "purist" runner would welcome other runners to share in the experience, even if they walk a bit. You are a "snob" runner.

And why should you "insist" that those running to finish don't wear timing chips -- when did running a marathon become a Stalinist event? Here's a great way to enjoy a marathon if you don't "like" run/walkers: worry about your **** self. The world would be a much, much better place if people didn't impose their belief systems on others who are not causing harm in any way.

And to suggest that run/walkers are a reflection of the ills of today's society is ludicrous. You make it sound like in the 70s all the run/walkers were not present because they were instead running for time. The truth is that the segment of society run/walking wasn't at marathons at all. So, you still have a population of runners, and instead of that being all, you have now added a large population of run/walkers -- this is not a step back! Have you not noticed that marathons have exploded in this country in popularity --THIS IS GOOD! Yeah, let's go back to the "good ole days" when there were 15 marathons to choose from, the support sucked, the crowds were small, and there were fewer runners. That sounds like an improvement, huh?

You want to bring in the problems of society into this debate, well then I'll say what the root of most societal problems are. The biggest problem is people who sit in judgement of others, impose their morality or beliefs on others, and choose to be divisive rather than inclusive. Try being part of the solution, not the problem.

http://This message has been edited by goin4kona (edited Aug-03-2005).

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Miss Nomer:
So I have a couple of questions. If you were able to run the entire distance, would you rather run it or take walk breaks? Would you get a greater sense of accomplishment from the marathon if you finished it by running the entire distance?[/B]<HR>

The idea is that incorporating regular walking breaks allows one to finish the marathon faster than if no breaks were taken. The "method" is about squeezing the most out of your training, not sand bagging the race.

Insisting on running the entire distance when one isn't trained to do so isn't noble in my mind ... I have more respect for the person who adopts a strategy that gets them across the finish line faster.

I understand the questions regarding "elites" (however we might define the term), but I believe the use of walking breaks is an effective strategy for many less than elite runners.

Look at it this way ... if you were trained for the marathon distance yet were tasked with "running" a 50 mile race how would you approach it? While people can and do train to run the entire 50 mile distance, most people would incorporate regular walk breaks to allow them to cover the 50 miles.

The same applies to the marathon distance when one hasn't trained at the level necessary to effectively and efficiently run the entire distance. Yes, most people can train to run the entire way, but all of us compromise our training in some way and toe the starting line in less shape than theoretically possible. It's all about doing the best with what you bring to the race that day.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Who Dey:
Yes, most people can train to run the entire way, but all of us compromise our training in some way and toe the starting line in less shape than theoretically possible. It's all about doing the best with what you bring to the race that day.<HR>

I understand that. But you didn't answer the question. If you didn't have to compromise, if you could toe the starting line in better shape, which would give you more of a sense of accomplishment -- run/walking, or running the entire distance? It's a simple, honest question.

You guys are all a riot.

I think the real intention of this Galloway run-walk concept is to create a conspiracy that makes the actual running marathoners go insane, thus forcing us out of races and creating age group spots for them to win. All of the back and forth, cat and mouse speeding up and slowing down (by the Gallowalkers) in a race is enough to make me want to jump off a bridge.