Ok, so I’m
slow and only getting slow. I love running but I’m slow. I used to knock out a
5K in 34 minutes or faster…not now. I’m lucky if I can beat 40 minutes. What
happen? I narrowed it down to 2 reasons. One is the 25+ pound weight gain (damn
you chocolate chip cookies) and second is running the Galloway method
(run/walk).
Straight running
to intervals…
Prior to
expanding my running to distances longer than a 10K, I straight ran the whole
race and was getting faster and stronger. I loved running 5Ks and 10Ks. Life
was good. But I was convinced to expand my running to half marathons. Well I
was pretty much dead after 10Ks so the thought of straight running a half was overwhelming…it
wasn’t going to happen. I researched and after many, many positive reviews, I
switched to the Galloway method for long runs. At first it was running a half
mile, walk a minute, over and over again. And that worked well but I started to
adjust my run/walk intervals to be shorter and I became much faster. Heck I ran
8 miles in March 2016 in the same time it took me to ran some 10Ks in 2015 with
a 45 second run/15 second walk interval. It was awesome.
But something
happened…
I’m not sure
what happened but since March 2016 to now, I have gotten substantially slower.
Last year I ran Goldy’s 5k in April in 34 minutes. That was my last good 5K.
Since then I have done nothing but sucked at 5ks. I ran lots of 10 mile races
and 5 half marathons in 2016 that I’m proud of and my times were pretty
consistent. Slow, but consistent. My 5k times have just plummeted. By October,
my average 5K time was around 39 minutes. Now it is 41 minutes. It is very
frustrating.
But, I love
Galloway method…
Don’t get me
wrong, I love, Love, LOVE running the Galloway method. It is the only way I can
run long races. I have increased my endurance greatly. I managed to knock out a
16 mile run on a treadmill last weekend. It was slow but I was still “running”
during mile 16. Also the thought of
going out for a 10 mile run doesn’t scare me anymore. I think heck it is only
10 miles. I never thought I’d get to this point in my running life.
Can’t run
straight…
Since I
convert to Galloway since the beginning of 2016, my endurance to run a whole
mile has diminished. I’m lucky if I can run a half a mile straight before I
start thinking about walking breaks. Also, because I’ve been training for
longer races, I’ve been training at slower paces so that I can run all miles
close to the same time which means my 12 minute miles are now closer to 14
minute miles. Based on racing calculators out there, that is the pace I can run
to finish a half marathon or marathon in an upright position.
Well maybe
this spring I can get some intense speed workouts and get faster again…I sure
hope so.
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