Just wondering - Have you ever made love to a thug in the club with his sights on? 87 Jeans and a fresh pair of Nikes on?

Yeah, me either.

Tonight I had to ditch my brick workout (boo!) due to being at work until 6PM. That effectively left me with just enough time to grab a quick round of groceries, and get home to cook dinner for Mike. Chicken and corn in case you were wondering what delightful meal I came up with. For me - spinach (2 cups!) with some fat free cheese and some garlic Tabasco sauce. Yummy! I am just sayin'!

I had pretty much thrown the towel in on working out, when Mike asked me to go to the gym with him... at 9:30PM.

Twist my arm I am so there!

You see, I am not only training for triathlons, I am also training for a personal best season of medium course running events (half marathons and the CRIM 10 miler). The multisport workouts are keeping me engaged in all three (read: no burn out), and my fitness has improved overall. That is what I call a definite win-win!

I decided that since last year I got injured training for Detroit (shin splints from the devil himself), and since I got bored with training for the Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, that I would give the Galloway method a go.

Run longer, run stronger, run faster - all with walk breaks. Can this be true?

Tonight was a scheduled 30-45 minute run (I had time for 32 minutes) with a prescribed 3 minute run, 1 minute walk.

I don't know yet, but I am going to follow the plan through for at least 1 month. This way I can see if I am comfortable with the plan, and it gets me some long miles as well. My concern is just that I am stubborn. Taking walk breaks is not foreign to me - but taking PLANNED walk breaks is. :)

I have some questions - such as when the pace is calculated for my long runs, is that total pace for the mile or is that the running pace alone? My thought is that is the total pace, but we will see.

And since I am training for multisport short and mid-length courses (sprints and oly's) I have a few ground rules for myself:

• I will not run/walk my brick workouts
• I will not run/walk during a triathlon
• I will not run /walk during races shorter than a half marathon

I hope that I can maintain at least an 11:30 pace for my mid-course runs this year. My goal is a 2:30 half marathon, and a sub 2-hour CRIM. Hmmmm... I think with the added speedwork and tempo runs I can achieve this - injury free.

I will let you know how it goes. A thread on Phedippidations' list server went around asking about the Galloway method, and I have never seen so many responses (all positive) on a running program.

First things first - I need to get my head out of the thought pool that you need to run straight through all the time. I know that when I go back to the Marathon distance next year I will do it Galloway style. I just don't see me enjoying it without run walking.

I am enjoying running again (loving it!!!!!) and I want to keep this momentum going.

There is no shame in run/walking, and if it gets me across that finish line (first and foremost) with a smile on my face (and not one of just thanking God that I am done), and the desire to keep on going - then I have succeeded.

In the end - isn't that why we do this?

Remember - we need to embrace each and every step - run or walk - as this is what keeps us moving. :)

Keep on running!

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