A friend of mine received this from her TNT coaches before the 2009 PF Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. She made a copy of it for me and I knew I wanted to keep it on hand, just to refer to again someday. And since I knew I wanted to glance at it again, I figured others would probably find it interesting too! This information is for running a marathon using the Galloway method (run/walk).

For the first 3 to 5 miles

• Run at goal pace during the running parts and take walk breaks.
• This will slow you by 15 to 18 seconds
• This will allow the legs to warm up before being pushed into race effort.

Between 3 and 8 miles

• Slowly increase the run pace and take walk breaks.
• Gradually pick up the pace so that by 8 miles you’re running at goal pace when you average out the walk breaks and the running segments.
• If this is at all a struggle, maintain a level of effort that is comfortable.
• Don’t even think about cutting your walk breaks short to speed things up.

Between 8 and 18 miles

• Run at goal pace, running each mile about 15 to 18 seconds faster than goal pace, then walk.
• Stay smooth as you ease down to walking and ease back into running.
• Compute your pace each mile. Uphill miles can be slower and downhill miles can be faster than your goal pace.

After 18 miles

• You can cut out the walk breaks if you’re feeling strong (and want to) or for several walk breaks, walk only 30 seconds and then eliminate them entirely.
• If you need the breaks but your legs are cramping, shuffle instead of walking.

After 23 miles

• You can keep picking up the pace if you feel up to it.

At 26 miles

• Get your photo finish smile ready!

Now if anyone has advice on how you’re supposed to keep track of all this stuff in your head as you run a marathon, let me know! I know that in my past experiences thus far, by about mile 20 I can barely figure out my own name! But I intend to change that in the future… someday!