Marathon: You Can Do It! [Paperback]

Jeff Galloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2010

Marathon: You Can Do It! details Olympian Jeff Galloway’s revolutionary walk/run training methods that have enabled tens of thousands of people to run marathons. This innovative method opens up marathon running to everyone — not just rock-hard athletes, but also those who may be out of shape, overweight, or past their athletic prime. This updated edition includes the new "magic mile" time trial, fat-burning techniques, adjustments in the weekly schedule to prevent injuries and improve performance, and quick fixes to keep runners motivated during latter stages of marathon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . sane and wise guidance . . . lots of expert encouragement, backed by Galloway's experience in helping hundreds of marathoners . . ." -- Whole Earth, Winter 2002 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jeff Galloway has completed far more than 100 marathons himself, and he spends the time necessary to answer the questions of thousands of beginners, recreational runners, aspiring marathoners and time goal runners-every year. His innovative ideas have opened up the possibility of running and completing a marathon to almost everyone. Philosophically, Jeff believes that we were all designed to run and walk, and he keeps finding ways to bring more people into the positive world of exercise. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Shelter Publications; Revised Edition edition (May 11, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 093607048X
• ISBN-13: 978-0936070483
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 0.7 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,380 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Galloway (born July 12, 1945 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is a former American Olympian. A lifetime runner, Galloway was an All-American collegiate athlete and a member of the 1972 US Olympic Team in the 10,000 meters. He remains a competitive athlete, continuing through a successful masters running career. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Galloway Productions, which conducts a broad range of training programs and events yearly; he also owns two running specialty stores.

Jeff was an average teenage runner who kept learning and working harder, until he became an Olympian. He is the author of the best-selling running book in North America ("Galloway's Book on Running") and is a Runners World columnist, as well as an inspirational speaker for more than 200 running and fitness sessions each year. He has worked with over 200,000 average people in training for specific goals and Galloway's quest for an injury-free marathon training program led him to develop group training programs in 1978. Galloway is the designer of the walk-run, low mileage marathon training program (Galloway RUN-WALK method) with an over 98% success rate.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 83 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding method, poor presentation September 12, 2010

By Jon Zuck

Format:Paperback

I really wanted to give this 3 1/2 stars, but since all other reviews are four or five stars, I went for the low side since it has severe technical problems that need to be addressed. Nonetheless, the program is outstanding and I DO recommend the book.

First the good news:
It works! Seven days ago, I finished my first half-marathon. This was an accomplishment! When I started the program I was 48, obese with a BMI of 32, and coming out of a extremely sedentary lifestyle. I had spent a couple of months before on a different program: The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer, with disastrous results, which cause me to spend two months recovering from a Achilles' tendon injury. I needed something that was suitable for a REAL non-runner like me.

Galloway's run-walk-run approach rose to the challenge. The basic rule is to never overdo training, and he gives excellent advice on how to learn your limits, respect your limits, and when appropriate, push them. The heart of the method is two-fold.

First, is developing a training pace based on your ability to run a carefully-controlled test mile. This pace is further adjusted for heat and other factors, and for some new runners it might seem almost impossibly slow, but Galloway is guiding you to realize that training your body is *not* the same as racing. Taking it slow as Galloway urges, works!

Second, Galloway promotes regularly-timed walk breaks, his "run-walk-run" method. For a slow novice runner, these might be timed 30 sec running, 30 sec walking. For someone running 7-min miles, he suggests 7 min running, 30 sec walking. Throughout, you're encouraged to be flexible, experiment, and find the ratio that works for you.... (In my half-marathon, I choose a ratio of 100 / 80 seconds).

This not only serves as a control against overexertion, but also as a form of interval training. It's certainly a different beast from HIIT (high-intensity interval training), but I found that that can be incorporated judiciously into some workouts as well.

Other valuable pointers are on keeping a running journal, tips for mental motivation, troubleshooting aches and injuries, and diet.

The bad news is strictly with the editing and presentation of the book, but those problems really hurt its readability with needless confusion and backtracking. There are typos in almost every chapter. For example, after a paragraph that says "For long run training pace, add 3 minutes per mile," the table that follows says "(add 2 min/mi) Long Run Training Pace." On another occasion, an entire paragraph is repeated within a chapter. Metric equivalents are seriously off throughout--even as much as sixteen degrees (-20C isn't -20F; it's -4F. p.181) At best, non-American readers will waste time having to calculate the correct values they need; at worst, they'll use advice for the wrong temperature or pace and suffer the consequences. I don't blame Galloway for all these errors; this woeful lack of editorship is endemic in the publishing industry, but I would've loved for this to be a polished guide.

The layout is a disaster. The over-the-top use of two-page photos, background color blocks, repeated photos in the margin of *every* page, and GIANT TYPE might have been useful to get people to buy the book, but it hurts when reading it. It's a train wreck of distractions. Sure, many of the photos are excellent, and I love good pictures, but the excessive illustration makes it feel like an awkward coffee table book, rather than a runner's essential manual. Nearly a third of the pictures advertise Polar Electro heart-rate monitors, though there's not a word on heart-rate training. Lists that should fit on a single page are split over several pages, as are reversed-out color blocks. It is almost impossible to read linearly. There are no sidebars; supplementary information is in the main flow, constantly disrupting it. Every chapter feels scattered and disjointed, and it's virtually a nightmare for anyone with ADD (or a background in design). Despite having it for more than six months, and reading it very often, I still don't know if I've read the whole thing or not. Yes, getting through is *that* bad.

Don't let that stop you from getting it, though. There is still *much* more information here than on his website, and the book is nicely priced. Most important of all, this method works, and took me from injured couch potato, to half-marathoner. Read more ›

96 of 98 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Run-Walk-Run Really Works! October 15, 2007

By Mitchell Kahn

Format:Paperback

I bought this book while in the middle of following another taining plan for my first half marathon. The other, simpler plan was based on just grinding out the miles though it did include a few longish runs (8-10 miles) split into 2 halves with a short walk in the middle. I kind of liked a short walk in the middle (100m or so), it seemed to rejuvenate my legs. But ultimately the plan I was on eliminated them in favor of pure running.

Galloway recommends many more walk breaks and, at first, this seemed to me like cheating. But I figured I'd give it a try. I started running my 8-12K runs 1000m "on", 100m "off" (walk) and I saw something amazing happen: my split times came down and I could run longer and more enjoyably. My run/walk ratio of 10:1 is actually a lot higher run than he recommends, but it works great for me.

I just used the technique in the San Jose Half Marathon and the results were great. I beat my baseline goal by 10 minutes and even beat my stretch goal by 3. I beat my last 13 mile time trial time by a whopping 20 minutes and, more importantly, I felt great coming across the finish line (I was *crawling* on my last time trial where I ran 3 x 7K with only very short walks). My pace actually sped up throughout the race and my last 2 miles were my fastest.

So, for me, the system works. I am doing another half in January and will follow the entire program this time.

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Advice on Running Injury Free, Fun, & Respecting the October 15, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

...Respecting the Distance.

Jeff Galloway is an Olympian who has run 130 marathons. That's why I chose to use his training program for my first marathon, because I believe he must know something about running. I am in my seventh week of training and doing wonderfully. People need to realize that Galloway's program is intentionally designed to get you to the starting line and through the marathon injury free and enjoying yourself, not hurting and tortured (although it's still going to be hard). There is nothing second-rate about walk breaks; he even gives the history of marathoning as having included walk breaks in the early days, and examples of modern record setters who took walk breaks. So posh on the nay sayers. When I added walk breaks to my program, the fun immediately came back and I was able to run twice as far with a smile on my face the whole time, enjoying scenery, rather than plodding along like a mule. He backs up his advice with scientific reasoning that makes total sense: when you give the running muscles a brief rest from the beginning and throughout the race, your legs stay fresh. You don't lose time because of this, and then you get to pass people later on, all while minimizing the risk of injury. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would turn up their nose at that. Hopefully I'll be passing some of them on the course.

As for the reviewer below who said that Galloway doesn't mention goo, that is just inaccurate.

The important thing to remember (!) is that 26.2 miles is a LONG way. Anyone who crosses the finish line is a marathoner, period, whether you ran, walked or crawled. Galloway's training programs (there are 11 to choose from depending on your goals, even time goals for the competitive reviewer below...HELLO! CAN YOU RUN A 2:39?!... Galloway has a program for that, did you try it?) are designed to get you trained and through the race safely and ready to keep running more races or at least running for life. Hopefully with a smile on your face. What more could you possibly want?

The other wonderful part are the mental tricks he suggests, such as "Anti-Gravity Fluid" and "Magic Words". This is a great book.

Includes chapters on: Long Run, Walk Breaks, Running Form, Cross Training, Training Programs (11), a whole section on inspiration and motivation, what race day is like, Running Faster (speed and hill work), section on food and fat burning, advice on getting older and running, gear, an Appendix and many tables and charts. Read more ›

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book! May 17, 2007

By TRYTRI

Format:Paperback

It's quick & easy with lots of color & specific tips. It's particularly good if you feel like you're too old or out of shape to run a half-marathon. While there are great tips for training for more competent & experienced half marathoners, as a runner moving into the "masters" category, I really appreciated some of his insight into prioritizing workouts and pacing so I could avoid injury and enjoy myself longer. Took his advice on walk break and set a personal record at my next Half Marathon, despite the aging knees!!