Jeffing? Feffing? Effing?

I’m part of a lot of running groups on Facebook. Mainly to get motivation and also to use them to get advice if I needed. They are mainly English groups but there’s 2 Hungarian as well.

In the last few weeks I’ve noticed that loads of runners ( mainly in the Hungarian groups) saying it’s really embarrassing that they can’t run continuously. Even on shorter distances eg. 3-5k. Whenever this subject comes up in an English group I always recommend ” Jeffing” but when this comes up in a Hungarian group I keep myself quiet.

Many months ago I suggested someone to try ” Jeffing” because she was struggling with running and could not keep her pace up and she wanted to attempt a 5k race.

Well my suggestion wasn’t welcomed well at all. According to them if someone can’t run continuously the race distance then they don’t belong to the start line.

I’m totally disagree with that ! Everyone is totally entitled to attend any races they wish to do.

So whats this ” Jeffing ” about? The proper name for it is The Jeff Galloway Method. Which basicly is run / walk / run method or you could use the world ” interval” running. In 1974  Jeff was teaching runners of different abilities to achieve their distance goal using the run / walk / run method.

The below is from Jeff’s website : http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/run-walk/

The Galloway Run Walk Run method

• A smart way to run – by giving you congnitive control over each workout.

• Allows you to carry on all of your life activities – even after long runs

• Motivates beginners to get off of the couch and run

• Bestows running joy to non-stop runners who had given up

• Helps improve finish times in all races

• Gives all runners control over fatigue

• Delivers all of the running enhancements without exhaustion or pain

I’ve started ” jeffing” just under a year ago and I haven’t looked back. At first I did not believe the method at all. I couldn’t really understand how is it possible  to be faster if I walk some part of the races? but have to say it does work 🙂 It doesn’t make me as tired, I hardly have any muscle aches on the next day and I can run much longer.

To start it you’ll need to get an interval timer. First I tried it on my phone, but my phone battery given up at the longer races. So decided to try the timer Jeff recommends, it’s called Gymboss Minimax and its roughly £27 from ebay , it works with a AAA battery and incredibly easy to set up.

Green Gymboss Minimax

I figured out the best intervals for my training is the 1minute run and 30second walks. Also its better to start ” Jeffing ” from the beginning of the race, otherwise your body will be tired and you wont see the benefits of  ” Jeffing”.

Whenever I ” Jeff ” a race or park runs I give a hand signal to the runners behind me, so they will know I’m planning to stop. Also its great to just stick either on to the left or right side of the road.

You can check out my hand signal in my New York video below, it will be at 08:13secs 🙂

Let me get back to my own experience with some running stats.

London Marathon : 06:57:31

I’ve tried to run the whole race from start to finish, but unfortunately I’ve burnt out by mile 15ish. When I’ve done my training I focused on running, haven’t even thought about walking. Why should I walk in a marathon??

New York Marathon – 6 months later : 06:32:14

I have ” jeffed” this race from the start till the finish line. Was really hard not to sprint off at the beginning or just run, but I knew that I’ve done all my training following ” jeffing” so I knew I had to try my best to follow it. As you can see I’ve beat my time by 25 whole minutes! This includes stopping after mile 11 because twisted and dislocated my knee and needed to see the medics. But after that i went back to do my 1min run and 30 secs walk ratio again and finished the race strong.

Can you spot my Gymboss? It came with me to the far US of A  as well.  It comes with a clip so you will be able to clip on your running top.

Probably you are wondering how is it possible to recover in your walk breaks? I can’t really explain, but it does work. Probably its all goes back to the heart rate, in your walk parts your heart rate goes back to almost normal, so when you start to run again you are not burning out as quickly, also your core body temperature will get lower again as well.

When I will start my marathon training for Berlin and Chicago I will definitely follow the ” run / walk / run ” method again.

Flying high with my Gymboss 🙂 

I really wish I could just shake off a full marathon without stopping, but there’s absolutely no chance for that haha. I’m running for fun, taking selfies and making videos. So this ” jeffing ” clearly works for me 🙂 And as you can see above I’ve got a 25mins marathon PB with ” jeffing”. have to say I’m proud of my achievement so far. If someone thinks I’m not a runner well that’s their opinion.

I don’t have anything against fast non stop runners, but there are loads and loads of people out there who’s scared of longer distances or they not believe in themselves. So they have the option to try out the ‘ run – walk – run ” method and they’ll be able to complete their dream races as well 🙂

So go on and try ” Jeffing”  you have absolutely nothing to lose. On Jeff’s website there is a calculator which helps you to find out your ideal run-walk ratio. Look for the Magic Mile section.

If you have any questions regarding ” Jeffing ” please comment below or send me an email and I’m happy to answer 🙂

Love,