Galloway method calms wind worries

I’m developing a love-hate relationship with the run/walk method, but I do think whether or not I ever use it in a race I’m going to make room for it in my repertoire because there are times when it helps me squeeze in a longer run than I could otherwise.

Usually it’s a scheduling coup I’m going for. But one day last week when the wind was gusting up to 40 mph, I headed out anyway – knowing I’d have some walk recovery breaks gave me just enough confidence to tackle a 10-miler without worrying if I was really tough enough to handle those weather conditions.

It’s amazing what a difference that mindset switch made. The wind was FEROCIOUS.  But knowing I was breaking the run up into segments made it endurable. (It didn’t hurt that I was saving a big “wind-assisted push” for the last mile and some change home, either.)

Seriously, I don’t think there’s any way I would’ve gone out on a 10-mile run in that wind. I might’ve tried something shorter, but even then I probably would’ve been fretting about it the whole way. And I hate the way even low-grade running anxiety eats away at my energy level.

I’m not going to say it was a carefree experience, but there were times when I found myself just experiencing the power of an insanely windy spring day without worrying about how it would affect my run.

The funny thing was, I don’t think my time was too bad, either, even though I was just guestimating my run/walk intervals since I didn’t have Ben’s watch with its alarm settings. According to my cell phone, it took me 1:46, which is pretty good for me.