New runner here. I’ve ran a bit with my girls during their cross country practice and am fairly fit (strength training and do HIIT). I have a few questions as I’m trying to follow the Jeff Galloway program for the Disney 5K in April. I think what has always put me off of running is I thought you always ran. Like no walking at all and as fast as you can too. I guess in my mind it was sprint the entire time. So I got my pace and am doing the RWR thing. On that third day where it says run 1.5 miles do I run the entire thing or do the RWR just until I reach the 1.5 miles?
Do you ever reevaluate your pace for the RWR program? I find myself looking at my interval beeper thinking I could run way more before walking as I’m not even tired. For example, yesterday was my 13 min RWR day. I ended up doing that twice so I did 26 minutes. My kids were still running so I figured why not keep moving.
RWR for the duration of the prescribed workout for the day
There are some explanations on page 1 of every training plan
Welcome aboard!
Yes, this is what Jeff calls the Magic Mile. Again, see page 1 of the training plan.
This is how it should feel. As you go further/longer it may become more challenging. But you should almost always be given a walk break before you feel you need the walk break.
I would follow the plan religiously. These are tried and true plans and will help keep you from making the mistake that most new runners make at the start: doing too much too fast. That burns you out, frustrates, and discourages most people into thinking running isn’t their thing. When the truth is they didn’t ramp up slowly enough.
Thanks! I just wasn’t understanding. Again I’m a very fresh newbie to all the things running.
I will have to reread. It was feeling like I was reading Greek. I also bought the book too.
Thanks for this. I definitely needed reminding! I just felt like I do more when I would run with the girls so this felt very much like nothing and I like being sweaty and tired.
Oh stick with it and you will be.
I’m looking at you, me from yesterday
I thought I was doing the Galloway plan correctly when I trained the last time…and then at the race when I tried to go with the on course galloway pacers - I realized I had it soooo wrong (I was trying to run too much, like you, I was like…running is about running).
Now I have a Garmin Watch, and you can load a Galloway plan right into it and it will do the intervals for you. I have realized I’m not a Galloway gal (just as I find my run rhythm it is time to walk again), but have found some other training plans on Garmin that work better for me.
I create mine on runkeeper 
The lady beeps at me and calls out the interval.
I started singing this as soon as I typed it. 
Great minds and all that
I bought the recommended interval beeper thing so I can change the intervals and stuff. However, a watch sounds easier. I will look into that. Thanks!
This is so me right now. But as @OBNurseNH pointed out I need to follow the program and not kill myself at the beginning, which is totally what I would have done without that gentle reminder
I haven’t looked into the Galloway plan, so apologies if this is duplicative. The app I followed when I first did a 0to5K plan is no longer set up the way it used to be, but I found this app which is free and follows the same structure.
You definitely don’t always run as fast as you can as long as you can. As others said, that’ll lead to burnout and injury. Once you’re farther along (I.e. feeling pretty confident with a 5K distance and pace), the Nike Run Club app is also good for mixing up types of workouts. They also have distance training plans, but I think those aren’t geared very well to new runners, as they’ll have you running 25-30 minutes just a few days in, which is unrealistic.
However, once you CAN do that, mixing up your workouts between interval training, fartleks, long runs, and easy runs can help you overall. It’s how we practice with our cross country team.
Thanks for the info! I will keep all that in my pocket for when I get far enough along that I need more diversity.