I've been noticing that I am putting off my long runs more and more. After a long run I have sore joints for days and I'm just exhausted for the entire day too. It's the only thing I can plan for that day. So I started looking into the run/walk method (jeffing). It was hard to convince myself to even try it because it took me so long to get to the point where I can run continuously for 10k, I don't want to go backwards! But at the same time, if I only rarely do it because it's so painful and exhausting, then what's the benefit of knowing I can? I could just stick to my regular 4k-5k runs but I want to push myself once in awhile, but without days of pain and exhaustion afterwards!
So I'm curious as to what time intervals you do if you're jeffing, and at what distances you use it on? Just the long runs or all the time? I'm a little concerned that if I start using it for my long runs, it will make my normal 4-5k runs difficult to run continuously.
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Catwise
Graduate10
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I’ve been jeffing 30/30 for a couple of months all the time. I run to time now not distance. I’ve Jeffed up to 100k a month. I was low heart training for a few months trying to keep to my MAF no. so got used to walking lots as well as running. I love it as I haven’t picked up another injury yet. I haven’t tried a continuous run for a long time. I’m happy to keep jeffing as I want to run as much as possible. I had two different tendon injuries in quick succession after completing C25K and getting to 10k.
Hi Catwise ! I think I had similar questions to you - after completing 10k (end October) i impulsively joined a Garmin training plan with Jeff himself - jeffing to half marathon over 21 weeks (currently in week 8). I thought he made it sound easy on his site he has guidelines what intervals to use depending on your speed or your target race speed. I’m supposed to run 60 walk 30 seconds - but I can’t be doing with it. I haven’t worked out how to count, for a start ! I can’t be constantly looking at my watch and counting footsteps is pretty boring ! I also cheated once just to prove I can still run ! But that was at the start of the plan which is lower distances than I’m used to. Now I’m reaching longer distances and I’ve adopted what I feel is a good compromise - I run for one km then have a 30 second walking breather - sometimes up to a minute even, if for example I’ve been going uphill ! It helped me get the distance and still feel like I’m running it all. My longest run so far is 15km. I might have to increase my walk intervals or shorten the run intervals as I get further. (Or avoid them hills !).
I'm jeffing a lot because my Garmin plan is a Jeff Galloway plan.
For a 10k virtual race recently I did 1km of running followed by 30 seconds of walking. My watch beeps at the end of every km, so it wasn't hard to manage. The walking time was just enough to blow my nose, change the music, check my location or have a drink, so it worked well on that front too.
For my last long run, 23km, I did run:walk in a 150s:30s ratio, although I tended to increase the running length on downhill or flat stretches. I mostly did it by guessing, if it seemed like it was time to walk I'd check my watch - although up one of the steeper hills I confess I was practically gazing at my watch most of the time.
I had the same worry as you at first, that if I started to jeff I'd lose the ability to run non-stop. I do a run every now and again that is non-stop running, just to show myself that I can. About once or twice a fortnight I do a non-stop run, sometimes 4-5k, sometimes 8-10k, and occasionally 16k or longer. I haven't noticed the non-stop runs getting harder because of jeffing, if anything they're slightly easier, although that might be because I'm a novice (my runniversary will be in 8 weeks, but it wasn't until three months ago that I first ran 10k) and so everything is going to get easier almost by definition for a little while more.
I don’t Jeff as such because that involves often very short intervals and it’s a lot of faff, but for longer runs I usually do repeated 15 minute blocks of running 13 minutes, walk 2 minutes. I have also had success with a short walking phase (}long enough to have a drink etc) after every kilometre. Up to 8k I usually do as a straight run just taking a short walk if I need it.
I too tried Jeffing a couple of months ago and found I could do 7kms for 4 days in a row with no need for recovery time. But. I felt like I was cheating. My times were faster than non stop running (or running with quick stretch breaks) but still felt like cheating. But given how good it felt, perhaps I should try it again. You can set your watch to run/walk for the required duration. PS: I was doing 75 seconds of running and 30 seconds of walking. Have also tried 3 minutes: 30 seconds.
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on his site he has guidelines what intervals to use depending on your speed or your target race speed. I’m supposed to run 60 walk 30 seconds - but I can’t be doing with it. I haven’t worked out how to count, for a start ! I can’t be constantly looking at my watch and counting footsteps is pretty boring ! I also cheated once just to prove I can still run ! But that was at the start of the plan which is lower distances than I’m used to. Now I’m reaching longer distances and I’ve adopted what I feel is a good compromise - I run for one km then have a 30 second walking breather - sometimes up to a minute even, if for example I’ve been going uphill ! It helped me get the distance and still feel like I’m running it all. My longest run so far is 15km. I might have to increase my walk intervals or shorten the run intervals as I get further. (Or avoid them hills !). 
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
week 2 begins! 
