Monday, June 7, 2010

Hill Gallowog

After reading more about the Galloway method, I decided to give it a try on Sunday. Right now I'm thinking of it as walking with run breaks (vs running with walk breaks) and expecting it to balance out to a slow jog pace. Hence my term, Gallowog.

The plan was to take one dog out solo and go up the hill near my house. Try something like a 1:1 or even a 1:2 (more walking than running). Return home. Repeat.

Decided to take Bandit out first. Had to adjust the run/walk interval a little to optimize it to the route we were running, but it went fairly well. My run/walk buddy, Bandit, did a good job matching my pace and staying at my side with a loose leash.

Switched dogs and went out with Stymie. Woah, boy! During the run intervals, he consistently took off at a much faster pace and I found myself trying to reign in my 80lb puppy. I need to work more with him to get him to match my pace and/or use the hands-free leash if I plan on running any with him.


When it was all said and done, it took me about 60 minutes to "gallowog" the dogs for a total of 4 miles and traverse the hill twice.

I'm quite pleased. This seemed like a much better workout than normal dog walking, was fun, and still didn't bother my knee.

Looking at my exercise logger, I realize that I haven't taken a rest day for the past 10 days. So, that is what I shall do today.

Have a great day!

25 comments:

  1. great job!

    enjoy your day off :)

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  2. YES! you need to work on those training partners :-)

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  3. Getting pulled up the hill sounds like quite a good way to do it!

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  4. Great job...have a great rest day..you deserve it.

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  5. Nice creativity with the workout... and I'm liking the term! Great job.

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  6. There's nothing wrong with walking!
    Enjoy your rest day my dear. ;)

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  7. Very cool! Glad that's working for you without bothering your knee.

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  8. Rest up! Those days are important.
    Love the gallowog term.

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  9. I agree, nothing wrong with walking, and I would love to have training partners like yours.

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  10. Great news that it didn't hurt your knee and you can still manage to get a little bit of running mixed in!

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  11. Glad your knee felt ok.

    Have a good day off!

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  12. Whewie!! Those are some BIG hills!!!

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  13. Whewie!! Those are some BIG hills!!!

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  14. Wow, 80lb puppy?! That was definitely a workout, you deserve a rest day :). Enjoy it!

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  15. I'm still laughing at Gallowog...LOVE it

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  16. You know, there are LOTS of folks who run-walk/walk-run full marathons. As long as you're moving, I think it's all good.

    I envy that high altitude and hills you have!

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  17. Love the new method. :o) Sounds like it'll work out for your whole crew!

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  18. I love this method. It was what got me over a 6 mile hurdle I couldn't seem to break. Well done!

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  19. enjoy that off day...yuo've certainly earned it!

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  20. Hahaha, funny that your dogs behaved differently on your Gallowog. Glad to hear that the knee is holding up. Restdays are good for you so enjoy the day. Would you like a glass of red with your rest? :-)

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  21. The run/walk thing works well for me, too. Glad your knee is holding up! Hope you had a great rest day!!

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  22. glad it seems to be working well for you - no knee pain is especially important!

    hopefully the big baby will reign in some control after a few more runs. my mom's dog likes to take off when i run with him (though he is small, not nearly 80lbs!). sometimes i wish i had that puppy-running-joy and just dash/sprint around :)

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  24. Walking, running or Galowogging, it is all moving forward and that's a good thing!! Nice that you have the pups to hang with.

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