Gymboss Interval Timer

Eariler this week, I went to Fleet Feet and purchased a Gymboss Interval Timer.

According to my running friend who uses Jeff Galloway method, it is probably better to run/walk a long distance.   Run/walk (I usually do  1 min./1 min.) will help you avoid injury and record faster times.  

Jeff explains, " by using muscles in different ways from the beginning, your legs keep their bounce as they conserve resources. When a muscle group, such as your calf, is used continusously step by step, it fatigues relatively soon. The weak areas get overused and force you to slow down later or scream at you in pain afterward.  By shifting back and forth between walking and running muscles, you distribute the workload among a variety of muscles, increasing your overall performance capacity.....Walk breaks will significantly speed up recovery because there is less damage to repair.  The early walk breaks erase fatigue, and the later walk breaks will reduce or eliminate overuse muscle breakdown."

I had no idea that "walking" was allowed when running.  I walked sometimes when I got tired, but I always felt like I was cheating.  I feel so relieved now to find out that it is OKAY to take walk breaks.

This Gymboss Interval Timer helps when you are doing your run/walk.  It beeps according to your set up, and tells you when to walk and when to run.  I used this a couple of days ago for the first time, and it worked great.  It is very small, and it can be clipped onto your clothes or on your belt.  It tells you how many intervals were used so I could even figure out how many minutes I was out there running (walking).

I now feel that maybe....maybe it's not possible to run the half marathon.