Gallaway "Mental training fro runners"

You scared me away with two words:

GALLAWAY and RUNNING

Sorry, I just don't buy into his run/walk stuff.

Why not?

His advice has worked for many thousands of runners, inc some posting pretty fast mary times (sub-3hr).  I used his run/walk plan to survive my 1st on WAY too little training.  And I know many much faster than I who walk a bit at water stations to drink, which is actually just a variation of JG's theme.  Reality is most who do HM or full will walk some of the course anyway (drink, cramps, fatigue, whatever), so admitting they will happen & putting 'em into race plan might minimize overall finishing time.  And other coaches also include planned walking in their training plans (if only as rest/recovery) to allow higher mileage at lower risk of injury.

In answer to OP- No I have not read the book, nor do I feel the need to.  What I need is motivation to swim!!!

I used his Run/ walk to get from unable to run  a 5K to just finishing an 8 K with out walking. His training helped me a lot. I run/ walk not run / sprint. I have done up to 4 miles with out walking on several occasions.

I got up to to 11.3 (Run walk) and was very mentally fatigued. I think my body could have handled the 13.1, but I was running a "loop" and after 10 times around I was just tired of the same scenery. This park is the only place near me that is reasonably "flat" and I was thinking this book might give me the extra oomph I need to get through a half Mary.

i wouldn't buy into it if that were the case either.  But someone running a sub 3 hr mary is not advised by galloway to do a 4:1 ratio.  i would be more like 8-12 min run with a 30-45 sec walk at an aid station....

it's a great technique IMO for people just starting out, and for triathlons.  In IM and HIM i dont mind walking the aid stations every mile or two to get proper fluids,gels, and salt tabs in 

Bobby McGee is big proponent of run/walk for most all Triathletes doing IM. There is interesting article about Friels take on it. Very few folks doing IMs run the whole race and end up running the aid stations.

The positives of run/walk

ADVANTAGES OF THE METHOD:
1. Increased volume (per workout & per week/phase)
2. Reduced recovery time
3. Mentally easier to train & race
4. Faster in the majority of cases
5. Improved lipid metabolism
6. Increased functional leg strength

When I first started doing tris I just ran and thought walking was failure. Once I started run/walking I ended up going faster and found it an effective way to train and race. If you look at my blogs, I've had an unrelated to running knee injury for 9 months so my training hasn't been quite normal.

To each his own, but for most of us run/walk is faster in longer races.