There’s a quiet revolution happening at the back of every marathon start line. Runners who used to struggle through their long runs are now crossing finish lines feeling strong, logging more miles than ever before, and doing it all with far fewer injuries. Their secret? They’re not running the whole way.
The Jeff Galloway run/walk method — affectionately known as “Jeffing” — is one of the most effective and accessible approaches to running ever developed. Pioneered by 1972 Olympian Jeff Galloway, the method is exactly what it sounds like: strategic, planned walk breaks woven into your run.
And before you dismiss it as something only beginners do, consider this: runners using this method have beaten their all-out running times, recovered faster between workouts, and kept running well into their 60s, 70s, and beyond.
Whether you’re just getting off the couch or you’re a seasoned runner battling burnout and nagging injuries, Jeffing offers a genuinely different way to train — one backed by decades of real-world results.
The science behind it is solid, the community around it is enthusiastic, and the only thing you really have to lose is the idea that slowing down means giving up.
What Is the Jeff Galloway Method?
The name “Jeffing” is a nod to its creator, Coach Jeff Galloway, whose run/walk method has quietly transformed the way millions of people approach the sport.
At its core, the method is simple: rather than running continuously, you alternate between running and deliberate walking breaks, giving your cardiovascular system and muscles a chance to recover before the effort ramps back up.
This isn’t about stopping because you’re tired — it’s about strategically managing fatigue before it accumulates. The walking intervals reduce the intensity and impact on your body, so you can sustain more total mileage with less wear and tear.1NILSSON, J., & THORSTENSSON, A. (1989). Ground reaction forces at different speeds of human walking and running. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica, 136(2), 217–227. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-1716.1989.tb08655.x
Many running coaches now recommend a run/walk approach as the standard starting point for beginners, precisely because it lets the body adapt to the demands of running without being overwhelmed. But beginners are far from the only ones who benefit.
Older runners find that planned walk breaks dramatically reduce recovery time and allow them to keep training consistently well into later life.
Runners returning from injury use it to rebuild mileage safely without re-aggravating the problem.
Ultra runners — tackling distances of 50K and beyond — rely on walk intervals as a core strategy for managing effort over many hours on their feet.
Even competitive runners chasing a new personal best have found that the method lets them cover more total training volume with less fatigue. In short, if you run, there’s a version of Jeffing that likely works for you.
What Are the Benefits of Jeffing?
It may seem counterintuitive, but the run-walk method for distance running can actually improve performance, particularly for older runners.
For example, some research has found that certain runners may be more efficient at walking, and thus, by taking walking breaks during runs, they may be able to stave off muscular and cardiovascular fatigue, improving stamina.
One study investigated the efficiency of treadmill walking at various speeds among walkers and runners aged 65 and older.2Ortega, J. D., Beck, O. N., Roby, J. M., Turney, A. L., & Kram, R. (2014). Running for Exercise Mitigates Age-Related Deterioration of Walking Economy. PLoS ONE, 9(11), e113471. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113471
The metabolic efficiency of the older athletes was compared to that of younger individuals.
The results were interesting: older runners were efficient walkers, whereas older walkers were less efficient than their age-matched runner counterparts and the control group of college students.
More specifically, older runners demonstrated the same metabolic efficiency for walking at various speeds as younger college students, whereas the older walkers who are not runners required about 7 to 10% more oxygen to maintain the same walking speeds as the older runners and college students.
This study does not necessarily demonstrate improved efficiency with the Jeff Galloway run-walk method per se, but it does provide evidence that older runners, in particular, may benefit from Jeffing because the walking breaks are “low cost” from a metabolic and cardiovascular standpoint.
There is ample research suggesting that VO2 max, cardiovascular and metabolic efficiency, and overall running performance decline with age.
This means that older runners are generally unable to run at the same speed as younger runners while exerting the same effort or consuming the same amount of oxygen.
As such, all the runners typically need to run at a slower pace to stay within the aerobic zone, which compromises race performance.
However, if older runners decide to engage in Jeffing, some of the disparity in aerobic efficiency will be minimized. This may allow senior runners to run longer distances at a lower metabolic cost because the body gets walking breaks.
Another study essentially corroborated these results.3Aslan, D. H., Collette, J. M., & Ortega, J. D. (2021). Bicycling Exercise Helps Maintain a Youthful Metabolic Cost of Walking in Older Adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 29(1), 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.2019-0327
Even though the study group consisted of cyclists and walkers, the results demonstrated that cyclists fitter than their age-matched walking peers could walk much more efficiently and at a metabolic cost similar to that of younger athletes.
Perhaps the most compelling potential performance benefit is that a study of recreational runners found that the Jeffing method produced marathon finish times comparable to running continuously for the entire 26.2 miles.4Hottenrott, K., Ludyga, S., Schulze, S., Gronwald, T., & Jäger, F.-S. (2016). Does a run/walk strategy decrease cardiac stress during a marathon in non-elite runners? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 19(1), 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.11.010
How to Start Jeffing
Essentially, you just want to alternate between cycles of run-walk intervals.
The length of the running and walking intervals will depend on your fitness level, the distance you are trying to cover relative to that level, and your personal preferences.
Most beginners start the Jeffing method by running for 30 to 60 seconds, followed by 1 to 2 minutes of walking.
You might use a 1:3 run-to-walk ratio in a basic Jeffing beginner’s training plan.
For example, if you can only run for 30 seconds to start, you would run for 30 seconds, then walk for 90 seconds, for one run-walk cycle. Then you would repeat this pattern 10 to 15 times during your training session.
Then, you might progress to a 1:2 run-walk ratio.
This might involve stepping up the run intervals to 45 seconds and keeping the walking breaks to 90 seconds, or you may be able to progress to running one for one minute and walking for two minutes.
The next stage would be a 1:1 Jeffing workout. This means your run intervals would be the same length as your walk intervals.
Beginners could do a one-minute run and a one-minute walk for each cycle. Then progressed to two minutes of running with two minutes of walking.
The next step would be to progress to a 2:1 Jeffing workout. Here, the running belts are twice as long as the recovery walks.
So, if you can run for two minutes, you would cut the walking down to one minute and cycle between two-minute runs with one-minute walks for the duration of your workout.
Whether you are using Jeffing to progress to continuous running or to facilitate longer training runs and races with less stress on your body, you would continue to reduce the ratio of walking intervals to running intervals so that you run for longer periods and take shorter, less frequent walking breaks.
For example, if you have a decent level of fitness built up and you are using this approach to build up to the marathon training distance, but you have the endurance and fitness to run quite a few miles without taking walking breaks, you still might deliberately incorporate short walking breaks earlier on in your run.
Even though you can still run without stopping and walking, adding a few planned short walking breaks can help stave off fatigue so you can make it through a longer run.
In this type of scenario, you might use a 10:1 run:walk interval pattern so that you run for 10 minutes and then walk for one minute, or you might even run for 10 minutes and then just walk for 30 seconds, or run for 15 minutes and then walk for 45 seconds before starting to run again.
Then, you would repeat the same run/walk interval pattern throughout your long run, helping you prolong your workout and build mileage during the training session.
If you are a beginner looking to get started with running and want to follow this approach that gradually transitions into running without stopping, check out our 30-day running challenge:
