SAFD - As I mentioned yesterday, I'm doing a Galloway customized training plan. I struggled
a lot with this decision and had a massive meltdown at one point because I was just sooooo confused. I was leaning towards it for a while, but I had some serious questions about the massive amount of mileage in the long runs. As someone who struggled with an overuse injury, I will thoroughly admit that I was spooked by the long runs. But then I heard Chris Twiggs, the CTP coach, talk and he said that there are a lot of plans out there that will get you over the finish line, but that CTP is designed to get you to the start line healthy. That was exactly what I needed to hear. I also cleared the program with my PT and it didn't set off any serious alarm bells for him, which gave me the final confidence to pull the trigger and join.
What originally drew me to CTP was that a) Jeff Galloway and his people know run/walk/run and Dopey inside and out - my PT also creates training plans, but he will be the first to admit that he doesn't have strategies for back to back (to back to back) runs like Dopey and b) I don't know enough to figure out how to juggle a plan properly when days have to be changed or skipped. I know that with CTP I can send Chris a note and he will rearrange things. Also, if I have a thought, he is available to say "yep, good idea" or "not the best idea" based on his years of experience/training people for Dopey.
Also, I got someone to offer to give me the first six months as a gift so that didn't hurt.
Welcome aboard!
One thing that I think gets missed with the CTP long runs is that some of them you are encouraged to WALK. Yes, walk! So while you are getting the time on feet that you need, you aren't getting the pounding of a long run. Just something to consider.
Again, the ratios aren't as set in stone as the RD plan makes them out to be. Chris always says that it is the pace that is the most important thing and that you can play around with the ratio that works best for you to get the specific pace. I didn't understand that before and it was a huge ah-ha/lightbulb moment. I will admit that I'm not 100% on this and am still learning, but it's not as confusing as it was at the beginning.
If anyone is interested in learning more about Customized Training, Chris did a two-part appearance on the Rise and Run podcast (
https://riseandrun.buzzsprout.com/ May 5&12 episodes, also available on Apple podcast, Spotify,
Amazon Music, etc.). Rise and Run is also going to have Jeff Galloway himself on the end of June.