The run/walk method has been around since the 1970s and has surged in popularity as more athletes have learnt that regular walk intervals may help you run further – and faster.

Olympic marathoner and running coach Jeff Galloway developed the run/walk method – or the ‘Galloway Method’ – for all types of athletes, from those who run sub-3-hour marathons to runners who are just getting into the sport. But there’s one rule that applies to almost everyone: in most cases, the walk interval lasts for 30 seconds. This holds true whether the run intervals are four minutes or 10 seconds long.

Chris Twiggs, chief training officer of the Galloway Training Programs, currently coaches between 220 and 250 athletes using the Galloway Method, including ultrarunners, people training for their first 5K, those hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon and those aiming to finish a marathon in under seven hours.

‘Every single one of them,’ he says, trains with 30-second walk breaks. ‘It’s just a question of how much running do we throw in.’

Noticing this common thread made us curious. What is it about that 30-second break that makes it appropriate for so many types of runner?

When Galloway started recommending the run/walk method back in the 1970s, he began with ‘run a mile, walk a minute’ – regardless of pace. Over time, though, as he and his team of coaches collected more data on how runners performed with the method, they started tweaking the recommendation, personalising the run ratios based on pace while still suggesting a one-minute walk.

They found that when training for longer distances, such as half marathons and marathons, runners started slowing during their later walk breaks, which dragged down their overall pace.

For example, a runner might start with a run/walk pace of 15:00 min/mile, but as the race wore on, drop to 16:00 min/mile because of the slower pace during the walk breaks. To compensate, they’d push themselves to run faster during the run intervals, but that would backfire by making them more fatigued and causing them to walk even slower during subsequent breaks.

‘By eight miles in a half marathon, or certainly by 20 miles in a marathon, I’m now walking significantly slower during my walk break than I was – and I’m having to run significantly faster than I was to make up for that,’ explains Twiggs. ‘And it just becomes this downward spiral.’

That’s why, about a decade ago, the one-minute walk break became 30 seconds, says Twiggs.

‘In 30 seconds, you’re getting the recovery benefits that you need from the walk, but you’re not slowing down [your overall pace] significantly.’

There is a catch, though – and, as with any ‘rule’, there are some exceptions.

With the shortened walks, Galloway also shortened the suggested run intervals. For example, the early recommendation advised someone targeting a pace of 9:00 min/mile to run for four minutes and walk for one minute. Today, that pace suggestion is to run for two minutes and walk for 30 seconds.

‘This is the exact same amount of running and walking per mile,’ explains Twiggs. ‘It’s just that by getting that break more frequently, we’re not slowing down as much during the walk if we’re able to consistently hold the pace that we want to hold, so we feel stronger throughout the run.’

Not every run/walker follows the 30-second walk rule. In fact, it can apply at both ends of the pace spectrum.

One exception is people who primarily walk and incorporate short bursts of running to shake things up or increase their average pace slightly, says Twiggs. These runners, for example, may walk for two minutes and run for 30 seconds, flipping the traditional run/walk to a walk/run. The Galloway Method sometimes recommends this for runners coming back from injury, as well as people who want gentle cross-training as a break from more intense running workouts, says Twiggs.

The other exception is very experienced runners chasing particularly fast finish times – anyone looking to sustain a pace of sub-7:00 min/mile, which equates to a sub-3 marathon finish time. In those cases, athletes will typically take a 20-second walk break, says Twiggs.

There’s a notable perk to shorter running intervals.

‘It allows you to run at a more natural pace for you,’ says Twiggs.

As he explains, to complete a half marathon or marathon, you have to run at an average pace that’s slower than what you’d run for a shorter run, such as a five-mile route around your neighbourhood. However, there are only two ways to slow down your average pace.

The first is to deliberately hold back while you run, which can compromise your biomechanics and increase vertical oscillation, says Twiggs.

‘Often, what we find is that when people are forcing themselves to run slower, they end up bouncing,’ he says.

This can cause more pounding on the joints and lead to an uncomfortable stride, he explains.

The other way to slow your pace is to build regular walks into your runs.

‘Now, I can run the same pace for a half marathon that I’m comfortable running for five miles, but by putting in the walk breaks more frequently, it brings the average pace down to something that’s sustainable for the entire half marathon, or something that’s sustainable for the entire marathon,’ says Twiggs.

For the vast majority of athletes, then, those 30-second breaks are where it’s at.

There are a few instances in which Twiggs recommends taking more than a 30-second walk break.

One is if you start a workout or race too fast without a proper warm-up, which can drive up your heart rate and push you into the anaerobic zone.

‘You want to recover from that as soon as possible,’ says Twiggs.

To help lower your heart rate, you can either add an extra walk or lengthen an existing walk. Once you get back into the aerobic zone, he suggests resuming the 30-second walks.

But what if you feel extra tired towards the end of a race?

According to Twiggs, it’s better to take more frequent short walks than fewer long walks. That’s because once you start extending the walks to a minute or so, it can be challenging to start running again.

If you feel like you need a longer walk, you probably need to shorten your run segment, explains Twiggs. For example, instead of doing cycles of three minutes running and 30 seconds walking, you could shift to two-and-a-half minutes running and 30 seconds walking.

Remember that 30-second walks are for tempo and long runs only. When it comes to speedwork intervals, such as quarter-mile, half-mile or mile repeats, you’ll need longer walks after each repeat to give your body time to properly recover from the high-intensity efforts.

‘We may put as much as five minutes of walking in between those harder mile efforts,’ says Twiggs.

Jenny is a Boulder, Colorado-based health and fitness journalist. She’s been freelancing for Runner’s World since 2015 and especially loves to write human interest profiles, in-depth service pieces and stories that explore the intersection of exercise and mental health. Her work has also been published by SELF, Men’s Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler, among other outlets. When she’s not running or writing, Jenny enjoys coaching youth swimming, rereading Harry Potter, and buying too many houseplants.