Coach Galloway 10k - really heavy loads

My general opinion on this topic is: Use the watch for raw data and some automatically derived information to a certain extent. Do the rest by yourself.

In the end you are doing it yourself anywayys (I hope). As long as the watch tells you what you agree with, you are doing it. If it tells you stuff you don't agree with, you are not doing it. Why then use the watch for this in the first place? Just do what you already know you have to do ...

I fully agree - the plan was good up until about week 8 and then just becomes brutal. Having come across this post to see others saying the same, i contacted Jeff through his website. One of his team replied saying they will get in touch with garmin right away, so hopefully it will be fixed soon. 

I've had  a similar experience with the half marathon training plan with Coach Jeff.  The plan just seems bonkers, I'm on weeks 12 and my long run is 17 miles...for a half marathon!  Last week my speed repeat workout was 12 x 800m at 6:21 - 6:41 pace....12 sets!  Obviously I'm not doing these king workouts as it would only be detrimental in the long run It just seems to increase weekly no matter how you are doing in the plan, no adaptation by the software at all.  My race was scheduled for June but has been postponed due to COVID19 but I may just keep the plan going to see how crazy it gets. 

If Garmin offers plans like these they should be sure that they actually work and are beneficial to the athlete.   

I'm at Week 13 of 17 and my week is like you described. I am alarmed that it wants me to do 20 reps of speed repeats. This can't be a 10k plan

Here's the full transcript. I have removed the names.

Thanks for chatting with us earlier, Name. Here is a full transcript of our conversation.

[07:32:46] Name Removed I'm following the Jeff Galloway 10KM training plan. I think it's wrong - my next long run is 20.92KM and speed repeats are 14x 800m. It increases the long run distance by around 4KM each week and adds 2x speed repeats each week. This plan doesn't seem right. See also here where someone is being asked to do 20x 800m and 24km+ on the same plan: https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/running-multisport/f/forerunner-245-series/187588/coach-galloway-10k---really-heavy-loads
[07:32:47] Session started between Name Removed and Garmin Rep
[07:33:22] Garmin Rep Hi Name 
[07:33:46] Name Removed Hi Garmin Rep.
[07:34:01] Name Removed See also Jeff's 5/10km plan on his website, the scale is immensely different.
[07:34:02] Name Removed http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/5k-10k-training/
[07:35:07] Garmin Rep I'm just looking in to this now for you, but I believe this is correct 
[07:36:42] Name Removed I understand running further than target distance, but a 24km run for a 10km training plan? and 20x 800m speed repeats (16km fast)
[07:38:44] Garmin Rep I've just been looking into this as I thought I'd come across this before and this has been checked and deemed correct in accordance with Jeff's plan. 
[07:39:15] Name Removed Wow - I'm amazed
[07:39:56] Garmin Rep This is as by design for Coach Jeff. His plan focuses on his philosophy of using the Run-Walk-Run method throughout long runs. In the 'Choose Coach' process of setting up a plan, Coach Jeff does explain that his focus would be on long slow workouts that increase beyond race distance while utilizing the Run-Walk-Run method so that you will know you can go the distance. So if the user is completing the workout in this format, his theory is that it is not over training.
[07:40:22] Garmin Rep This is the response to a previously asked question about the same thing 
[07:41:02] Name Removed Well, I stand corrected. It's brutal.
[07:41:09] Garmin Rep I appreciate it seems a heavy load on those weeks, but I think taking in to consideration the run/walk/run idea and making sure you're resting on those interval sessions, it falls in line with the plan!
[07:41:37] Name Removed 20x speed repeats - I can't wait :/
[07:42:29] Garmin Rep haha! Those kinds of interval sessions a pretty hard work, I'm with you there - just finished a marathon training block myself, so I'm with you!! 
[07:42:57] Name Removed I'm not against hard work, but mentally I'm going to need to be on form!! lol
[07:44:20] Garmin Rep I agree! It'll pay off when it comes to the 10km race effort though 
[07:44:27] Garmin Rep Anything else while you're through today?
[07:45:19] Name Removed No, that is all thank you. I wanted to verify that the multipliers weren't buggy as they are quite stunning lol
[07:45:54] Garmin Rep No problem. Thanks for getting in touch - best of luck! 
[07:46:08] Name Removed Thanks, I'm going to need it ;)
[07:46:46] Garmin Rep The conversation has ended. If you still need help please get back in touch!
[07:46:46]

The conversation has ended. If you still need help please get back in touch!

That's really interesting. I guess the issue is then that it's really unclear that they are supposed to be easy runs. The pace suggested (and yes, you can ignore this) is so fast and it never says "walk" during the recover stage except to say "if you need to".

Isn't it. Although... I have just watched Jeff's "How to run faster" video. He says for a half marathon to train up to 14 miles for a 7 minute gain. That is hugely disproportionate to what we are being told to run. I'm doing 18x800m speed repeats today, 24km long easy run on Monday... doing it anyway. I've bought isotonic gels as I've been totally drained after my previous speed repeats and long runs.

These images I think go some way to prove that this training plan is broken. I can't see how Garmin or Jeff can defend it.

Here's today's run

And Mondays 24km (with warm up etc, over 2.5 times target distance?!)...

Here's my 18x speed repeats effort... well over a half marathon and I walked all 3 minute rest periods.

One full day rest and then doing 25-6km on Monday...