Run for a few minutes, walk for one — a gentler way to build aerobic base.
Run-walk alternates short running intervals with brief walking breaks. It lowers the impact load of every workout while still building cardio fitness — the standard recommendation for newer runners and a favourite of Jeff Galloway's coaching method. Pheidi applies it automatically to beginner plans and lets you customize the ratio in Settings.
Only easy aerobic workouts get run-walk intervals:
Quality sessions (tempo, intervals, hills, fartlek, race pace) and recovery runs are never broken into run-walk — those are short enough or specific enough that intervals would change the training stimulus.
Run-walk is applied automatically when your experience level is set to Beginner. Intermediate and Advanced plans run continuously and do not use run-walk intervals. Custom run/walk minutes in Settings only take effect on plans where run-walk is applied — set them at Beginner level to override the phase defaults below.
As you progress through your plan, the run interval grows so you spend more of each workout running and less walking. The walk break stays fixed at one minute.
| Phase | Run | Walk |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 4 min | 1 min |
| Build | 6 min | 1 min |
| Peak | 8 min | 1 min |
| Taper | 8 min | 1 min |
At Beginner level you can override the run and walk minutes in Settings. The custom ratio applies to every eligible workout in your plan — Pheidi stops using the phase-based defaults once you set values.
Leaving either field empty restores the phase-based defaults above.
Run-walk workouts display the ratio in the workout title so you always know what's coming, for example:
Easy Run — 3.0 mi · Run 4min / Walk 1minThe same ratio is honoured in the calendar export (.ics events) and the Garmin watch export (.fit files) — your watch beeps at each transition. See Watch Export for details.
Run-walk intervals live inside the Pheidi app — sign in to try them.