🏁 How It Started: Meniscus Injury and a Forest Comeback
In 2021, after a long break due to a meniscus injury, I decided to return to running — carefully and intelligently. No big ambitions. Just consistent movement. I avoided asphalt and chose forest trails to protect my knees.
I had a Garmin watch and access to Garmin Coach training plans, so I picked the most basic level:
Run/Walk – Goal is to finish.
It was a humble beginning, but a powerful one.
🧠 Garmin Coach 5K: Exploring the Combinations
I didn’t experiment with 10K or half-marathon plans — I focused only on all available 5K plans, across all three levels (Run/Walk, Run, Run with a Time Goal) and with each of the three coaches.
🔗 Which Garmin Coach Is Right for You? – Garmin Official Blog
Here’s how my journey unfolded:
🥉 Level: Run/Walk – Goal is to Finish
-
Jeff Galloway (Feb 28 – May 16, 2021)
🕒 34:55 – 🏃 6:59/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 168 bpm -
Amy Parkerson-Mitchell (Feb 5 – May 28, 2022)
🕒 32:57 – 🏃 6:35/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 167 bpm
🥈 Level: Run – Goal is to Run the Whole Distance
-
Greg McMillan (May 23 – Aug 7, 2021)
🕒 31:37 – 🏃 6:20/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 174 bpm -
Amy Parkerson-Mitchell (Aug 15 – Oct 16, 2021)
❌ Stopped after 4 weeks -
Greg McMillan (May 28 – Aug 6, 2022)
✅ Plan completed, but I skipped the final 5K test
🥇 Level: Run with a Time Goal – Goal is to Finish in X Minutes
-
Greg McMillan (Aug 7 – Oct 22, 2022)
🕒 27:58 – 🏃 5:36/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 174 bpm -
Greg McMillan (Mar 22 – Jun 4, 2023)
🕒 27:37 – 🏃 5:31/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 183 bpm -
Greg McMillan (Jun 7 – Aug 19, 2023)
🕒 25:21 – 🏃 5:04/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 174 bpm -
Greg McMillan (Sep 4 – Nov 18, 2023)
🕒 23:27 – 🏃 4:41/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 180 bpm -
Greg McMillan (Feb 23 – May 4, 2024)
🕒 22:03 – 🏃 4:25/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 184 bpm -
Greg McMillan (May 13 – Jul 27, 2024)
🕒 22:13 – 🏃 4:27/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 183 bpm -
Jeff Galloway (Aug 7 – Nov 2, 2024)
🕒 21:58 – 🏃 4:24/km – ❤️ Avg HR: 187 bpm
🧠 Coach Comparison – My Experience
After running all 5K combinations, my takeaways line up closely with this fantastic Reddit post:
- Jeff Galloway – Often underrated. His run/walk intervals keep things efficient, safe, and surprisingly fun. Great for injury prevention and recovery.
- Greg McMillan – The coach for serious runners. More volume, more variety, and a clear focus on building speed. His workouts pushed me the hardest — and gave the best results.
- Amy Parkerson-Mitchell – Less memorable for me, though I appreciated her strength and form cues.
Of all levels, Run with a Time Goal was by far the most interesting. The variety of workouts (goal pace repeats, hills, tempo runs, time trials) kept me engaged and motivated.
But by the end of 2024, I hit a wall. My final PR of 21:58 didn’t come from flow or form.
It was a grind — a pure act of willpower.
🧭 Reflections on Garmin Coach
Make no mistake: these plans work.
They’re well-structured, motivating, and easy to follow.
But they are not adaptive, despite the claims. The calendar doesn’t shift when you’re sick. It doesn’t scale when your HRV tanks. It doesn’t ask how you feel.
You either do the session… or skip it.
For a beginner, that might be fine. But when you’re pushing close to your physiological limit, it’s not ideal.
🔚 What’s Next?
Recently I saw that Garmin announced a new Adaptive Garmin Coach system.
It’s supposed to respond to recovery data, fatigue, and progress.
It sounds promising.
And honestly? At this point, the classic plans have given me everything they can.
If I want to go below 22 minutes — and do it sustainably — I’ll need something smarter.
It’s time to test what “adaptive” really means.