It was a dark and stormy night; lightning periodically broke
the skyline against a constant downpour of rain that showered me as I jogged
across the park towards the running track. Okay well I am being a little bit
dramatic. It wasn’t stormy, rainy and there was certainly no lightning! So I
was probably being more than a little bit adventurous with my language. Though I
did feel nervous about joining a running club, much like the stereotypical main
character entering a forbidden temple or lost civilisation. Was I expecting
this club to be something out of Chariots of Fire? I don’t know why I
felt nervous about joining a running club. I have joined rugby clubs, a boxing
club and been part of fitness classes; so it was not the fear of meeting new
people. I think where my nervousness lay is with my anxiety that all that I had
believed to be correct with running would turn out to be false or that I was
not talented enough to be part of this running club. It is probably a very negative/
cynical view to have of myself. I also find it hard to believe that a club will
cater for all abilities. These were just some of the insecurities that I was
bringing along to my first track session with this club. At this point you may
be thinking, why is this person telling me about how they were feeling? Or why
is it such a big deal to join a running club? The simple answer to those
questions is that I was joining this club to fulfil a goal I had set myself for
running in 2015.
Even though I am writing the blog post now, I joined the
running club all the way back at the end of January 2015. I wanted to capture
what it felt like to join a running club, before posting, so that people who
are thinking of joining could see whether it was for them or decided on
alternatives to running clubs that are starting to spring up in London. I also
wanted to keep my resolution that I made in my first blog
post about joining a running club to expand my view and knowledge of
running. I won’t name the club that I joined, but it is near where I live in
London. I wanted to enjoy being part of the club, as it seemed to have the
right mix of ability for me and I could get to a lot of the events it
participated in relatively easily. Probably the most important thing for me was
that they specialised- like I suppose a lot running clubs do- in getting their runners
ready for the London Marathon. Also due to a long and tedious commute to work, it
would make it difficult to train at other clubs where I live in London. Below I have tried to list the main things I
have learnt about joining a running club and what I advice I thought might be useful
when considering joining a running club.
You need to stick with a club or
running group for a month before deciding it is right for you
I’ll get
right to the issue with this point. I do mean that you should try and see what
the club is like- how active it is, how friendly people are with you, do they
try to organise socials, can you get involved with the club, etc. What I don’t
mean is stick with something you don’t enjoy. If for instance, you have been
fine doing lot of high volume steady running and that has got you through a
marathon in a time that you wanted then that’s great! If you don’t enjoy doing
loads of sprint sessions or tempo training then don’t just adapt to what the
club does. In my opinion a good running club should have a lot of different
type of runs throughout the week that mean you can participate in training that
suits you. Therefore experiment with what is good for you when reconfiguring
your training plan after joining a club. I was given a pretty intensive
training plan by the coach at the club I joined, and it took me around three to
four weeks before I could properly adjust to the programme.
This brings
me onto the issues patience and time. When I took on the new training
techniques/ mileage I did feel overwhelmed and pretty tired to be honest with
you. It is only as I approach the end of marathon training and the beginning of
my taper that I am starting to adjust to the extra miles and techniques I have
been putting in place. Also you will be receiving a lot of advice from a whole
variety of runners. Some you will find useful, some you won’t. It can be tiring
taking in all that information. So just listen to what people are telling you,
it’s a great way of picking up advice that in some cases you would have to pay
for. A further point to make about time and patience, is getting to know people.
From my experience so far, unless you are an exceptional runner (e.g. a half
marathon in 1hr 10minutes say) then people are not going to rush to greet you.
Like a lot of things running related you have to put in hard work to get to know
people and get involved in events. It’s a two-way relationship, you can only
expect people to get to know you if you make the effort to participate in that
particular club’s events.
There are alternatives to the
traditional running clubs
I mentioned
above that the reason for me joining an established running club was because it
was near to where I live (so I could get to it easily for training after a long
commute), I realised that I needed to alter my training if I was going to get
under three hours, I wanted to join a club that saw the London Marathon as one
of its main events and had coaches who would give advice on where I needed to
adjust my training. So far I have found this to be quite beneficial, however it
is not for everyone. My fiancée and a friend both use different running groups.
So what is the difference between running clubs and groups?
- · Running groups appear to be quite modern compared to traditional clubs. In part they were founded on making running more open and accessible. Just take a look at the websites at the bottom of this section and you will see what I mean.
- · Running groups usually have corporate sponsorship of some sort. The two groups I have listed below are primarily sponsored by Nike and Adidas.
- · Running clubs are especially interested in runners that can boost their position in leagues, therefore it can lead to them placing a great emphasis on finishing positions/ times in races. With running groups the emphasis is more about the philosophy, experience, community and/ or the journey that people have when running.
- · Running clubs tend to be more structured in their approach to training. This is could be because they tend to compete in events throughout the year and therefore need to prepare for these.
- · With running groups the membership can become exclusive because membership can close after a certain number of people have joined that group, whereas running clubs are pretty much open most of the time.
I have also
included three other websites: Run England, Run Britain and England Athletics.
This is to aid you in your research into running- or any other sports you may
be interested in- and what is going on in the running community.
http://www.rundemcrew.com/ - One of the first running groups
around to start looking at running from a more urban perspective, with an
emphasis on the experience as well as community of running.
http://ar-endurancesports.com/ - Combines the community experience
of rundemcrew with the traditional
training methods of running clubs. Has lot of other useful information about
running in general too.
http://ldnbrunchclub.co.uk/ - Does what it says on the website:
‘Weekly long runs every Sunday around the streets of London from NikeLab 1948.’
Great community spirit and meets up for a discounted brunch (lunch depending on
how long you take) after a long run.
http://www.runbritain.com/ - Run Britain website.
http://www.runengland.org/ - Run England website.
http://www.englandathletics.org/?hidesplash=1
- England Athletics website
You should be prepare yourself for
being in a competitive environment
Running is a
sport and passion that has many interesting paradoxes to it. A key one is that
you run alongside team mates in a club, but at the same time you are pushing/
competing to be that little bit faster or go that extra distance. We all
approach this in a different number of ways, but it can be unnerving the first
time you enter this sort of situation. What I have found is that people forget
their abilities are unique to them and project onto to other runners.
The point is
that you will never know what another person’s ability is or what exactly they
are capable, so it is pointless comparing yourself to them. Nevertheless people
continue to do so. You will simply never entirely know why someone is good/ bad
at a particular aspect of running. The most important thing is to focus on
yourself and the particular goal you are training for.
We will
encounter people with a whole variety of abilities at a running club/ group,
but the most important thing to remember is why we joined and what our goals
are; rather than comparing ourselves to other people and what they are trying
to achieve.
What I’ve learnt from joining a
running club
It has
turned out to be a really great thing joining the running club. I have met some
great people and pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible. Also on the
days where I didn’t really want to run, was getting fed up of doing the
marathon training or that I felt intimidated by the training; running with a
group of like-minded people helped me push though and feel grateful that I had
completed that particular bit of training. The advice that I have been given by
some of the people at the club has been invaluable. Also the yearly membership
is really just a token amount when you consider this pays for use of a club
gym, weekly track sessions, free or discounted entry to races and being able to
train with people at your ability. One of the things that immediately impressed
me about joining the club, was within the first week of joining I was given a
training plan that gave me an understanding of what I would need to do to
complete a marathon in under 3 hours. So my final words would be to find a
running club, group or whatever helps you go running and just enjoy it. The
most important thing is doing something which you like and will stick at.
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