'we off clubbing tonight?' - a common question between me and my mate Steve, on a Tuesday. He once actually thought I meant, are we going to a hip music event at a dingy ex-mill or warehouse. I meant, are we off to train with the running club.
Early this year I decided to dip my toe in the water of running with a club. I've always been a lone wild runner, enjoy training with friends now and then. But the arguments for were good - directed speed training isn't something many people can do alone, I take my hat off to anyone who can do the right amount of reps at the right pace without someone shouting at them. Other runners swore they got loads faster after joining, etc.
I was on the fence. I tried it anyway.
Half a year down the line I can't say I'm a dedicated member. I make maybe 3 sessions a month out of a possible 8. At the beginning it was odd, no-one told me what to do, I didn't know anything about the rules, or whether to get a club vest, no-one mentioned any events.
After a while it changed, after I entered a few races I knew some others would be going to. It's fun to be part of a team, us versus the ones in the other-coloured vests. Then I got all giddy and joined one of the other-coloured vest clubs. I now have one club for road-running and one for fell-running, and I'm just about managing to keep up both.
Being with a club has changed the way I train. I used to train in the gaps in the days before breakfast, on the way home from work, on lunchbreaks. Now I can do two fun sessions with people I know in the evenings. However I now value and covet my 'alone' runs of a weekend or a lunchtime Headphones in, thoughts going along by themselves. I am essentially a lone wolf with a sociable bent, which is a bit schizophrenic but there you are.
So this summer's been different and I did get faster, new 5k and 6 mile PBs and lots of messing about in the hills, though I attribute the speed to the hills I've run up rather than the track laps. I'm now on another enforced rest due to a new injury but I'm looking forward to donning my coloured vests again in the Spring.
Early this year I decided to dip my toe in the water of running with a club. I've always been a lone wild runner, enjoy training with friends now and then. But the arguments for were good - directed speed training isn't something many people can do alone, I take my hat off to anyone who can do the right amount of reps at the right pace without someone shouting at them. Other runners swore they got loads faster after joining, etc.
I was on the fence. I tried it anyway.
Half a year down the line I can't say I'm a dedicated member. I make maybe 3 sessions a month out of a possible 8. At the beginning it was odd, no-one told me what to do, I didn't know anything about the rules, or whether to get a club vest, no-one mentioned any events.
After a while it changed, after I entered a few races I knew some others would be going to. It's fun to be part of a team, us versus the ones in the other-coloured vests. Then I got all giddy and joined one of the other-coloured vest clubs. I now have one club for road-running and one for fell-running, and I'm just about managing to keep up both.
Being with a club has changed the way I train. I used to train in the gaps in the days before breakfast, on the way home from work, on lunchbreaks. Now I can do two fun sessions with people I know in the evenings. However I now value and covet my 'alone' runs of a weekend or a lunchtime Headphones in, thoughts going along by themselves. I am essentially a lone wolf with a sociable bent, which is a bit schizophrenic but there you are.
So this summer's been different and I did get faster, new 5k and 6 mile PBs and lots of messing about in the hills, though I attribute the speed to the hills I've run up rather than the track laps. I'm now on another enforced rest due to a new injury but I'm looking forward to donning my coloured vests again in the Spring.
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