training on your own vs with a group

Whichever is more likely to have a better coach.

Go it alone. You can run your own schedule, get up when you want, don't have to listen to others opinions.

solo sal wrote:

Go it alone. You can run your own schedule, get up when you want, don't have to listen to others opinions.

You've got a point, I can definitely see the benefits of going it alone. I have spent many hours of my life waiting for people, and running is the main contributor to this total.

BUT - there are some notable benefits to running in a group, or even just a pair, like the boredom factor on some long runs, the slight competition that can help a tempo run, the motivation to push that little bit harder. Sometimes just having someone to chat to on runs makes the time fly by so much quicker.

I train alone a lot though. I don't think it makes you a worse runner, and recovery runs are at appropriate paces if you're alone.

I think a mix is good, you need to know what it is like to push hard by yourself up ahead or in no-man's land in races.

When I was a kid, the group included older, faster athletes whom I would chase and chase. Nowadays, I rarely hit that intensity and am not sure that it's necessarily a good thing.

I much prefer training alone than in a big group. It's part of why I didn't like running for my college team. My coach believed that group training was the secret to being good at running. This was his logic:

1. Kenyan's are fast

2. Kenyan's often train in large groups

3. Kenyan's are fast because they train in large groups

4. If we train as a big group we will be faster

So we would have lots of workouts where a group of 10-15 guys of wildly different ability levels would all be running the same pace. Some guys would be pushing too hard and would run themselves into the ground trying to stick with the group, and for other guys it would be too easy and it wouldn't be enough of a workout. Track workouts were the worst. We would run in a long line, two runners abreast. Everyone took turns leading a rep. If you passed anyone you got yelled at by your teammates, and if you fell off the pace you got yelled at by the coach.

I've been in the working world for three years now and I'm much faster than I ever was in college. I get to decide when to run, what to run, where to run, and how fast to run. I've rediscovered the love of running that I lost when I was running for a team. I do savor the rare days when I get to train with a partner or a small group, but this is nothing like the rigid, large group training situations of my college career. Group training is enjoyable for me when 1. the group is small (2-4 people) 2. everyone in the group is at a similar ability level 3. nobody feels pressure to do the same pace and workout as everybody else - it just flows naturally.

Ideally I'd like to train with a group two or three times a week for long runs, tempos, and intervals. Once you are away from a team the catch is finding the right kind of people.

In college it was cutthroat and the coaches didn't mind that. So someone wanted to run at sub 6 pace on a recovery day, or race the intervals--good that'll make you tougher.

Most post college groups I've tried haven't worked.

Jumped in for a few months with a club in a well known running town (what do you expect from Boulder?), but they (the locals) never gave the time of day. Would not even acknowledge another's presense unless asked a question.

Tried another group, but they did the same thing every week at the same pace and if you deviated you got yelled at. I wanted to race faster than 16:30 for 5K.

Did another club stint, but their daily runs were all barn burners, starting conversational and then picking it up to sub 6. Next day 14X 400s. The regulars would give me dirty looks when I wouldn't show up often, lagged in the workouts, but was 2-3 min ahead in the races. Fun times.

Nevertheless, if you can find the right group or train yourself to push when needed, hold back when you need recovery, then groups or training partners are good.

Whenever I see 2 or more runners doing a workout together I know at most only 1 of them is running the right speed.

and at most at least 1 guy gets better.

don't get caught up in the theoretical view of running and make it too complicated. Its simple and doing workouts in a group and pushing is good in combination with an open ear to your body.

Training is very much like sex, there are benefits to having sex with a group and having sex alone.

I believe that training with a group is most beneficial because you can chase after the faster runners and work as group to get through a workout together, however long easy runs you should go it alone.