Is it common to do all of your running alone?

All my running, with the exception of racing and club workouts, is solo. With club workouts, if it's on the track it's not too much of a problem (though I sometimes get sucked in to 'racing the workout', which isn't good) because it's a fairly small area, giving you the social aspect but still allowing you to do your own thing. Efforts on roads are a pain as, depending on who's in the group, sometimes I end up dropping the others. I'd rather do road efforts solo.

Yes it is common to train alone. If you think you need a training partner or run with a group you are mindweak.

When you turn 40 you will... but most of you young guys wont be running by then....

One of the things I love most about running is the solitude.

Karl Hungus wrote:

Let's be honest wrote:

And then you immediately go on Craig's List to post your latest "missed connection"

I'm not on trial here.

Defendants don’t get to decide if they are on trial.

Karl Hungus wrote:

I'm not on trial here.

No need to get defensive

Why should sex be the only thing the regulars do alone?

I always train alone. I do not see having a training partner as a luxury. So much simpler getting my training in without having to coordinate schedules. Not to mention my running is needed alone time where I can get away work, family, etc.

B1G wrote:

I always train alone. I do not see having a training partner as a luxury. So much simpler getting my training in without having to coordinate schedules. Not to mention my running is needed alone time where I can get away work, family, etc.

I think most people would like a mix of both. I know I would. I can’t imagin any runner not enjoying the solitude of solo runs. That’s part of the basic appeal of the sport/activity.

However, for me, I would love to train with a partner or a group for up to maybe a third of my running for all of the obvious reasons everyone would already know here. Runs feel half as long whenever I’m running with others. That’s a great thing on the days you don’t really feel fired up to run.

Alone. Takes to much effort to plan a run with others.

I run alone most of the time but I've often had luck running with college club teams or high school teams for speed workouts. Coaches don't seem to mind, especially when you're better than the majority of their runners and help push their kids.

I have ran almost exclusively alone since my college days have been done. Running with a random running club has never seemed very attractive to me. I would only feel compelled to run with a team, or old teammates. Running alone hasn't bothered me at all, I can run as fast or as slow as I want. I can also run whenever I want, and I can also choose to not run whenever I want.

I may get sick of it one day, but after running with people for the past ~10 years, it's been refreshing.

I am one of those individuals who actually doesn't like a mix of both, at least if it were to be up to a third of runs with someone else as suggested, or even one in 10. Perhaps a run or two once/MONTH with someone else, but other than that, I prefer to be alone. I've gone years running alone before, other than races, depending on the situation.

The biggest issue for me is others who feel they have to yak much or most of the whole time to fill the silence. I enjoy a comment once in a while, but sharing the silence in either solitude or camaraderie is golden for me. That is the kind of companionship I would treasure most, but it is mostly not available. People just won't STF up. If they would, then my feelings about it might change.

Regarding being with others mentally shortening the run, I usually want just the opposite: for the run to last as long as it can mentally within reason. "Real life" will intrude once again all too soon. If I don't feel fired up for run, or at least welcoming the time out on the road, in my case it typically means I ran the previous workout too hard. Since I typically do look forward to runs, I take a lack of mental motivation as a signal I should either ditch that run, shorten it physically, or slow the pace way, way down so it's enjoyable again, instead of trying to trick myself into making it shorter mentally somehow.

Monk wrote:

I take a lack of mental motivation as a signal I should either ditch that run, shorten it physically, or slow the pace way, way down so it's enjoyable again, instead of trying to trick myself into making it shorter mentally somehow.

I don't know, emotions and feelings can be very flighty and fickle; not a great basis for decision making, at least for me. If I only ran when I was fired up to run then I wouldn't run very much. However; if I didn't have a job, family and other life crushing responsibilities and I could really pick and choose exactly when I wanted to run during the day then I would not have many issues.

Lone Wolf wrote:

I do EVERY run, 6-7 times a week alone. I've never had the luxury of a training partner. Is it common for most on here to train alone? Due to schedule constraints, and ability differences, finding a viable running partner(s) has just never happened for me. For reference, I'm 35 years old and run between 55-70 miles per week.

In fifty years of running, if you totalled all the days when I ran with someone I doubt they'd add up to much more than 9-10 years. And most of those days would be days when I was on high school or college teams and ran with the teams at practices. I did really high miles, usually on top of a day's work and found that arranging to run with someone, driving to a meeting place, maybe waiting for them to show up, maybe getting stuck in traffic on the way to the arranged place, just took up too much time. So I'd run alone. After years of doing it, I really prefer it.

Yes, it is very common for adults to be bad at making new friends despite having shared hobbies.

I do 99.9% of my runs alone. This morning, sheerly by chance, I drove across town for the first time since mid-June to do a hill workout that starts near a hotel. A guy in a Jaguar pulled into the same empty parking lot. He turned out to be a former local star, Kenyan, who I've known in a low-key way for more than a decade (I patronize a store he owns and we always chat) but have never run with. So we ran. Whew! He was going very easy on me, but I still hit my max HR (190) up the final hill.

But that's a rarity for me. Almost always alone. Two or three runs a year, maybe, with somebody else.

Like most in our 40's, its hard to meet up during weekdays due to work, family, etc... and so I just do my runs alone M-F. However, I often meet up with buddies for long Sunday morning runs, and sometimes we meet on Saturdays as well. I can pretty much count on running with others 1 day/week.

and sometimes you want to be alone, but the pair of runners up ahead or a half mile away are talking so loud, the peace and solitude of the woods are gone.