I should have joined a club sooner

rom

So after running for about 2 years (mostly on my own) I took a big step yesterday and went to my local club for a training session. I must say that I preconceived notion that I wouldn't enjoy it. I think it stems from my cross country days of being told to do endless laps of a pitch with nothing to break the boredom.

After a lot of research into my local clubs it seem like it best suited my work schedule and events I like that being road races. Also the age of people in the club varied from those in the game a long time to myself which seemed perfect for me.

So due to some confusion on my part I turned up late. I thought there would be a group warmup before training started but I'll know next time to turn up at the right time. The club is St. Finbarrs in Cork. I met with the trainers and they were very friendly and positive after asking me basic questions about my running experience. I fell in with one of the groups that were doing drills. The banter and fun nature of doing the drill made it much easier to do. To be honest I was disappointed when training was over.

The main worry I had was that the only interest from trainers etc would be in those performing at the top of a race results but this was not the case.I am not saying that I am not working towards that but it may not interest some people. I am just stating that there IS a place in your local club if you are just running to keep fit and maybe do the odd race.

They train three times a week so next training is Monday where I will do 4 or 8 miles (2 loops) on the road. Looking forward to it already.

Give it a go, you may like it as much as me.

Getonwithit

rom wrote: »

So after running for about 2 years (mostly on my own) I took a big step yesterday and went to my local club for a training session. I must say that I preconceived notion that I wouldn't enjoy it. I think it stems from my cross country days of being told to do endless laps of a pitch with nothing to break the boredom.

After a lot of research into my local clubs it seem like it best suited my work schedule and events I like that being road races. Also the age of people in the club varied from those in the game a long time to myself which seemed perfect for me.

So due to some confusion on my part I turned up late. I thought there would be a group warmup before training started but I'll know next time to turn up at the right time. The club is St. Finbarrs in Cork. I met with the trainers and they were very friendly and positive after asking me basic questions about my running experience. I fell in with one of the groups that were doing drills. The banter and fun nature of doing the drill made it much easier to do. To be honest I was disappointed when training was over.

The main worry I had was that the only interest from trainers etc would be in those performing at the top of a race results but this was not the case.I am not saying that I am not working towards that but it may not interest some people. I am just stating that there IS a place in your local club if you are just running to keep fit and maybe do the odd race.

They train three times a week so next training is Monday where I will do 4 or 8 miles (2 loops) on the road. Looking forward to it already.

Give it a go, you may like it as much as me.

Great post. I think as important as anything in this story is the club you approached. Some clubs are welcoming to new adult runners some aren't. We don't need to mention the latter but perhaps if people could mention the club they sign up with ESP if it was a positive experience..
Promote the good guys and maybe help guide people like yourself looking for a club, to the right club. Was at the National league in athlone last Sunday week and fair play to the corkonians, 3 different clubs there represented. Bandon seemed to have filled the bus! Theres a running boom and for the good of the sport we (irish athletics comminity) need to try and benefit from it.Good clubs can attract good people into our sport and from little acorns...
Can a moderator set up such a thread or would it be better if people wanted to mention the good guys in here?

BobMac104

Great post Rom. I couldn't agree enough. Joining a club has made a huge difference to me. I enjoy it so much more and everyone is so encouraging and helpful. If you are on the fence about it then i say go for it.

SnappyDresser

I think it depends on where you are currently at and what your goals are. Mine are to run as many marathons as possible. I dont need a club to do that. I am also at an age when improvement would need extra training and it aint worth it and I am very self motivated and dont want to be pally with others. But each to their own.

Chartsengrafs

i008787 wrote: »

I think it depends on where you are currently at and what your goals are. Mine are to run as many marathons as possible. I dont need a club to do that. I am also at an age when improvement would need extra training and it aint worth it and I am very self motivated and dont want to be pally with others. But each to their own.

Don't think you need a club for anything and pretty sure rom wasn't implying that. Also as what age can you improve without extra training??!!

FWIW, not in a club myself.

TFBubendorfer

i008787 wrote: »

I am also at an age when improvement would need extra training and it aint worth it

Bizarre statement :eek:

robinph

Basster wrote: »

Also as what age can you improve without extra training??!!

Age 10-20'ish probably doesn't require much effort in order to make huge improvements.

Clubs may not make you quicker, but they are much more social than just plodding out the miles on your own all the time. I wasn't interested in joining a club a few years ago, delighted that I did cave in and join one now though.

shels4ever

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Bizarre statement :eek:

Not really, some people are just happy to get out the door and run and have other things going on in life. If your happy to run and compte fair play once your enjoying it. Not everyone runs to race and improve.Just getting out the door sometimes it the main goal.

TFBubendorfer

shels4ever wrote: »

Not really, some people are just happy to get out the door and run and have other things going on in life. If your happy to run and compte fair play once your enjoying it. Not everyone runs to race and improve.Just getting out the door sometimes it the main goal.

I'm perfectly aware that plenty of people are perfectly happy to just run without competing. It was the comment about the age that I found really weird, not the fact that he doesn't want to work hard to improve.

dna_leri

Basster wrote: »

. Also as what age can you improve without extra training??!!

.

At most ages you will maintain your current level without extra training. However early in your running career you will see improvements with fairly steady training, eventually that will plateau. You then need to ask yourself do I want to do more in order to improve. Eventually all of us will reach a stage (or age) in life when we say "no - I am not going to increase my level of training, or do extra training in order to improve". That will happen when your body says "enough - you can't do any more" or your mind decides you do not want to put in the extra hours or effort. Then you either stop or maintain i.e. not do extra training.

Outside

Delighted I spotted this thread. I too am on the fence at the minute. Been running about a year and a half now pretty regularly. I find when I meet someone else that runs I get great enjoyment out of just talking about running and finding out what works for different people and maybe incorporating things I've learned into my own training.

Currently not with a club at the moment but based in galway City so I'm planing on popping down to the Galway City Harriers track session tomorrow night :-o wish me luck!!

I'll keep ye all posted.

spurscormac

Outside wrote: »

Delighted I spotted this thread. I too am on the fence at the minute. Been running about a year and a half now pretty regularly. I find when I meet someone else that runs I get great enjoyment out of just talking about running and finding out what works for different people and maybe incorporating things I've learned into my own training.

Currently not with a club at the moment but based in galway City so I'm planing on popping down to the Galway City Harriers track session tomorrow night :-o wish me luck!!

I'll keep ye all posted.

We're a friendly bunch, honest.
Will probably see you there - even if it does mean missing the footie.

D Chief

I too am on that fence. I have been thinking lately about joining a club and there are plenty of clubs near me (West Dublin), but I'm in my mid-forties, only doing running for 2 1/2 years and my best 5k is 23.30, marathon in 3:59. I just can't get over the feeling that I'd be out of place in a club. What's the point in a club having a slow old novice like me? Well, slow for a club runner and old for a novice. It just seems a bit ridiculous to be joining a running club at 46 years of age.

The reason I'd like to join a club is because I would like to improve, but I don't want to feel out of place. I don't want to be struggling to keep up with everyone else. I could join a fit4life group maybe, but I'm not sure how much I'd get out of that. I'm looking for improvement, not a social outing.

Timmaay

D Chief wrote: »

The reason I'd like to join a club is because I would like to improve, but I don't want to feel out of place. I don't want to be struggling to keep up with everyone else. I could join a fit4life group maybe, but I'm not sure how much I'd get out of that. I'm looking for improvement, not a social outing.

23mins for 5k is actually probably the average time in most races! But trust me, at 23mins it is unlikely that you are going to be far off the pace at all, unless its a really elite club. At mid-40s, you are far from "past it" as such, plenty of room for improvement, I know plenty of lads in their 40s who started out barely able to run 5k in 30mins to consistently doing 17/18mins now.

For a hell of alot of clubs, in terms of the standard of athletes, its often actually opposite, the fast runner ends up too fast for most the memebers of the club rather then the newbies being too slow. Especially case of where they have just one elite runner, they are so far ahead of everyone else that they endup training alone!

And yep, improvement is what we all are looking for ha, but trust me, in the depths of rain/cold miserable winter nights, it's much much easier to head out and do a session when there is a bunch of other people out there also to train with, then motivate yourself to go out on yourown!

sportfanatic

I'm in a similar situation. My most recent race was 42.06 for 10km without much training. I'm living in Clontarf, is there a club close by that would be suitable?

robinph

D Chief wrote: »

What's the point in a club having a slow old novice like me?

When you hear the likes of Brendan Foster talking about "average club runners" finishing marathons in 3 hours on his commentary of London Marathon... he's talking b8lix and giving the completely wrong impression of who it is that runs in athletics clubs. There are a very small number of people in any club who will be running that fast and most club members are a lot more "normal" than many people would think.

rom

So I had a second training session tonight (may be better to get this moved to training logs as I would like to continue it) but unlike other training logs I would rather try my best to talk about everything else than my running.

Reason why is there is lots of logs on here about people progressing from A to B. I don't think I could improve on these. So would like to log my simple experience in running with a club.

So tonight we did a 4 mile loop. After the first loop everyone waited for the stragglers (me included) which was nice. I took it easy tonight as the legs needed a rest. So the first loop was at about 8:30 pace (according to my garmin) for myself with about 9:10~ per mile with those towards the end of our group at a guess.

The group was probably smaller tonight with the Ireland game on.

Then at this stage about 1/2 the group had done enough which is the reason why it's in a loop. The remainder carried on after a few mins break.

The second loop was done at a similar pace for me.
Most of the way around I talked with my fellow runners. I don't know if it is the endorphins but people seem more chatty on a run. I love to run and chat. All the time the positivity for people is great with them throwing out encouraging comments indescribably (very unirish).

At the end everyone left waited at where we met at the start of the training session for a chat which was nice.

I agree that the faster people (as in the clubs top stars) who I know were there (that probably used it as a speed session) were probably doing a different route but that's OK too. But that is a small minority. I am not saying that is a negative thing but just stating the fact that the club is geared towards both, as people have to start somewhere.

Personally I think that people don't realize that there is not much difference between the elite runner and the person who wants to get fit and has joined the club outside of running. People may disagree with me on this but its the case that 99.9% of people have normal jobs, know they will never make more than modest living out of it and do it for their love of the sport.

Would love to get feedback on other experiences of people going to club training sessions also and what they thought. I think I learned it the hard way like everything else in the sport "don't knock it if you haven't tired it".

tHE vAGGABOND

I too have recently joined a club, having done all my training to now on my own [or at boards LSR's in the park!] and I too wish I had joined a club last year now tbh

I picked Crusaders, as I heard they were good and friendly, had good facilities and they are accessible for me from work and home [which is the key thing for me, as I only enjoyed rugby in my past life when I played for clubs where I was able to get training].

I miss the regular club training all the time, but they dont care at all. As long as I show up when I do thats fine. Maybe if I was elite level and part of the organised club teams they would. But I never will be! I am now training with a group doing marathon stuff, and aiming for a similar time I am. A mate from work who went down is doing shorter and faster stuff and has a group of lads he is training with, and his wife is doing fit for life stuff, and is with a club group who is doing that.

All of us far far from elite levels - what clubs do from my POV is enable you find people of a similar mindset and with similar goals and therefore get a few heads to train with...

I would have thought that clubs were elitist - but I was wrong! [....and Im sure if had FAR too much time on your hands and searched my posts I have said it here a bunch of times].

TFBubendorfer

D Chief wrote: »

What's the point in a club having a slow old novice like me? Well, slow for a club runner and old for a novice. It just seems a bit ridiculous to be joining a running club at 46 years of age.

We're presently trying to start (ok, re-start) a running club, and we're desperate for anyone joining us. None of us is an elite runner and we're definitely aiming at getting people off the couch rather than breaking any records.

Most of the runners are in their 30s or 40s and it's not ridiculous at all. Clubs do not automatically have to target the elite section. Getting 10 people off the couch and into a regular exercise regime is more worthwhile than getting one single guy to break 32 minutes in the 10k in my eyes.

HelenAnne

Raheny Shamrock!

http://www.rahenyshamrock.ie/

There are lots of results etc up on the webpage, so you can see there's a wide variety of abilities & levels. People meet to train at 6.30 every day.

HelenAnne

sportfanatic wrote: »

I'm in a similar situation. My most recent race was 42.06 for 10km without much training. I'm living in Clontarf, is there a club close by that would be suitable?

Sorry, my reply above was in response to this!

gerard65

The only reason I don't join a club is the training times. I have three clubs within a stones throw but with training times at 6:30 or 7pm, I'd never make training due to other commitments, so I don't see the point of joining if I'd never be there. If I could find a club or group who met a hour later, say 8pm, I would join.
@robinph. In Brendan Foster's day a 3 hour marathon runner was a good club athlete, but thats a different story.

SnappyDresser

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

Bizarre statement :eek:

I think you miss read my statement. I am 46 and train about 3 times a week. To bring down my marathon times I might need to train an extra couple of days a week but for a faster 20/30 minutes it is not worth it for me. I did a 3:11 when I was 17 and most of my marathon times are in the 3:40 - 4:15 now depending on the course. I simply now want to run as many marathons as possible. Hopefully hitting the 100. That is my sole goal. Time is not important. As the great lasse viren said most over 40 runners take athletics far too seriously. They should simply enjoy it!

Clearlier

D Chief wrote: »

I too am on that fence. I have been thinking lately about joining a club and there are plenty of clubs near me (West Dublin), but I'm in my mid-forties, only doing running for 2 1/2 years and my best 5k is 23.30, marathon in 3:59. I just can't get over the feeling that I'd be out of place in a club. What's the point in a club having a slow old novice like me? Well, slow for a club runner and old for a novice. It just seems a bit ridiculous to be joining a running club at 46 years of age.

The reason I'd like to join a club is because I would like to improve, but I don't want to feel out of place. I don't want to be struggling to keep up with everyone else. I could join a fit4life group maybe, but I'm not sure how much I'd get out of that. I'm looking for improvement, not a social outing.

Extra running will improve you even if it's slow (unless you're already doing 120+mpw and even then it might).

My own club has a bit of a reputation locally as being for elite runners. Yet our group training sessions are always arranged so that anybody can join in. We have a very definite policy of welcoming everybody - member or not - and we regularly have sessions where a 2 hour half marathon runner will do the same session as the sub 70 guys with all levels in between. It may be a little daunting initially when you think you're flying and somebody goes by you like you're standing still but it helps to redefine where you think your limits are. You also get to pick the brains of the fast guys about how to train if you want to get to that level.

I don't see any reason not to at least come along to a couple of sessions at a club (assuming there aren't logistical issues) and see if you like it. If you haven't tried I don't know how you can possibly know that it's not for you.

Outside

No longer sitting on the fence, I'm joining a running club! Didn't know what to expect at first. Turned up at 7pm and ended up meeting 3 other people also trying out a running club for the very first time. All different backgrounds. A girl aiming for her first marathon (Dublin). A sprinter who hadn't trained in 22 years. A runner looking to join in with a group a hopefully improve his times - same as myself really!

Did a nice slow warm-up then everyone spread out and did a few stretches to loosen out, everyone chatting away mad, very relaxed. The club secretary came around then taking everyones name. I told her I wasn't a member yet to which she replied that next week make sure to be a member of a club. Not necessarily their club but any club I wanted! Just for insurance reasons, I though that was pretty nice.

Split up into groups according to our abilities and did 6 x 800m intervals. Only found out at the track that its 400m long by asking someone next to me!

We started with a few "strides" first to properly get the legs going. Then started into the real training session. You could take it as hard or as easy as you liked. Ideally aiming for 8k pace. No idea what that was so I just ran on how I felt. Maybe pushed a bit too hard at the start and payed for it in the last two. Apparently the idea is to do all the laps the same time, if not getting a bit faster every lap. Easire said than done of course!

My favorite bit was the warm down where we got together and jogged around the track for 6 or 7 laps, chatting away as we did. I couldn't believe the experience the helpfulness of the people around me. Recognized the guy I was running beside on the warm down from winning most of the local 5 and 10k races. Great to casually be able to chat to people of that level and find out what worked for them when they were starting out.

Came away from the track feeling inspired and in awe. It added a breath of fresh air to my running life which was honestly getting a bit stale. Looking forward to the next track session already! Wish I could say the same for my legs though!

Sacksian

I was going to start a new thread but I'll just ask here. I've decided to join a club.

Donore has a track and I do all of my running in the Phoenix Park, so it's only a short hop from there. If any Donore people can share their experience of the club with me, I'd really appreciate it. Can I use the track on my own (I mostly train in the mornings)? What are the expectations with regard to races, etc?

Thanks.

cnlbel

Hi-not sure if this is right place for this but-recently started running-it's going slowly and feel may e joining a club will improve me re speed time and fitness. I'm based in Dublin 7 so somewhere close to there. Any advice would be appreciated!

CS_Runner

The only thing I can add here is, I started running 4 years ago age 44, I ran on my own for a couple of years my pace did improve a bit on my own, but ever since i joined my club nearly 2 years ago my fitness, stamina, pace has improved big time.

I suppose if I was doing the correct training I might get the sames results on my own ?

RayCun

cnlbel wrote: »

Hi-not sure if this is right place for this but-recently started running-it's going slowly and feel may e joining a club will improve me re speed time and fitness. I'm based in Dublin 7 so somewhere close to there. Any advice would be appreciated!

There's loads of them based in and around the park - Liffey Valley AC, Donore Harriers, Dublin Front Runners, Phoenix Park runners (aka Civil Service Harriers)... probably more I'm forgetting

seanie_m

Hi, I was thinking about joining up with a club too. I live in Ranelagh, so closest club to me is probably Crusaders with Rathfarnham close enough too, is anybody here a member of either of those two clubs? I'm sure either would be fine & very welcoming to new members but I was just wondering if anybody had an opinion on the matter! thanks! :cool:

gerard65

seanie_m wrote: »

Hi, I was thinking about joining up with a club too. I live in Ranelagh, so closest club to me is probably Crusaders with Rathfarnham close enough too, is anybody here a member of either of those two clubs? I'm sure either would be fine & very welcoming to new members but I was just wondering if anybody had an opinion on the matter! thanks! :cool:

7
Sportsworld train in Bushy Park. They cater for all levels. A couple of posters here are members.
http://www.sportsworld-terenure.ie/

tHE vAGGABOND

Quite a new member of crusaders here - top bunch, very friendly and folks of all levels of ability there which is good

All the training details is on crusadersac.org - you should pop down once or twice and see if you like it!

Ms collie

Sacksian wrote: »

I was going to start a new thread but I'll just ask here. I've decided to join a club.

Donore has a track and I do all of my running in the Phoenix Park, so it's only a short hop from there. If any Donore people can share their experience of the club with me, I'd really appreciate it. Can I use the track on my own (I mostly train in the mornings)? What are the expectations with regard to races, etc?

Thanks.

Hi - once you are a paid up member of Donore you can use the track and the clubhouse when you want during the daytime but there may be times where a school has booked it for the morning during term time etc but usually you can get it when you want. Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoons the gates are closed. Club nights are Tuesday and Thursday and there is a Fit4 life group on Monday and Wednesday. There are a few different groups and we are a friendly bunch so come along!