Club running minimum standards

Pacing Mule

Just wondering / looking for a ballpark fitness standard for club running. I do understand that fit for life level caters for absolute beginners and up. But at what point would you expect to cross over and be able to hold your own within the senior club. Would that vary from club to club or is there a reasonable standard can do a 10k in X minutes line to cross.

ECOLII

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Just wondering / looking for a ballpark fitness standard for club running. I do understand that fit for life level caters for absolute beginners and up. But at what point would you expect to cross over and be able to hold your own within the senior club. Would that vary from club to club or is there a reasonable standard can do a 10k in X minutes line to cross.

Just had a look at the 5 mile results from Raheny to give some perspective here are the ranges of some clubs

Club|Fastest|Slowest|
Tallaght|28.11|54.28
Brothers Pearse|28.31|57.56
Sportsworld|25.36|48.39
Donore|27.01|47.45
Raheny|23.44|58.32
Rathfarnham|24.29|34.47

Pacing Mule

ECOLII wrote: »

Just had a look at the 5 mile results from Raheny to give some perspective here are the ranges of some clubs

Club|Fastest|Slowest|
Tallaght|28.11|54.28
Brothers Pearse|28.31|57.56
Sportsworld|25.36|48.39
Donore|27.01|47.45
Raheny|23.44|58.32
Rathfarnham|24.29|34.47

But those results would also include the Fit4Life groups wouldn't they ?

Netwerk Errer

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Just wondering / looking for a ballpark fitness standard for club running. I do understand that fit for life level caters for absolute beginners and up. But at what point would you expect to cross over and be able to hold your own within the senior club. Would that vary from club to club or is there a reasonable standard can do a 10k in X minutes line to cross.

There is no magical standard for joining a club. The encompass all ability levels from race winners to first time runners. Our club for instance ranges from National medalists to 70-80 minute 10k runners and is actually denser in the number of people from 45-60 minutes for 10k. There is always someone close to your ability in a club and if not, the people ahead motivate you to improve.

I don't understand why people get intimidated by joining a club, all the members are likeminded and just normal people. Join if you want to improve or have another social outlet, it's as simple as that.

ECOLII

Pacing Mule wrote: »

But those results would also include the Fit4Life groups wouldn't they ?

Yes they would but generally there tends to be an overlap of the two. I know in my own club that there are some of the Fit4Life group that would surpass many of the more experienced club members in races.

The Fit4life is a less intimidating name given to an entry level group within many clubs it is not a hierarchy that you must progress from at a certain level of ability

Pacing Mule

Netwerk Errer wrote: »

There is no magical standard for joining a club. The encompass all ability levels from race winners to first time runners. Our club for instance ranges from National medalists to 70-80 minute 10k runners and is actually denser in the number of people from 45-60 minutes for 10k. There is always someone close to your ability in a club and if not, the people ahead motivate you to improve.

I don't understand why people get intimidated by joining a club, all the members are likeminded and just normal people. Join if you want to improve or have another social outlet, it's as simple as that.

I'm not actually asking from an intimidation point of view. I've 3 local(ish) clubs whom I have contacted at various stages along the way.

One clubs representative told me not to join their fit4life as I would have been too good for it and the only bloke there but at same time I would have been off the pace for the senior setup.

One other club I did join their fit4life group which was a lot more advanced than the first clubs but tbvh didn't particularly feel there was much coaching going on. More of one coach organising it but not actually coaching.

Recently contacted a third club who mailed me back saying drop down to their fit4life session but the day its on doesn't suit me at all.

For perspective ran 38:15 in the Raheny 5 miler last weekend. I'm wondering how far off the lower end of the seniors that makes me. I'm not afraid of joining a club at all but at same time don't want to be slotting into the wrong group.

ECOLII

Pacing Mule wrote: »

I'm not actually asking from an intimidation point of view. I've 3 local(ish) clubs whom I have contacted at various stages along the way.

One clubs representative told me not to join their fit4life as I would have been too good for it and the only bloke there but at same time I would have been off the pace for the senior setup.

One other club I did join their fit4life group which was a lot more advanced than the first clubs but tbvh didn't particularly feel there was much coaching going on. More of one coach organising it but not actually coaching.

Recently contacted a third club who mailed me back saying drop down to their fit4life session but the day its on doesn't suit me at all.

For perspective ran 38:15 in the Raheny 5 miler last weekend. I'm wondering how far off the lower end of the seniors that makes me. I'm not afraid of joining a club at all but at same time don't want to be slotting into the wrong group.

38 range would have you in senior group of nearly all clubs to be honest beyond a fit for life

RayCun

It will vary by club. Some clubs aren't really set up for slower runners - with the best will in the world, if you're finishing half a mile behind the next person a tempo run, or you have to start your reps on your own to get enough recovery, the club isn't for you. But I think most clubs have a wide spread of abilities, and enough people at every level that you can find a bunch to run with.

We more or less take the attitude that if you can run a parkrun you can join the club. You won't get left behind in the warmup run, you'll do the same session as everyone else, there'll be others with you. There's a steady stream of people joining at the lower end, so there'll always people to run with.

RayCun

oh, and we don't have a separate fit4life section, so there's no gap between fit4life and senior groups. People get better gradually and they don't want to leave their friends behind, and they don't feel confident about making a step up, so we try to make it seamless.

pconn062

Depends on the club. In my club for example, 38 minutes for 5 mile means you would probably be our slowest senior athlete. However our neighbouring club, that time would have you in the middle-faster end of their seniors. This is because we have a relatively small senior contingent and have never really been set up for slower runners (slow being a relative term, compared to a lot of the guys in my club, I am very slow). To combat this we have set up another training night that caters for beginner/slower runners (not a Fit4life). I imagine most big clubs in Dublin would cater for all abilities.

kal7

I gave a talk to some prospective runners recently. I asked the runners toward back of our club session what pace they started coming to track session at. I know it would be markedly different for all clubs.

I said 2min 10sec for 400m for average split over the session, they thought maybe 2.30 for few weeks and then 2.10 was about right.
This is easy for some newbies to get a scale on session.

Hope that might be of help. Just go and you will get better.

Tigerandahalf

Unless a club has a decent track the advantages of a club may not be huge. If I was to join one a good track for intervals would be important. Other than that for me a club doesn't have a big pull. Some people love the social side but for me running on my own allows me to clear the head, decide my own pace and decide what session I want to do. I use the parkruns for a lot of my tempo or faster sessions and other than that I am happy enough to run on my local route which begins outside my house. Saying that I wouldn't rule out joining one at some stage in the future especially if kids wanted to get involved.

KielyUnusual

ECOLII wrote: »

Just had a look at the 5 mile results from Raheny to give some perspective here are the ranges of some clubs

Club|Fastest|Slowest|
Tallaght|28.11|54.28
Brothers Pearse|28.31|57.56
Sportsworld|25.36|48.39
Donore|27.01|47.45
Raheny|23.44|58.32
Rathfarnham|24.29|34.47

One big Dublin club missing there .

For my club (Crusaders), there are three groups and this covers the full spectrum of abilities. You'd definitely find a few similar level runners to pace off during sessions.

Where are you based? I'm sure there's a club that would have a structure that would suit you but if the location is no good then it's not much use. The 6.30 starts for almost all clubs can provide a bit of difficulty.

Darren 83

I wouldn't worry too much about slotting in the wrong group, I'm sure they have some structure to fit you in the proper group . Why not just have a few sessions with each club and see how you get on.

P_Fitz

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Unless a club has a decent track the advantages of a club may not be huge. If I was to join one a good track for intervals would be important. Other than that for me a club doesn't have a big pull. Some people love the social side but for me running on my own allows me to clear the head, decide my own pace and decide what session I want to do. I use the parkruns for a lot of my tempo or faster sessions and other than that I am happy enough to run on my local route which begins outside my house. Saying that I wouldn't rule out joining one at some stage in the future especially if kids wanted to get involved.

I wouldn't agree with you there. For me joining a club has made a massive difference, it's a hell of a lot easier doing speed sessions with others than by yourself. But i do enjoy also doing some easy runs by myself, helps clear the head as you say.

For new runners i don't see any advantage of doing intervals on a track as opposed to road or park.

Tigerandahalf

P_Fitz wrote: »

For new runners i don't see any advantage of doing intervals on a track as opposed to road or park.

Very hard to run flat out in a park or road/footpath as you are likely to get in the way of other people plus traffic lights etc. The track is handy as you know where your markers are and nobody is going to get in your way. Different strokes for different folks.

Chivito550

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

The track is handy as you know where your markers are and nobody is going to get in your way.

You've clearly never been to Irishtown during a summer's Saturday morning!