Stupid question maybe

[Cazzajambo]

What do you do at a running club is it just run for an hour or do you do other things? Does it matter how slow you are you join a running club?

[pianoteacher Graduate]

Hi Cazzajambo,

I'm in a running club but only joined a couple of weeks ago so I'm by no means an expert. At my club there are various different runs some during the day some in the evenings and some at the weekend. I can only go during the day and both of those runs are mixed ability 1hr sessions where we go about 10k. There is also track training to help you get faster on a Monday night which I hope to go to over the summer holidays. The run I go on is quite fast (for me) but the other runners are really nice and wait for us slower ones at various points on the run.

My club usually likes you to go to the Wednesday evening group to assess which are the most suitable things for you to join in with. I would suspect most clubs do this to make sure you are on the correct runs for your current ability. I found out quite a lot of information just by looking at my local club's website then went out on a run with them to see if I liked it. I loved it so I joined

[Cazzajambo in reply to pianoteacher]

Thanks for your reply. It's not something I'd ever thought I might like to do but with 6 runs left I'm starting to think I might like to be of an actual group. X

[pianoteacher Graduate in reply to Cazzajambo]

I really enjoy it. We go for a coffee and a chat after the run and they seem to do quite a few social things as well. My club run a Walk2Run programme (a bit like couch25k) which encourages people to do the local parkrun as part of their training so I would imagine there's probably something for all abilities x

[Dexy5 Graduate in reply to Cazzajambo]

Yes I know our local club does c25k so looks after newbie runners as well as the longer distances. They do various length runs on a Monday night. If you go to a local Parkrun you will see representation from local running clubs and can find out which one meets your needs. I am thinking of joining one because they look as though they have a lot of fun and are very supportive of the newbies.

[Elfe5 Graduate]

That’s a good question- I’m interested to see your replies too. 😃

[Irishprincess Graduate]

My club has several groups ranging from C25K to marathon and beyond. The groups in between vary in pace so you choose which one suits you and you change from week to week if you want. We meet once a week, run for an hour and then have a drink and a chat. But there are other runs going on during the week and some members will just ask if someone wants to join them. During the run you can do hills and speed but it's all good fun. Everyone is very supportive.

If you're thinking of joining then pop along to have a look. Most clubs will let you go for a couple of weeks free to see if you like it. You can tell a lot by that first visit - warm welcome, getting you into the right group, introductory talk, a "next of kin" form to fill in, a warm up and cool down. My first attempt at joining a club didn't do any of these and so I didn't go back! But don't get put off, just look for one that gives you what you want.

Here's a post I wrote about my first visit which hopefully will give you an idea what to expect. Let us know how you get on.

healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...