#solo running

[happyfitmama]

Running Solo vs Running with a Group - Just Run

Running Solo vs Running with a Group – Just Run

It’s another edition of Just Run, where each month a group of my running blogger friends gather with their tips, tricks and thoughts on all things running.

In case you missed the previous editions:

Tips for the New Runner

Instagram Tips and Tricks

My Worst Race Ever

My Best Race Ever

5 Things I’d Hate to Run Without

This month we tackle running solo vs running with a group – which is better?

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[fitfriendruns]

Still not sold on this group run thing

This is some ramblings that have flowed from a Lanni Marchant blog post I was reading, so I’m linking up with thinking out loud today. Woohoo!

I was a lone wolf, but for the best part of the past 2 years I had traded in my ways and ran with a pack. 

Now I’m getting in more than my fair share of alone time while in Europe, and I’m definitely salivating in it. 

Elite runner, Lanni Marchant, posted on her blog yesterday that she’s typically a lone wolf runner who occasionally breaks it up and runs in packs (usually for training camps). 

These lines really emphasized the main problems with running in a pack, that I’ve personally experienced anyway:

If it is an easy day, don’t be that jerk who runs two steps in front of your friends. 

…there’s always at least 1 jerk who does this. Save it for race day cowboy.

If it is a hard day, don’t feel bad if your hard effort causes you to stretch away from the group a little bit.

…there’s always at least 1 jerk who gives you eyeroll for doing this.

At the worst of times, I’ve often felt like you’re guilted into shame if you run ahead of your group in workouts. 

Or on the opposite spectrum, you’re made to feel worthless and insignificant if you run behind the group on an easy day (some people like to run their long runs at close to race pace, only to underperform when it comes to an actual race. But that’s a topic for another day).

Thankfully my coaching group paceandmind​ caters to both solo and group approaches, as flexibility is what I prize most.

Lonely runs? Not with scenery like this

So that's the worst of times covered. People talk a lot about the best of times in their blog posts. So we all know what the benefits are of pack running. I would expand on the benefits but I’ll leave this to my wife Alison 😉 She wrote a balanced blog post on group running vs solo running recently, after having experienced both within a short timeframe.

I rarely see balanced blog posts. I see all of these other blog posts on why you should join a run group. 

But everyone’s too scared to be the one to admit that it doesn’t work for them. Kind of like how everyone’s too scared to say that open offices are a shit idea (that trend is finally starting to turn in the past year).

Guess what? If you’re too scared, you’re not going to find out what you’re capable of. Contrary to what’s been the status quo wisdom for 1000’s of years,  fear actually constrains goals. 

Do what you want and train how you want, in the way that works for you! 

Sounds simple, so why do we ignore it? If you’re training to somebody else’s way you’re just holding yourself back. As long as you’re tolerant and respectful to others, then what have you got to worry about?

You want friends? Is that what you’re worried about? Here’s news - if people don’t respect you for quietly being different, they’re not your friends anyway.

[sweatymsbetty]

Solo Night Running

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday about night time running. She expressed that she didn't feel safe to run at night on her own, and I gave her a few tips that have made me more comfortable on my night runs. I hope they're useful for other runners out there who may have the same concerns.

Bring your phone. This might sound obvious, but you don't always have a ton of places to put stuff when you run and maybe your phone gets left behind. I try to keep my phone on my body, or in a pocket rather than in a waist belt. My thinking is that, if someone mugs me, they'll take the waist belt assuming it contains money, a phone. etc.

Let someone know where you're going and what time you'll be back. I plot my routes on mapmyrun.com and usually leave that tab open on my laptop when I go so my husband knows exactly what route I've taken. As he knows my pace, he can make a good guess on when I should be back.

Keep your keys in your hand. This is an old habit of mine from working in a sketchy neighbourhood and having to walk across a massive parking lot at 3am when I finished my shift. I keep my keys in my hand so they can be used as a weapon if I need to. It also serves the same purpose as above. If they're in a stolen waist belt, I'm locked out. To reassure my OCD brain, I keep them on a lanyard and wrap the lanyard around my hand a few times. There's no way I can accidentally drop them.

Run with a dog. This is clearly only an option if you have a dog, but I take my girl on shorter runs at night because she's scary looking to others for some reason. She's a big softie but she's 50 lbs with Rottie markings, so people avoid us. 

Wear something visible. This can be a light that clips on, or a high visibility jacket, but make sure you're not out running at night dressed all in black.

Don't listen to music. If you've got music turned way up, you're less aware of your surroundings.

Run in populated areas. We're lucky to have some beautiful trails around our flat, but I don't go on them at night. They're not lit and you can't tell who's lurking until you're right up on them. I stick to the main roads, even though it makes for a less scenic run.

Take some money. I try to have a few pound on me for night runs, just in case I decide I want to take the bus back because I feel unsafe or so that I can flag a taxi if something comes up. Don't take your whole wallet, but under £10 is a good idea.

-Sweaty Ms. J

[coritahk]

The Perks of Group Running

I’ve always been more comfortable running solo and setting my own pace with the music from my ipod, so when I signed up for a $450 fitness/running program with the Adventist hospital, I was rather skeptical about what it might offer me and whether I would get my money’s worth.

When I saw the brief description of the program on the HKRunner’s website, I was mostly enticed by the fact that the hospital would provide us with a full health and fitness check, which included among other things, analyzing your body composition, cholesterol levels and glucose levels. I decided that since my goal was to improve the quality of my running in terms of time and endurance, it wouldn’t be bad to see what else I needed to work on or be aware of physically.

The program also placed all participants on a training schedule for around 9 months, depending on what they were aiming to achieve – 10K, half marathon or full marathon. I had picked the half-marathon, since Phuket was coming up but was really impressed at the first session this morning when most of the participants opted for the marathon training program. I’ve definitely still got a long way to go! After the introductory presentation, we started our first group run and my half-marathon group only consisted of a handful of people, led by a veteran of the program, a Japanese expat named Tom. He was great though and set us on an easy pace along Bowen. I’m familiar with the Bowen road running route, but by having a few companions with me, I found it really easy to complete the full 8k even without my music.  I was rather surprised at how much I actually liked running with others, especially runners who have had more experience than me racing in various events. In that 50 minutes, I gathered so much information about race courses, stretching tips and local running club activities.

Hopefully, this weekly Sunday morning event will prevent me from being lazy when it comes to waking up early for runs, especially when it’s necessary to during the summer. For instance, we started running at 8ish this morning, but by the time we finished at 9am, the temperature was already starting to climb as the sun came out. It’s no wonder the Phuket marathon starts at 5.30am!

While I’m still on the topic of group running, I’ve also been spending more time with the HK trailrunners group. Although sometimes it takes a little more time and effort to do events with them because you need to wait for people or go at a slower pace than you normally would, I really like being able to explore new routes with them. They tend to do a mixture of roads and trails, which would involve having to do climbs, something that I’ve mentioned time and again that I really need to work on. Someday I will conquer that J.Lo gravity inducing a** of mine!

On Tuesday, I did an easy Lamma island run with the trailrunners group and yesterday I coincidentally ran into them, as they were about to start their Mt. Cameron circular. My original plan had been to go on a junk trip, however, the weather was pretty shite, so I opted out on the junk and went for a solo run instead. As perfect timing would have it, after doing the torturous Wanchai Gap, I found the group still waiting for more peeps to show up. It ended up being great fun and the views from Black’s Link down into Aberdeen are always stunning. I was able to almost keep pace with the faster runners M and G, which boosted my confidence on my ability to improve in long distance running. Trust me, I’m still extremely nervous about my first half…I’d love to be able to meet a 2:00 target even though I think a more realistic time might be between 2:15 and 2:30.

I’m glad that despite my initial reluctance and even aversion to the idea of group running, I decided to finally plunge into it and give it a chance to show me how it can positively drive my training. So to those who believe you only like running alone (especially if you’re a novice), give the group running a try at least once or twice – you might learn a thing or two and enjoy it more than you think!