Should You Join a Marathon Training Group?

Now obviously I have running and marathon training groups and make a small income from people who desire to run marathons (or half marathons). But when I meet clients for a first time, I sit down with them for 30-45 minutes and ask them a list of questions to see what, if anything, I can do for them and their running goals.

I try to look at every person's situation and see what makes the most sense financially, socially, and within their day-to-day life. While I do believe running groups can help the majority of people to stay motivated, push themselves more, and meet new people. It's finding the right running group for you that is the trick.

Take me, for example, when I was 10-15 years younger, it was hard to find a running group that I could fit into because I was pretty fast. I wasn't a future Olympian, but I was a good local runner. Many groups I found had wonderful people in them, but they all ran at best 7-minute miles. Here I am a guy who could run 450-530 miles from distances from 5k to marathons, and did my training runs usually in the low to mid 6s...It was really defeating the purpose of joining a group. I never had anyone to run with in these groups, and I felt sort of like a "freak" because I was the "fast guy" who no one could ever run with - not fun.

With the internet really coming into it's own over the last 5-10 years, finding people like you has become easier than ever before. Now, you can find runners of all levels on the internet and maybe even find someone in your neck of the woods who has the same ability as you.

You need to ask yourself what kind of group do you wish to be a part of:

1. Competitive group - runners who have time goals, age group studs, hard core training people, and individuals probably racing weekly or at least monthly.

2. Social Running Group - Yes, some of the individual might be some pretty good runners, but the majority of the group are people who do get their training in, but like the social aspect just as much as the running aspect.

3. Training programs - You join these usually with a particular running goal or race in mind (many times its for longer races like half and full marathons) and usually has individuals with a wide range of abilities. These are more structured usually with training schedules attached to them.

4. Track Clubs - These can be low key are more intense, but obviously these are geared towards track events and not on road races.

5. Charity Running Programs - Same as training programs, but you join knowing that you will be raising money for a specific charity and in return you will get training advice, coaches, race entry,
and possible travel expenses all covered at no cost to you (as long as you raise the amount of funds required by the foundation or organization).

6. Online group/program - These are great for those people who simply love to run, have a goal race in mind, but truly have a busy schedule due to work or family commitments, and can never meet up with people on a regular basis.

Whatever direction you choose for your training, I would highly recommend you don't go about training for an event like a marathon (or half marathon) by yourself. Yes, it can be done, but unless you are very intrinsically motivated or you have run a marathon before, usually the do-it-yourself method will lead to injury or disappointment.

At the very least, consult a coach or trainer about a marathon training program you downloaded from the internet and ask him his feelings on the training plan.

Enjoy your training...and train smart