Lone Wolf or Pack Animal?

Now fully recovered from the punishing schedule that was our holiday in Turkey, I’ve slipped back into training quite nicely. Unfortunately, the sessions didn’t really happen whilst we were away. The constant travel and a nasty, nasty bout of Sinus trouble put paid to that. But once back in Blighty, I launched myself back into the rigours of training.

I found that I’d lost some of the confidence I had gained in the initial few weeks. The first week back was tough, and I was getting slightly injured. An unwise 5 miler knocked me for six, and it is not until now that I feel like I’m ‘back on the bus’. But happily, after an amazing Jubilee Weekend and a decent Parkrun performance, all is back on track and I’m looking forward to racing in the Welsh Castles Relay on Sunday.

On Tuesday, I ran with my squad on a training run for the first time in over a month. It was an enlightening experience and made me realise how different my own training has been. The session turned out to be on grass and was 12 x 90s effort with 90s recovery. Crikey! Running on grass is hard! I’m pleased I did it though as now I’ve got another area/surface I can use for training and one that will help with the XC season in the coming winter. Running/training with others, especially those of similar ability to you can be a bonus or a hindrance. For the bit-too-competitive runner, I wonder is it healthy/productive?

Some athletes benefit from collective training, a highly scientific poll on Twitter showed that quite a few people aren’t fans of Solo training. As would be expected, the Rowers and other participants of Team Sports were pretty much the most vocal in support of group training, but some runners also professed to be fans. It is true that a bit on encouragement can go a long way when you are blowing bubbles in a hard session. However, on Tuesday I realised during the session that I was spending much more time worrying about the position of myself relative to those around me than I was concentrating on my own form/technique and effort. Training solo, I’ve had little else to do than focus on how my body is reacting to a particular effort or session. I’ve found that by doing that, I’ve gained a lot more confidence in my own ability. For me, that is producing good results. If we focus too much on just beating those around us, I don’t think we’re doing ourselves justice as runners. Racing is usually a very personal experience. You can train with the biggest squad in the world, but when it comes to that start line, you’ve only got yourself to rely on. Which phrase is better - “I achieved my potential and won that race...” or “In that race I beat everyone else…”?

Let me ask you this - When you are training in a group, are you actually training for yourself or are you jockeying for a position with your peers? I would suggest the former will bring results and improvements, whilst the latter will bring frustration (and usually injury).