For years, I would run to let off exam steam or to join my dad for the odd Parkrun (something I used to hate), but I never managed to stick to a regular routine. As a society, we seem to have become attached to this idea of a run only counting if it’s at least 5K and done as quickly as possible, so every now and then I’d storm out of the house and sprint around my local 5K route, just to remind myself that I could. Then I wouldn’t run again for another month because it was so unpleasant. And so the cycle would repeat itself.

Until I joined my local running club.

When I say ‘running club’, I don’t mean one of those flashy gangs you see all over social media. I mean a local club with structured training and scheduled sessions. I was so nervous when I attended for the first time but, I had no reason to be; everybody was lovely and supportive, and even though it was an interval session on a track, there was no pressure regarding times or ability.

It was refreshing to chat with people of all ages and backgrounds, and through the club, I met people from across the local running community. Since joining in 2022, I’ve always been able to look up and see a familiar face cheering me on at Parkrun, which is motivating and inspires me to turn up each week.

Advice on anything running-related – kit, trainers, races – is always readily available. When you become part of a club, there’s a sense of accountability, which, in my case, has helped me to form a regular running routine. Having structured and scheduled sessions, which require booking in advance, means that I make more effort to safeguard the time, even in the dark winter months.

Learning about speedwork – like interval training – and introducing it into my running routine quickly helped me shave seconds off my Parkrun PB. Previously, I had been running at the same pace (ie as quickly as I could) on my sporadic 5K runs, and joining the club introduced me to different types of training, including speedwork.

The idea of interval training can be intimidating and overwhelming if you’ve never done it before, but implementing it into your routine is a great way to improve your strength, speed and endurance and, in turn, your running times.

Being guided through interval sessions by coaches is a great way to get started, and while I still like to join the club at the track when I can, I continue to do solo sessions. I’ve tried to adhere to the 80:20 method (where you do 80% of your running slow and 20% fast) as much as possible, and it seems to be working: when I joined the club, my 5K time was around the 30-minute mark. Last year, I got it down to 21min 38sec. 

Learning about good running form and technique is also important, both for getting faster and avoiding injury. A 2023 scientific study published in PLOS One found that running technique factors relating to knee, hip and pelvis kinematics were associated with prospective running-related injuries in recreational runners.

Being in a club environment means there are coaches on hand to give you advice about your form and technique. They might also incorporate drills into your sessions, homing in on specific movements, mechanics and muscles vital to running.

One of my club members ran weekly lunchtime sessions in his own time, focusing on form and technique. We would rarely run more than 1K because we were working on the smaller – but still significant – mechanics of running.

Finlay Hampton is a running coach who has always championed running clubs and says he encourages as many people as possible to join them, not just his own athletes. He thinks the benefits fall under three pillars: performance, community and opportunity.

“Performance-wise, it’s very hard to elicit the same intensity and commitment you give at a run club when you’re on your own. There’s a reason why the elites work best in training camps full of lots of runners. If you want to get your next PB, you’ll meet it quicker by joining in sessions where other people are pushing hard too,” says Hampton.

“The community aspect is paramount. We’ve got all the technology to speak to people across the world, yet we’re lonelier than ever. Run clubs breathe community, and you might just meet your people there,” he adds.

There’s a quote that I love: “You don’t have to run every day to be a runner every day,” which I hold to be true. But, if you want to truly stick with a regular running routine – and meet some new friends while you’re at it – joining a running club is a good place to start. 

Images: Hannah Bradfield