Running experts don’t always agree on the most productive ways to train, but they are nearly unanimous on one conclusion: the best stimulus to more and better running is a good training partner.
This principle has stood the test of time and proved incredibly useful to every kind of runner. Olympians gather together in training camps or sponsored groups to motivate and push each other to new heights. Meanwhile, in neighborhoods and parks across the world, recreational runners gather for encouragement and improvement.
Here’s an example. On a Sunday morning in 1969, a handful of runners met up in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, for an easy 6 miles. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to do the same thing again the following Sunday. Almost fifty years later, this Breakfast Club is still going strong.
Some of the original group continue to run a slow 6 miles. Others show up for the social time, and to walk 3 miles before breakfast. The weekly turnout reached fifty or more runners in the mid-1980s; now it’s about half that size. But it still takes place every Sunday morning. You can count on it. That’s the great thing about training partners.
In 2017, one of the original Breakfast Club members published a medical article about fifty-four of his running buddies. Remarkably enough, Ben Rosin, a cardiologist, found that his training partners were living nineteen years longer, on average, than equivalent nonrunning males. “My data show that marathon runners have a low rate of cardiovascular disease, and great longevity,” Rosin told me. “High-intensity, high-endurance running appears to have significant benefits.”
Increased longevity is certainly a good reason to search out a running partner or training group. And there are many more. Social running is fun, and it keeps you honest. It’s too easy to ignore your own best intentions. It’s much harder to stand up a friend. Training partners offer exactly the help you need to run more and farther.
Look for pace compatibility: You can find potential training partners through local running stores or clubs, as well as social media. Just make sure you team up with someone who runs at roughly the same pace as you. The sex and age of your training partners doesn’t matter. But their fitness and ability do.
Don’t run regularly with someone who’s faster than you are. That leads down the road to injury and burnout. It’s also annoying to both parties if one of you is always looking over a shoulder and slowing for the other. No one likes that situation, whether you’re the one up front or the one behind.
Seek a positive personality match: You’re not going to marry your training partner. (Well, this has certainly happened, but it’s not the norm.) So you don’t need to line up perfectly on a wide range of topics and philosophies. That said, the more you agree in key areas, the better your running relationship will be.
My favorite training partners have included Mad Dog and the Engineer. Mad Dog is short, Irish, and pugnacious. He got me into a few nervous situations, particularly when he gave his best regards to motorists who had likewise saluted us on the roadways. But Mad Dog was fun, reliable, very hardworking, and pace compatible. What more could I ask for?
The Engineer is totally different, and much the same. He taught me things about mechanical engineering I would never have learned on my own. Best of all, being an engineer, he ran at a constant, metronome-like pace perfectly suited to mine. We spent a delightful decade spurring each other to top efforts.
Save several runs for yourself: While running with partners is wonderful, it’s also good to save workout days for yourself. These could be your easy days or your hard days. It depends on your own training plan and race goals, as well as your partner’s.
I’ve always enjoyed running with people—old friends and new acquaintances—but I also like to run by myself. On solo days I can completely control the time of the workout, the pace, the location, my meals before and after, and more. This has great appeal, especially on busy days when I don’t have time to meet a training partner at some location other than my front door.