Forums >General Running>Running room HM training or similar
I'm signed up for my first HM in May. The running room as a HM clinic starting in January. It's $70, 16 weeks. Once a week there's a small meeting then run. The worker told me they usually do hills or intervals on that day. Then you get your training schedule.vThey have two drop in runs a week.
im wondering if its worth the money?
A Saucy Wench
I'd find a running club for your long runs if you are looking for company. Usually free. Wealth of knowledge at your fingertips at a pace you should be able to chat at. And start with a decent no frills free training plan. Hal higdon isnt bad as a starting point.
I dont see much value in paying for base level training. You have worlds of improvement from just generically running before you need individualized tweaking and you arent getting personalization in a program like that.
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
I'm not familiar with running room, but I've done my local running club's HM training program 4 times now, and a women-only HM training program run by a health club twice.
Pros:
Community. You get to hang out with other runners, talk running, ask questions, learn stuff. It's like a running forum, only in person. I also met my running partner in one of the training programs.
Accountability. You know you're going to have to do the training program workout. Everybody's going to see you do it. That makes it a lot easier to get out for your other runs during the week. And, like I said, I met my running partner through a training program. So even when I'm not participating in a plan, knowing I'm going to do my weekend long run with her gets me out there on other days. She's a little faster than I am. I have to keep up.
Training plan. Yes, you can find one for yourself online, and tweak it to suit you. But at an early stage in your running, it's hard to choose. The one you get from the training program has been chosen and tested out for you, probably because it works for a broad range of people. You can still tweak it to suit your individual needs, but it's a great place to start. Many training plans also include seminars on various running-related topics--some are great, some are skippable depending on your interests and gaps in your knowledge.
Benefits. The program run my my local running club includes a year's membership in the club, with a little membership card. That card gets me 10-15% off at a number of merchants, including my LRS. If you buy 3-4 pair of shoes and even a few pieces of gear a year, that adds up. They also have a tent at the half-marathon, with post-HM food and drink and a place to stash your gear during the race (yes, the race has a bag check, too, this is just more convenient). Participants in the health club training program got reduced fees for other health club programs. Both included tech shirts.
Cons:
Money. If your budget is tight, it might be hard to justify the cost when you can, after all, pretty much figure things out on your own. Or at least with the help of an online running forum.
Training may not suit you. In my running club's program, we trained by pace group, and did our long runs with them. That meant we were doing all our long runs at our HM target pace. It took me a while to figure out that I should be doing my long runs slower than that. If you join a similar group, you can adjust for that by joining a slower pace group, if one is available, or if your mileage supports it do the training program runs as a mid-long run and do your long run slower on another day. From what you posted, I'd be a little worried about a group that throws beginners into intervals and hill training right away. On the other hand, if they have knowledgeable coaches and can scale workouts to training level, it would be a great way to learn to do speed work properly.
Best of luck whatever you decide!
Even at ~$18/month, I'd probably pass. The schedules don't sound as though they'd be customizedand, especially, that they take into account how your previous couple weeks have gone. You're just getting the seminars, since you could drop into the group runs anyway.
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
Most running room locations have drop in runs - I've gone on these at multiple locations, there's usually a group doing something within your pace and distance capability. These are free, and you can go without signing up to the clinic. There are schedules as good or better online, and the running room schedules are out there as well, I think. Really, just running 5-6 days a week with one long run and gradually increasing overall mileage willl do everything that the running room plan does.