The Benefits of Having a Running Partner

Having running buddy depending upon you to turning up and knowing that you will let them down will encourage you to turn up, you will feel obliged to turn up whether you like it or not. Making a pact at the start of your training promising to motivate one another during each run will lead to persistency and ensuring you both encourage one another when you do not want to go. It is proven that having a training partner will make runners last in the longer term.

Having someone else there to chat to will motivate you; when your feeling down they will be able to help get you in the mood and remind you of why your going for the run in the first place. Whilst your running having someone also gives you something to keep you occupied with, keeping your mind off your tiredness and preventing boredom. Having someone to talk to will also make the time feel like its flying past, and it will hopefully feel like less of a chore doing it every week or so.

For many beginners or women it can be embarrassing to run by yourself, to have a partner to keep you company will help minimise this embarrassment and will provide moral support.

From another point of view, psychologists in the US have stated that the benefits of having a training partner whilst running also include making you smarter; as you run and talk more areas of the brain are stimulated.

When choosing a running partner it is best to go for someone who is in the same fitness level as yourself; depending on your reasons for running it may not be best to train with a partner who is significantly less fit than you are. If you are training for a marathon you will not get to you full capacity if you are constantly waiting for another person. Perhaps going running with a person mildly more experienced or fit could be a benefit, urging you to push yourself harder until you are at their level, but do not overstrain yourself trying to keep up. If you are maybe doing the running as part of a weight loss regime, another dieter may be an ideal running buddy; you can both keep focused on your goal fitness level or ideal weight. Finally, if you cannot find someone to go with you, go running with your dog; if your running in the country or a park away from roads then they will appreciate getting a good run about. Not all dogs have large amounts of stamina so be aware of how far your dog can go before they are overstrained, like humans overdoing it can hurt them too.