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Join a Group of Endurance Athletes To Go Faster

By Gaelle Abecassis | May 2, 2024

Unless you ran track or swam in high school or college, you likely picked up your sport with no outside group to show you how it's done. And there’s a good chance you still practice it on your own. You log miles and miles on your bike, in your running shoes, or at your local pool. But an elite endurance athlete does it differently. They join a team or a club, working through prescribed workouts with a community of like-minded athletes. And it pays off. 

A 2008 study of elite rowers found that the team aspect quantifiably pushed them to a higher level of performance. At a primal level, this makes perfect sense. Humans are social animals, and we like to be around others who share our interests and passions. As a result, the group dynamic provides daily training motivation. Below are several more ways a group can boost your training.

Inspiration
Inspiration comes from many sources. In a community, it’s easy to spot. It could be the 70-year-old who still runs marathons and does the same workouts you do. It could be the cancer survivor who hates that day's workout as much as you do but does it anyway. Maybe you’re the inspiration, and knowing this pushes you to train harder to live up to your fellow athlete’s vision of you.

Support
We all have days when you don’t want to exercise. Days when you can’t due to an unexpected event or unplanned surprise. Days when an injury puts you out of commission. It’s easy to feel alone and left out on these days. But these are the times when the support network of your endurance family kicks in and encourages you not to give up, not to give in, and not to worry. As a result, you're more likely to stick with your sport, no matter what life throws at you.

New Perspectives
When you train on your own, it’s easy to stick with what works month after month, year after year. But within a community, you see all different sorts and shapes of people achieving their goals differently than you are. They may train harder but less than you. They may be driven to perfect their swimming strokes rather than exhaust themselves to build stamina. Whatever the case, you’ll learn new ways to approach your sport, and that will keep it fresh and interesting for years to come.

Coaching
Often, an organized group will have certified, experienced coaching available to design group workouts, build individual training programs, and, for competitive teams, create race strategies for both the team and for individuals. At its most basic, this coaching could be a certified fitness instructor leading a strength training session or spin class.

The Easy Way To Find a Community of Like-Minded Athletes

There are a variety of ways to join a community. You can join a gym and attend a regular class or workout. Or you can join a local track club, cycling group, or triathlon team. You can also join an online community like the one hosted by Humango. Whichever method you choose, you’ll connect with other athletes who are also training for your specific goal (marathon, Olympic-distance triathlon, or gran fondo bike ride, for example). Once connected, you can share training tips, workouts, and results with each other — and in many cases, you’ll even get to train together.

Humango’s AI coaching will guide you through a progressive training plan for your endurance sport of choice, but its community function will provide the glue to keep you motivated, supported, and inspired. The Humango community draws athletes from around the world and gives them the opportunity to join various forums, i.e., Masters marathoners, gravel bikers, and Ironman-distance triathletes. You can join group challenges, meet training partners from your town, and ask the group for tips on getting the most out of the Humango app. You can even find mentors who can guide you through, say, your first New York City Marathon since they finished it multiple times before. Humango’s global reach means that no matter where your athletic goals take you, someone in the community can be there to give you the friendly push you need. 

Humango isn’t just AI. It’s real people, too.