How to Effectively Combine Strength Training and Running

Every runner has heard by now that more time in the weight room can lead to better running performance. It sounds counterintuitive, but I’m living proof that anyone can benefit from it. I’m 6’-5”, 215 pounds, and I’ve been lifting and running side by side for the last ten years.

My current week includes four lifting days on an upper/lower split, a functional fitness session on Wednesdays, and a total of about 25 miles of running, plus the weekend active recovery days where I go hiking with my family, bike with my kids, or incorporate mobility work.

Research shows that strength training can improve running performance and help prevent injury. The challenging part, though, is knowing how much to do of each without one impacting the other. Where does leg day go when you have intervals on Tuesday and a long run on Saturday? What happens to your squats when your mileage peaks? Put a heavy lift in the wrong spot, and your next workout will likely pay for it, along with your recovery.

To sort it out, I spoke with Katie Cyrana Hillery, DPT, OCS, CSCS, clinical director at Evolve Physical Therapy and an RRCA-certified running coach, and Mike Thomson, a certified running coach and personal trainer at Life Time. Here’s how these experts recommend you design your week that allows room for both.

Keep Your Hard Days Hard

For years, my instinct was to spread out my intense training days throughout the week. These days, my Tuesday would include running intervals in the morning and a lower-body lift that afternoon, then nothing heavier than upper-body work until my long run on Saturday. It took me longer than I’d like to admit to stop feeling guilty about “wasting” a rest day by not touching a heavy squat. However, both coaches recommend the opposite, and say you should stack the hard days together so your easy days can actually be easy.

“What I recommend is you keep the hard days hard,” says Thomson. “So, on speed and tempo days you do your runs in the morning and lifts in the afternoon, ideally. If you must, do your lifts right after the run.”

The reason behind this is that lifting soon after a workout is better than lifting the next day when your legs feel heavy and compromise running performance. Put into practice, if your Saturday long run is the priority, that could mean intervals in the morning and a lower-body lift that evening on Tuesday, with nothing heavier than upper-body work from Thursday on.

Short on Time? Train One Leg at a Time.

If two strength training sessions a week is all you can manage, you have to make them count. How? Hillery suggests training one leg at a time.

“Prioritize single-leg strength, as running is a purely single-leg sport,” she says. “Exercises like split squats, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, and step-ups can support single-leg stability.”

On weeks where work or travel knocks me down to two sessions, I prioritize single-leg work over anything bilateral. It’s less satisfying than a heavy back squat, but it’s kept me out of the physio’s office more than any other change I’ve made.

Thomson recommends starting with the big compound lifts, including squats, lunges, deadlifts, pull-ups, and dips. Then, fill the back end of your strength session with injury-prevention movements like Poliquin step-ups, lying hamstring curls, and core exercises.

Every runner’s body and goals are different, but here’s an example of my two-day-a-week strength training split for reference only:

My Lower Body / Single-Leg Day Routine

• Split squats: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per leg
• Single-leg Romanian deadlifts: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per leg
• Step-ups: 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps per leg
• Poliquin step-ups: 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps per leg
• Lying hamstring curls: 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps
• Core circuit (planks, leg raises, or dead bugs): 10 minutes

My Upper Body Day Routine

• Pull-ups: 3 sets of 6 to 10 reps
• Barbell bench press: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
• Dumbbell rows: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps per leg
• Overhead press: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
• Dips: 2 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps
• Core circuit (planks, leg raises, or dead bugs): 10 minutes

When Your Mileage Peaks, Cut Volume, Not Load

During a running base season (the training phase focused on building aerobic endurance), scale back on your strength training volume without cutting load. Do fewer reps and sets, or train less often each week, without decreasing the weight.

“Whereas in the base phase of training one should be trying to gain strength, during peak mileage and race prep actively, the focus should be maintaining strength,” Hillery says.

My lifts don’t get lighter in the five or six weeks leading up to a goal race, but I stop doing accessory exercises, and I go down to two lifting sessions per week instead of four. It’s a hard mental adjustment when you’re used to chasing PRs in the gym too, but it’s the difference between showing up to race day fresh versus burnt out.

Lifting Won’t Slow You Down

I used to worry about this myself, especially early on when I’d read about “specificity” and figured all that time under a barbell was working against my running. A decade in, my times have only gotten better as my lifts have gone up, not the other way around.

If you’re still worried that lifting will make you bulky or slow, Thomson has heard it before. “The idea that strength training will slow you down is misinformation. I don’t know a single D1 college program that isn’t getting their athletes to lift and run.”

“Getting stronger can improve running efficiency, meaning the same running pace can feel easier and require less effort,” Hillery says. “It also allows your muscles to produce more force, which can translate to better performance on hills, accelerations, and in speedwork.”

After ten years of hybrid training, I no longer think of lifting and running as competing priorities. They’re both just training and fundamental to my fitness. The week I described up top that includes four lifting days, a functional fitness session, 25 miles of running, and active recovery on weekends, only works because I stopped treating strength as an add-on to my running and started treating it as part of a long-term plan.

The Long Game

Experts recommend stacking your hard training days, protecting your easy days, and adjusting volume before you reduce load when your running mileage peaks. Do these things, and lifting stops being something that competes with your running and starts being the thing that lets you keep doing it, injury-free, for years to come.

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