Run Strong - Why strength training matters for runners.

Running is often thought of as an endurance sport, but every stride is also a strength-demanding movement. With every foot strike, your body has to absorb and produce force repeatedly, sometimes thousands of times during a single run. Ground-reaction forces during running can be 2-3 times your body weight, with substantially greater forces possible as running speed increases.

The important point is simple: Running places a significant physical demand on the body. Strength training can help increase your capacity to handle that demand.

For runners, strength training isn't about becoming a bodybuilder or spending hours in the gym. It is about developing the strength, power and neuromuscular capacity required to run efficiently and tolerate the demands of training.

So, how can you use strength training to become a stronger, more efficient runner—without compromising your running?

Let us start with the - Why Should Runners Strength Train?

One of the biggest benefits of strength training for runners is its potential to improve running economy. Running economy describes how much energy your body uses to run at a given speed. In simple terms, if two runners can maintain the same pace but one uses less energy to do so, that runner is more economical.

Research consistently suggests that strength training can improve running economy, with systematic reviews finding improvements following different forms of resistance and plyometric training. Strength training alone, however, is not expected to substantially improve VO₂max. This distinction is important. Your VO₂max is essentially a measure of your aerobic capacity—your engine. Running remains the primary way to develop that aerobic system. Strength training can instead help you become more economical with the engine you already have. Think of it as improving the efficiency of the car, rather than simply putting in a bigger engine.

Strength training can contribute to:

·        Better running economy

·        Enhanced performance

·        Greater force production

·        Improved neuromuscular capacity

·        Greater fatigue resistance and durability

·        Increased training-load capacity

It should not, however, be viewed as a replacement for running. Your running develops your running-specific endurance. Strength training helps build the physical qualities that support it.

So how does lifting weights potentially make you a better runner?

Think of it as a chain:

Improved Strength

↓

Greater ability to produce and tolerate force

↓

Improved neuromuscular function

↓

Potentially improved running economy

↓

Less energy required at a given running speed

↓

Improved running performance

Running OR Strength? Why Choose when you can do both?

One of the biggest misconceptions amongst runners is that strength training will interfere with their running. It doesn't have to. There can be some interference between different training adaptations, particularly when training volume and fatigue are poorly managed, but running & strength training can work extremely well together. A combination known as concurrent training—combining endurance and resistance training within the same overall program, shows to have optimal results.

The important factor is how you organise your training schedule/program. Strength training becomes a problem when it creates so much fatigue that your quality running sessions are consistently compromised. A hard leg session followed by a tempo run on exhausted legs, followed by intervals on tired legs, followed by another demanding strength session can quickly turn your training week into one long block of accumulated fatigue.

The goal isn't to do more training. The goal is to make your different training sessions work together.

When Should You Strength Train?

This is where good programming becomes particularly important. Your strength training shouldn't constantly leave your legs exhausted for your important running sessions. For many recreational runners, two strength sessions per week is a very reasonable starting point. That doesn't mean everyone needs exactly two sessions forever. Your ideal frequency depends on: your goal, running volume, current strength, and injury history.

Imagine your week contains:

• An interval running session

• A tempo or threshold run

• A long run

• An easy run

• Two strength sessions

You don't want every day to become a moderately hard day. Instead, think about where your biggest training stresses sit.

For example:

Day	Training
Monday	Rest
Tuesday	Intervals (+ Strength)
Wednesday	Easy run
Thursday	Tempo / threshold
Friday	Rest or (Strength)
Saturday	Easy run
Sunday	Long run

The principle is more important than the exact schedule: Hard days should be hard, and easier days should actually allow you to recover.

One useful strategy is to consolidate demanding sessions where practical, rather than creating a week where you are constantly carrying low-level fatigue from one session into the next.

If you need to complete running and strength separately, allowing several hours between sessions can be helpful. There isn't one universal "magic" recovery period that applies to every runner, however, trying to rest 6-8 hours between strength and easy runs and 24hrs + between strength and hard running sessions, is a good starting point.

Training order and recovery requirements depend on the individual, the training session and the overall program.

The priority should be protecting your key running sessions. If Thursday's tempo run is one of the most important sessions of your week, you don't want to arrive at it with legs that are still recovering from Wednesday's brutal strength session.

The best program is therefore not necessarily the program with the most sessions. It's the program you can recover from and consistently fit around your running.

How Heavy Should You Lift?

This is where things can become unnecessarily complicated.

You may have heard percentages such as:

40–60% 1RM for endurance

65–90% 1RM for strength with low reps

60–70% 1RM for power which shifts focus onto moving the resistance quickly and explosively

These ranges can be useful guidelines, but they shouldn't be treated as rigid rules. The exact prescription should depend on the individual. For most recreational runners, you don't need to know your exact 1RM for every exercise.

The more useful question is: Are you providing enough stimulus to improve strength without creating unnecessary fatigue? For runners, quality matters more than exhaustion.

The goal isn't: "How destroyed can I make my legs?" 

It should be: "How much capacity can I build while still being able to run well?"

Strength Training Should Support Your Running—Not Compete With It This is one of the biggest mistakes runners make when they start strength training is they take a perfectly good strength program designed for general fitness and turn it into a brutal "leg day" - Squats to failure, Lunges to failure, Bulgarian split squats, etc … then finish with 20 minutes of conditioning, and suddenly: "Why are my legs dead for Thursday's tempo run?"

The problem isn't necessarily strength training. The problem may be the dose. For runners, the objective isn't to see how much fatigue you can tolerate. It's to develop the physical qualities that help you run.

That means considering:

Volume | Intensity | Exercise selection | Frequency | Timing

You don't need to finish every strength session crawling out of the gym for it to have been effective.

What About Injury Risk?

Injuries are complex. While strength training may help reduce the risk of injury, it cannot be said to prevent injuries altogether.

It makes sense that increasing physical capacity could help a runner better tolerate the demands of their training. However, strength training alone does not guarantee injury prevention. Running injuries are influenced by a combination of factors, including training load, previous injury, recovery, sleep, strength, running exposure, individual capacity and lifestyle. These factors all interact with one another, which is why there is rarely one single reason why a runner develops an injury.

A more practical way to think about strength training is that it helps develop your capacity to handle the demands of running. Rather than trying to make yourself “injury-proof”, the goal is to build a body that is better prepared to cope with the physical demands you place on it. Strength training is therefore an important piece of the puzzle, but it is only one part of a much bigger picture.

The Runner's Strength Formula

If you take nothing else from this article, remember this:

RUN

Your running remains the foundation of your running-specific fitness and improves VO2max and endurance.

Build STRENGTH

Build the capacity to produce and tolerate force to improve your running economy.

Develop POWER

Develop the ability to produce force quickly where appropriate.

RECOVER

Training adaptations happen when you recover from the training stimulus.

PROGRESS

Gradually increase the load, repetitions, complexity or quality of your training as your capacity improves.

And most importantly:

Strength should make you a better runner—not a worse runner.

Running is demanding. Your body needs the capacity to handle that demand. Strength training is one tool that can help you build that capacity—allowing you to run stronger, run better and keep progressing towards your goals.

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Need Help Integrating Strength Into Your Running? If you're unsure where to start with strength training, struggling to balance strength and running, or simply want to make sure your gym program is supporting your running goals, you don't have to figure it out on your own.

I can help you develop or adapt a strength program around your running, your goals, your current training load and your individual needs. Reach out and book an appointment for an assessment and for help building a strength program that works with your running goals.