Reps and Miles: How to combine running and resistance training

Hello Runners, 

Whether you are here to build strength, speed, endurance, correct muscle imbalances or weight loss. Strength training will aid in your running, not detract from it. My goal is to help you create the best balance between the two. This email is NOT encouraging you to become a runner but to help educate those of you who do run and how the use of my bodyweight, functional, endurance and strength training program can improve your running performance and fit into your schedule. 

When to time your runs with your workouts? 

Studies show that intense resistance training significantly lessened a runners time to exhaustion- suggesting that hard, heavy weighted workouts even six hours earlier can dramatically decrease a runners ability to sustain fast running. 

Run first! Then lift. If you are tackling both a running workout and resistance training in one day, plan strategically. Aim to keep your resistance days (especially lower body days) paired with an easy run if the two overlap. ex: run in the morning before work and train in the evening after work.

How much resistance training should you be doing? 

It is suggested to perform 2-3 days a week depending on the intensity of the programing, but 1 is better than nothing. When planning your week I suggest you place emphasis on the body splits (upper body and lower body). We use total body workouts as conditioning (aerobic) workouts- those can be replaced with one of your runs. If scheduling concerns make it tough to incorporate weight lifting just work it in when you can. I’ve provided some examples below. Please note that these are busy with a lot of activity. One of the common mistakes I see is people over-doing it. Take these templates and use them to build slowly. My goal is for you to get into movement and maintain, not burnout. 

Sample: 2-3 Resistance days and 3 Runs
Day 1: Tempo Run
Day 2: Lower body 
Day 3: Easy Run 
Day 4: Upper body or Rest 
Day 5: Long Run 
Day 6: Optional Resistance of choice 

Sample: 3 Resistance days and 2-3 Runs
Day 1: Lower Body 
Day 2: Tempo Run (effort 8 out of 10, 20-30 minutes)
Day 3: Upper body 
Day 4: Rest, Easy or Long Run
Day 5: Lower Body 
Day 6: Easy or Long run 
*Optional: Resistance day of choice

Sample: 2 Resistance days and 3-4 Runs
Day 1: Upper body 
Day 2: Tempo Run 
Day 3: Lower Body or Total body
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: Tempo Run 
Day 6: Easy run or Long run 
*Optional Day 7: Long run (if not done the day before)

One of the most important rules of sticking to a program is enjoying it! I hope you enjoy and continue to benefit from training with me and you fine a balance between the miles and the reps. 

Feel free to email me with questions,

Anne