This is directed to all the runners who read this blog, or coaches and therapists who work alongside runners trying to get their best times. Whether you are an elite long distance runner, weekend casual triathlete or even prepping for your first 10km, this blog will hopefully shed some light on other training modalities away from running which help improve you! Let's be honest, everyone wants to be a bit quicker, have better splits or find running easier, if you don't then maybe this article isn't for you.
Get in the weights room!
Controversial topic for most runners, from my previous experience runners live in fear of the weight room. Worried that a squat might injure their knees, or they might put on too much muscle mass making them slower. However there are many methods of weight training which won't make you pile on excessive muscle mass or weight.
Strength and Explosive weight training
Unlike muscle building, strength training works at a much lower rep range, with some power training working at even lower rep ranges. Strength training complexes could include sets and rep ranges of 4x4, 5x5, 4x6 and 3x7. Whist power training complexes could be as little as sets of 1 repetition of an exercise. Previous research from Ronnestad and Mujika has found these benefits of strength and explosive power training on endurance running athletes...
- Improved Running Economy: RE is a fairly less known facet of performance. Your RE is the amount of energy your body needs to perform at sub maximal performance. So essentially if you have a greater RE, then you need to exert less energy and effort into long distance running to get the same results as before.
- Improved Lactate Threshold: This is the amount of time an athlete can perform at absolute max effort and keep lactic acid levels under control in the blood. For example, if you are running up a steep hill and you feel the sensation of your legs getting heavy, improved LT will help keep this feeling away for longer!
- Improved Maximal Speed: This is pretty simple, the more high quality power sessions you do, your max speed will increase. This means that if you want a quicker start or want to finish strong, that your speed will be greater than with just normal running training. A few Olympic lifts won't make you Usain Bolt, but it will certainly improve your current performance.
- No Increase in Body Mass: As mentioned earlier this is a big fear for a lot of runners. Added muscles mass can make you heavier and sometimes slower, especially if it is low quality muscle mass. However with strength/power training, muscle mass will not be built!
- No Reduced Capillerization: a reduced capillerization is when there is a limited oxygen, glucose and insulin supply to the muscle, which can have detrimental effects on cardiovascular training. However strength and power training do not limit RC so have no negative effect upon the body.
- Reduced/Delayed Fatigue Symptoms: As your muscles are now stronger and more powerful, the amount of fatigue you feel usually when you run will reduce. This is because the muscle fibres are now stronger than previously so can cope better with the repetitive strain which running causes to the body.
- No VO2 Max Compromise: The definition of VO2 max is the optimum rate that the heart, lungs and muscles can effectively use oxygen during bouts of exercise. During strength training, this is not compromised which is essential as many runners believe that lifting weights effects the body's ability to perform cardiovascularly!
Thanks for reading Part 1 of this running series! Keep an eye out for our next part of the series where we shall discuss what gym based exercises runners should be doing and which ones they should be avoiding. As always if you have any questions with regards to the blog or anything training based, then please drop us an email! We look forward to hearing from you!
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