Lifting made me faster

sengalissa

Hi
I hadn't really been running since last fall or late summer and started again last week. I focused on lifting following "Strong Curves". I did hardly any cardio, maybe 30min HIIT rowing or a little elliptical here and there.
Anyway, I am SO much faster now that I am thinking something must be off. Instead of a 5K at pace 10:22 per mile I did 9:25 last week and 8:41 today. Same route as last year. Haven't really lost weight, but fat.

Wow. Did not know that it made such a difference. How fast am I going to be after I actually train cardio??!

Only bad thing: I have trained every muscle in my body except my calves. Badly soor calves last time after I ran! (How much faster will it make me to build my calves...?)

AllanMisner

Yes, there is a correlation between strength and speed, but for longer distances, there is also a negative correlation between mass and speed. Sprinters are very muscular, marathon runners not so much. At a 5K distance, you can work to find a balance between the strength/mass/speed. I'm not sure how much faster you can get, but realize that if you begin adding muscle mass along with the strength (strength will cap out at a given mass level), that might begin to slow you down. You'll just have to find your optimum balance.

As for calf strength and running speed, I think there would be a lot of opportunity for sprinting, but at longer distances, what you're really tapping into is muscular endurance. When I was running regularly, and I was lifting on splits, my calf work was higher rep (25), but if I were to do it again, I'd probably up the reps even more.

sengalissa

Hi
Thanks. I had thought strength was only good for a few minutes, not almost 30 min. But I'll take it
My focus is still lifting but I enjoy running. Never thought I was particularily good at it, so I am happy.