Making running work with SL

decblessings

Who does it? How do you do it?

I've never been fast although at one point in time I could run a 5K in 30 minutes. We had a very long, cold, hard winter, so I didn't run much and really focused on lifting. I still did cardio and ran on the treadmill about once a week. I've tried to get back to running in addition to SL, and it's a struggle. Of course my weights are getting heavier and I can tell my muscles are fatigued. On Sunday I did about 3 miles but I had to walk... a lot. I knew before I started that my muscles were tight and tired from finally hitting 145 on squats the day before. I think my pace was like 12:20. This morning I did 2.25 miles. I could have kept going to at least hit 3 miles, but the girls I was running with wanted/needed to stop. My pace was like 11:15. A year ago I did a half marathon with a 11:30 pace... now I can barely do a 5K!

My goal is to lift Tues, Thurs, Sat and run at least 2 times a week, but preferably 3. It's probably just too much for me - but will it ever become NOT too much for me? Will my body get used to it?

I have a desk job, although I do get up and walk around. I have a fitbit and I usually get around 4000 steps in by the end of the day. My husband has a physical job and gets almost twice as many steps as me and still has energy to run, run, run. Probably just not a good comparison but clearly his body has gotten used to it, as he used to have a desk job and didn't seem to have the energy he does now.

Thoughts?

jstout365

You can do that, you just need to listen to your body and make adjustments in lifting intensity/weight/sets or running pace depending on how you feel. I would also go in and recalculate your calorie requirement to support the extra activity. Food is important when adding additional work. As is rest. You will probably find your progress slowing with the lifts, but a mixed routine is fine. I find that when I couple lifting with running, my pace improves while I have a slower weight increase on the lifts.

kwaz29

can't really offer any advice, as I just started SL on Monday, but hoping to hear feedback as well...I'm running a Spartan Race in June, so hoping to keep running 2-3x a week in between my SL workouts!

Llamapants86

I find if I focus on improving my lifts, my pace doesn't improve and if I focus on improving my pace me lifts don't increase very well. I find I can do both but only really make strides in my performance on one or the other. Listen to your body and it should be able to adjust in time.

randomtai

I run after my lifting workouts and it hasn't affected either one yet. I am increasing in pace as well as weights.

jcdoerr

I run after my lifting workouts and it hasn't affected either one yet. I am increasing in pace as well as weights.

I do the same thing, usually 2 miles of speed intervals after lifting. About 2 weeks ago I added an easy run day of about 4-5 miles the day after lifting too, then have a rest day, so my schedule sort of rotated around like this: lift and intervals, easy run, rest, lift and intervals, easy run, rest, etc. Unfortunately I don't think I adjusted my calories accordingly, wore myself out and started to lag in both lifting and running after about 10 days of this. Although my mile pace had improved to about 9:30 so that was good!

I think mixing them together is easily doable as long as you pay attention to your intake and your fatigue levels. There are also quite a few ladies here that lift only twice per week so that they can fit a few days of running into their schedule. It kind of depends on your priorities and if you're really trying to progress more in lifting or running. I really enjoy doing both...so that's what I do!

randomtai

Unfortunately I don't think I adjusted my calories accordingly, wore myself out and started to lag in both lifting and running after about 10 days of this.

That is a good point. Definitely making sure I fuel properly is one of my downfalls LOL

LishieFruit89

Last summer I posed this same question on ETP (I'll try to find the link later when I'm on a computer).
Sara and heybales were very helpful.
I enjoy lifting but I'm fairly certain I prefer running (because my entire life I wanted to run and in 2012 I finally did it - but had lifted (woth machines and dumbbells before))
Because I made running my main focus, I ended up with a modified version of SL. Squats werent as numerable. Same with most of the other lifts.

Im currently doing ICF and I havent noticed it affecting my running. Yet. But if it does, ill probably go to twice a week for it durong race season.

LishieFruit89

I tried searching the ETP group for my post but nope, it searches the entire damn site.

I have the program they came up with written down and I glanced at it this AM.

Most things went to 3x5, deads were 2x5.
Pull ups added to both days and step ups added to A workout.
There was something else... but I don't remember

Kita328

I run after my lifting workouts and it hasn't affected either one yet. I am increasing in pace as well as weights.

This^ Currently

I am doing SL and Cardio 2-3x per week.

It is doable and I also have the same situation as you. My job is desk job my bf works outside all day...

lilawolf

I do SL 2x a week, martial arts 2x a week and run 1x a week. When I was on a bulk, I was doing SL 3x a week plus the other stuff and it was all good, on a cut this is all I can handle and my runs certainly suffer. Fueling is everything. You have to decide what is the most important to you. Is it the running? The lifting? The losing weight? You can do all three, but poorly.

coltsgirl311

I'm so glad you asked this question, because I was just thinking about this the other day! It seems like both my running and my lifting (OHP, at least) have been suffering a bit recently. Maybe I should back down to 2x per week on the SL during the race season.

decblessings

I'm glad many of you can relate!

I know that @lilawolf is exactly right - I need to prioritize. It's hard for me because I'd say the order for me is lifting, losing weight, then running, but that is probably because I'm still progressing on lifting and feel like I've regressed on running. So I feel good about myself when I lift and bad when I run because I'm not performing as I'd like to. BUT I like running (or the idea of running anyway, and I truly enjoyed running at one time). I am eating at a cut though. I wish I could hurry and lose a little weight and then be at maintenance so I could have the best of everything - fueling for lifting and running and I'd get to eat more!

My deficit is set to 500 and linked to my Fitbit, and I log my strength training, but I rarely hit that deficit. It's usually 300-400 at most and sometimes closer to maintenance. I like food. I'd say I probably end up with an average of a 200 calorie deficit per day, so I'd like to think I'm providing my body with enough fuel, but some days it begs to differ.

randomtai

I wish I could hurry and lose a little weight and then be at maintenance so I could have the best of everything - fueling for lifting and running and I'd get to eat more!

My deficit is set to 500 and linked to my Fitbit, and I log my strength training, but I rarely hit that deficit. It's usually 300-400 at most and sometimes closer to maintenance. I like food. I'd say I probably end up with an average of a 200 calorie deficit per day, so I'd like to think I'm providing my body with enough fuel, but some days it begs to differ.

Me too!!! And it has been showing on the scale, I have been in "maintenance" since January. I love to eat so I recently started upping my cardio so I can have a bigger deficit.

coltsgirl311

Me too!!! And it has been showing on the scale, I have been in "maintenance" since January. I love to eat so I recently started upping my cardio so I can have a bigger deficit.

Word!! :laugh:

arl1286

I'm still struggling to make it work. What I've found is I can usually lift 3 days a week and run 3 or 4, unless I'm training for a race, in which case I drop the lifting down to 2 days and run 4 or 5 (with long runs being at least 24 hours after lifting). I usually try to make shorter runs on the same day as (right after) lifting, so that my body still gets plenty of time to recover.