Strength for running

In my opinion a program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength is going to strengthen your overall body and will lead to greater resiliancy, more consistent training, and ultimately better race times.

However, since you are building mileage for your first marathon and I assume your body is still adapting to that mileage it is going to be tough to add significant strength training on top of that load. Your body may not be able to keep up with the recovery necessary for growth.

For the marathon, training mileage is necessary. If you can add the strength training without reducing the mileage significantly you will probably benefit. If you have to start skipping runs or if you cannot finish hard or long runs because you are too tired from lifting then you will not benefit.

I am training for a marathon, have been running pretty high mileage for two years and have recently added Stronglifts to my program. Even though I am already adapted to the mileage, the strength training on top of it does make some of the runs rather miserable. I get them done anyway.

Try adding Stronglifts or Starting Strength and see how it affects you. Just remember that if your short term goal is a marathon that the running takes precedence. Adapt the lifting program around that. If you reduce the running too much you set yourself up for a really miserable marathon experience.

In my opinion a program like Stronglifts or Starting Strength is going to strengthen your overall body and will lead to greater resiliancy, more consistent training, and ultimately better race times.

However, since you are building mileage for your first marathon and I assume your body is still adapting to that mileage it is going to be tough to add significant strength training on top of that load. Your body may not be able to keep up with the recovery necessary for growth.

For the marathon, training mileage is necessary. If you can add the strength training without reducing the mileage significantly you will probably benefit. If you have to start skipping runs or if you cannot finish hard or long runs because you are too tired from lifting then you will not benefit.

I am training for a marathon, have been running pretty high mileage for two years and have recently added Stronglifts to my program. Even though I am already adapted to the mileage, the strength training on top of it does make some of the runs rather miserable. I get them done anyway.

Try adding Stronglifts or Starting Strength and see how it affects you. Just remember that if your short term goal is a marathon that the running takes precedence. Adapt the lifting program around that. If you reduce the running too much you set yourself up for a really miserable marathon experience.

Agreed.

Strength training will certainly help, but there is no substitute for mileage, especially when training for longer distances like you are doing.

Mileage should still be your focus, but adding in a little strength training can help do (if you think your body can handle that much work).


On a side note, you say that running is no longer enough. What do you mean, and how do you know? When talking about finishing strong, this could be a nutritional thing as well.

I'm currently training for a half and I've put most of my strength training on hold while I focus on increasing my mileage and preventing an injury by overworking myself. No time for heavy lifting because I'm running 5 days a week.

I am also training for my first marathon in November, feel free to add me if you want! Here's a few simple strength exercises I've found online. I'm going to try to start mixing these into my routine:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1570

At the end of the article, there are three plans: one for beginners, one for advanced, and one for doing in the gym, that you can print out. They have pictures and info about how long to do these, how many reps, etc.

Have fun!