Question for runners

3 days of running, 2 days of strength training, 1 very short and easy run day and 1 day of no exercise so the muscles have time to breathe a little. Here's my schedule:
Monday: Run day
Tuesday: Strength day
Wednesday: Run day
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: Run day
Saturday: Strength day
Sunday: Easy run day

Maybe you just need to find a different strength training routine. I use All Pro, which is a 3 day full body routine, and I'm training to run a full 5K 3 days, then one rest day.

I lift weights on Mondays and Fridays and run the other five days

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Does your body quickly remember how to do it?

Technique isn't your issue, joint readiness is. If you've not been running then a C25K will help to mitigate injury risk.

I lift in the morning and run in late afternoon or evening. I try to do both in the same day because I run 6 to 9+ miles typically and don't want my run to compromise my squats and deadlifts if I only have 12 hours of recovery.

M: Lift & Run
W: Lift & Run
Th: Yoga
F: Lift & Run
S: Yoga
S or S: Run

Alternate schedule - when I am trying to catchup on my lifting. With this schedule I don't do both in the same day due to Tuesday evening commitments and Thursday evening yoga class.
S: Lift
M: Run
T: Lift
W: Run
Th: Lift & Yoga
F: Run
S: Lift & Yoga - Gym opens at 7 and yoga is at 9. These days are the hardest yoga classes I have ever had, especially when I don't get to the gym until around 8. My arms and legs are already tired from lifting and I am already warmed up so within a few minutes of yoga starting I am covered in sweat. I have had a few bad dismounts out of crow and slid off my mat.
S or S: Run

Muscle memory works for running, your legs will remember how to run. Unfortunately the problem is your lungs and legs may not be physically ready to go as far as you want.

After nearly 10 years only running intermittently, I discovered a marathon near where I grew up and decided that needed to be my first marathon. My first training run was two 1.4 mile loops around the neighborhood. I was ready to die during the first lap and walked a large portion of the 2.8 miles. However I kept at it and 5 months later finished the marathon.

Due to work and some knee issues I fell out of running for nearly a year and a half before I restarted in late September. I started doing yoga and aerobics classes last March and started lifting around the same time I started running. When I started running again it was a lot easier than the previous times. Within a couple sessions I was able to run 4 miles non-stop and as previously stated I now regularly run 6 -9 miles. I think the aerobics class helped with my cardio conditioning and made it easier when I started running.

If you have not been doing workouts that really push your cardio then initially running might be difficult. However the c25k program is a good program. My wife, who has never been a runner, is on week 6. I went with her for the last session of week 5 and after a 5 minute warmup she ran for 20 minutes nonstop. Before she started c25k she would have thought it was impossible for her to run for 20 minutes.

fitmama0914 wrote: »

How often do you strength train? Could you give me an example of your weekly schedule? I've always liked running, when I did it years ago... But I've been doing bodyweight workouts for 3 weeks now, 3 days a week, and I think I've discovered that I hate strength training. So I'm trying to figure out how to fit running, strength, and yoga in the week. I've been doing 3 days of strength, 2 yoga, and 1 cardio. But I don't know where to go from here to switch to a running based week.

1 fullbody workout a week, only major lifts, get it done quick in 30 -40 min. Sprint after this if you like the feel of running dead tired.
Rest day after to get max benefit.

1 upper body lifting some other day, with true HIIT routine, hopefully hill sprints, done as basically lifting for your legs again, only sport specific.
Rest day after to get max benefit from recovery.

Then 2 other days of running, and then yoga.

5 days.

zipa78 wrote: »

fitmama0914 wrote: »

I do get bored pretty quickly with my routines, so I end up changing them every few days. I don't have access to a gym, so I have been doing home workouts and I find that YouTube helps me stay focused.

Don't do that. You should allow your body some time to adapt and compensate for the training that you put it through, that is where the gains and benefits come from.

If you really can't go to a gym (mind you, inconvenient is not the same as "can't go"...) then get a kettlebell and/or a sandbag and use those alongside the bodyweight training that you are doing.

The biggest problem is that you don't seem to enjoy it? If you aren't enjoying what you are doing, chances are that you won't be doing it for very long. Your best bet would thus be to find some form of strength training that you do enjoy. Doesn't matter what it is, as long as you just find it enjoyable, or at least tolerable...

I switch up all the time and reap great benefits from it. Keeps me from getting bored.

OP, I hate strength training with a passion. So I typically try to incorporate it with my cardio. So like i'll run with hand weights, work in some push ups, etc.

Prior to my recent injury I would do 2 short runs (2-4 miles) and one long run (4-7 miles) then cross train 2 days a week. Typically i'll take a bootcamp or zumba class, swim or horseback ride. Whatever feels groovy that day.

There's a bodyweight group here if you want to join:
Bodyweight Training

It's good to be able to keep a discussion going whilst running, generally said, so pace yourself according to that. Also, if you want to run longer distances, it might help to think that it isn't a sprint but a marathon. Good luck, you'll figure it out And the C25K group is great.

alathIN wrote: »

I like the suggestions above about how people organize their weeks.

Just wanted to throw in, sometimes there is also value to your monthly and yearly patterns.

In my fitness group, we have a three week pattern of 1) medium week, 2) big week, 3) recovery week. We still train on recovery week, but decrease both volume and intensity and prioritize sleep.

We also do a seasonal pattern; In January we begin building our run volume to peak in the Spring running season. Cycling builds from early spring and into triathlon season. We also have a Fall running season. Winter is swim focus. We continue training all these things, plus strength and flexibility, year round - but each season has a "focus" which allows the body to recover from a higher training/injury load. I also find it psychologically refreshing to change focus periodically. Right now we are very swim-heavy and I'm really into it ;-)

Interesting stuff. I would argue that one should always prioritise sleep, though, as it does wonders for both body and mind.

fitmama0914 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

fitmama0914 wrote: »

Thanks again. I've actually been gearing my workups towards calisthenics, and I'm pretty sure I would love hiit, but I think I am a bit scared I wouldn't be able to keep up. I am familiar with the gist of c25k, and I'm probably going to start with that. I can jog for 30 seconds straight, but my problem is learning to pace myself because I have a tendency to want to go as hard as I can.

Yes, you gotta build back an aerobic base if you lost it, so that program works well. So that means going slower.
You can improve the lower aerobic range and get faster much easier than you can improve the upper aerobic/anaerobic line to allow speed up there. And if endurance is of any interest over 5K races, you'll need the lower fat-burning range trained anyway to go faster, not the higher carb-burning range.

The wonderful thing about HIIT is there is no keeping up - it's done at your max ability.

Now, you may be thinking of videos or other programs that are mislabeled HIIT because of the current fad use of the term. HIIT is when you take what could be a slow steady cardio activity (running) and make the short intense sections with recovery.
It's as close to lifting as you can get while doing a cardio session.

The mislabeled stuff has always been done the way they do it, calisthenic routines with minimal rest between what is being worked.

Once you got a good aerobic base, ask me about a good HIIT routine for basically lifting for your lower body.

You're talking about the stuff online that does something like burpees, then high knees, then pushups, right? But hiit is basically meant for interval running? I would like that, because it's the sprinting that I enjoy. But I also like the sense of accomplishment that comes from paced running, if that makes sense. And it's a huge stress reliever.

Correct, what has otherwise been called calisthenics for ages when people did them, perhaps the shorter rest is newer for many, but was always an option.
And actually, cardio HIIT isn't useful to do more than once weekly. Takes a lot of recovery.
Usually very specific too, in order to mimic lifting. 1:3 ratio sprint to walking, from 15 sec to 45 sec sprint times, meaning 45 - 135 sec walk times. 8-10 reps is all that's needed.
And it is a blast outside, especially if you have some inclines. Nothing like going all out up a short hill for 15 sec, then getting your breath back.
But gotta have that aerobic base down - murder on tendons that are unprepared for it.

Plus, only building that carb-burning anaerobic side of the cardio range doesn't do nearly as much for endurance as what you call pace running, otherwise might think of it as HR zone running. Because pace would normally slow on a hill, faster on flat, ect. But the effort will feel the same.
And that's where you get most of your benefit - but as several mentioned, don't want to do it too hard. Take care of fitness first, pace will increase automatically. Try to take care of pace first, endurance rarely follows.