3 reasons why you should consider strength training this marathon season (and into the future)...
Novelty and variety
The cyclical motion of running is one of the primary reasons we fall for the sport. The meditative rhythm of each step, comprising however many miles we allocate for that given day. The mind and body appreciates constant patterns, but constant repetition of the same patterns can create long-term monotony and make us one dimensional. In the case of running being our only go-to activity, strength training provides input to the body that is new and unusual in nature. This provides a host of different stimuli that has a positive impact on numerous systems in our body. At Running in Circles, I hope to teach that the body appreciates that running alone isn’t enough to build the robustness we need for our training and this variety might be the aspect of your running journey that you’re currently missing.
Longevity
Whether we are at the beginning or further down the road of our running journeys, at some point we will run into a hurdle in the form of pain or an injury. The forces experienced in our muscles and tendons during running can be as great as 3-7x bodyweight. In a simplified manner, injuries occur when the forces entering our body, and therefore our muscles and connective tissue, are greater than what we can withstand. Therefore, this mismatch between capacity and workload creates an overload. Some of us find that the cardiovascular aspect of running is not what’s holding us back, but rather the body’s infrastructure is unable to cooperate with the mechanical demand. This poses a problem with staying in the running game for the long term. Strength training allows is to improve our body’s ability to endure by coping with, producing, and re-directing greater amounts of force. This in turn allows us to get stronger and become more resilient to go further and go longer.
Performance
As runners, we all want to improve. Whether we are chasing down a local Parkrun personal best or our fastest marathon time, there is only so much running we can afford. This comes down to our bodies ability to run the number of miles, the time we have to allocate to this, and where we fit it all in amongst our busy lives. Strength training provides variety, a vector for longevity but also an opportunity to improve our running performance. Over time, if we can learn to handle and express more force, this will translate to an improvement in speed. More speed sounds pretty desirable to most. On top of this, having a higher ceiling of capacity could be the difference between keeping the legs ticking over in those late marathon miles and stopping the road from swallowing us up.
I’m Alex Vendittelli, coach at Running in Circles. If you are looking find out more about how we train, get in touch via socials or email. I am based in Glasgow, UK but also work remote through online coaching. Both methods have shown continuous improvement in client strength, mobility, and some personal bests smashed along the way. Running in Circles is growing, as a collective of runners who have found strength training to be a vital part of their routine. Come join the circle.