thanks, did you say Tuesday b/c you assume my long run will be on Sunday?

I've been lifting weights for almost three years up to five times a week. Six months ago I took up running to lose some more body fat, plus I was tired of getting all my cardio from the treadmill or stairmaster, etc. I quickly discovered that hard weight workouts, specifically lower body workouts, made running very difficult. Here's my theory.....in order to get better at running (increase your distance or speed) you have to run 3-5 days a week. If you do intense weight workouts on off days then you end up sore on your run days. Trying to run even 3 miles when your legs and glutes are sore and exhausted is grueling. Running with sore glutes feels like you have two bouncing hard boulders in the back of your running shorts! If you cut it down to one hard leg day a week you will still be sore for several days. Your body needs some type of recovery time. After several months of experimenting with different workouts I finally figured out what worked for me. I run 4 days a week and alternate between longer easy runs and shorter runs with speed drills. Off days I do intense upper body weights and do light weights/high reps on lower body. This keeps the soreness down and running works my legs all week long. I think both running and weights are both equally important to being fit and healthy. Running is superior for cardio heath and resistance training is superior for
maintaining healthy muscle mass. I think you should experiment and figure out what works for you. I'm always trying new ways to improve my workouts.....it's become a way of life for me and I love it. Eric, your goals are identical to mine minus the half marathon in the spring...I'm not quite ready for that distance yet but maybe someday. Hope this helps.

Leslie

My layman's gross over simplification is that strength training compliments running but the balance will vary. For a new runner, it's probably important to strengthen muscles used during running to help stave off injuries. As you get more experienced, though increased running, you probably need to be in a maintenance mode to retain muscle mass and muscle balance.

My experience mirrors that of Southern Man. If you want to have more "running" endurance or speed, then run more. If you're training for general fitness, lift weights.

If you want to do the running equivalent of weights, do a long run in the hills once a week and do several short hill sprints intermingled with your other runs throughout the week to improve power/speed/running economy.

If someone wants to become a better pianist, would you suggest practicing the piano more, or squeezing rubber balls to build up grip and finger strength?

If you can handle 5 days of week of running already, then I would not drop a running day to add weights. Running hills will help with strength. If you don't have any hills, bridges, highway overpasses, stairs, bleachers, etc, then targeted strength work may help with injury prevention. If you were doing races on trails and substantial hills, then I would definitely advocate supplemental targeted strength work early in base. But get more specific toward race time - that is, more running and less strength. Play it by ear as far as recovery. For me, I'll use one leg balance squats on easy days, esp. if my normal hills are too icy to run safely (and the road hills aren't big enough). Like tonight I just did some squats while waiting for a download (I'd been walking for awhile before that as warmup). When I'm doing big hills later, I don't do any supplemental strength work.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by L Master:
[b] I added running after having been lifting for a year or so and it eventually became my primary focus. What I found, however, is that on lifting days if I go and run after the lifting I experience hardly any soreness even on the occasional super-intense multi-hour session. Running afterwords helps to clear out lactic acid and bring things like protein that the muscle needs to the muscle site.

Consider giving it a try sometime![/B]<HR>

It makes sense. I may be running at a turtle pace after the leg workout but I'll try it.

Thank you everyone for your input, honestly I'm still a little confused but the most consitent answer seems to be: everyone responds to wieght training and running in a different way, experiment with different programs. A few additional factors: I live in the Chicago area, soon it will be cold and windy and I may not have as much time for outdoor training as I would like anyway. Also, my upper body is larger (muscle mass and fat) than my lower body, so some balance in my frame would be nice.

So, in 2 weeks I will begin a running program for the HM for begineers. The routine allows for a day of running or cross training- I will use this day for some light running or stairmaster work followed by some easy weight lifting for my legs. My guess is I will tapper this off to focus more on speed drills later in the program. Since there doesn't seem to be a clear cut answer, I will be the test subject and report back on my progress... Thank you all again.