Strength Training for Distance Runners: The Ultimate Guide

Most of us runners just want to run. That’s what we like and prefer to do. And we kind of cheat ourselves by telling ourselves that we don’t need more. All that matters is running a lot of miles, and doing a few hard workouts per week. It’s that simple!

And yes, that may be the most important thing. But adding strength training to your weekly routine can take your performance to the next level. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced runner, strength training has the potential to improve your running economy, your maximal strength, speed and power, and make you less injury prone.

Simply put: strength training can make you run faster in all distances, and it can help you to handle more training (make you more robust). I know this from my own experience, as I stopped strength training when I stopped running professionally (which was by the end of 2014). After that I continued running, just because I enjoyed it, but I kept getting calf and Achilles injuries, forcing me to stop training. Only after I picked up serious strength training, was I able to increase my running load and train for months without any physical complaints.

And if you think that strength training is only for track runners, then why do you think many elite marathon runners also lift heavy weights? And when ultra-running legend Aleksandr Sorokin (who has 7 world records from 100K to 24 hours) stayed at our place in Iten, he would use the gym on an almost daily basis – because he knows that is what his body needs to perform and train a lot.

Of course, this is also supported by scientific research. Let’s explore what we mean with strength training, why it is essential for runners and how you can incorporate it into your training plan.

Understanding Strength Training for Runners

What is strength training?

Strength training involves exercises that build muscle strength and endurance using body weight, free weights, resistance bands, or machines. While traditional weightlifting focuses more on improving the size of our muscles, runners use strength training to become more robust, develop strength, power and stability, and improve running economy and endurance.

How does strength training help me?

Research shows that strength training does a couple of things with runners. One of the most documented effects is the fact that strength training can improve our running economy (see Berryman, and also Balsalobre-Fernandez). This means that running at a certain speed costs us less energy. As mentioned in my previous article, which you can find here, running economy is one of the three important determinants of running performance. While strength training may not improve our VO2max, it does improve our running economy, making us better runners.

Secondly, and this is kind of obvious, strength training improves our maximal strength, speed and power.

Third, some research (see Wang and others) shows that strength training in combination with endurance training, enhances the production of mitochondria.

Fourth, strength training can make runners more robust. They are less injury prone, and can train harder without getting injured. Of course, runners that do strength training can still get injured. But generally, they are able to handle a higher running load (run more and faster miles) without getting injured.

Will strength training make me big?

No, it won’t.

The reason why some runners don’t want to do strength training; they fear getting bigger muscles. In other words, getting heavier. And of course being heavier is a disadvantage for runners. However, this very unlikely to happen.

Although some typical fast-twitch short distance runners could get bigger muscles from strength training, the vast majority of runners do not. Getting bigger through strength training is not that easy. Especially when you’re running a lot. From my own experience: two years ago I was able to squat with 40 kg, and now I’m able to squat with 90kg and my legs are exactly the same size! In fact, I don’t think my legs have changed in size at all since I was 18. The reason is that, first of all I don’t have the genetics to get big (which is the case for most of us long distance runners). Secondly, when we lift weights, we don’t do the amount of repetitions that are needed to get bigger. We do 3 to 4 sets of 5 reps, and we often focus on power. That's never going to make anyone big. And third, we run too much. If you run a lot, your body is probably not going to have the right building stones available to get bigger muscles.

You might ask yourself; so how can strength training help me get stronger, if my muscles don’t grow? The reason is that the strength training that we do, focuses more on the connection between our brain and our muscles. We use strength training to teach our brain to recruit a higher percentage of the muscle fibres that we have. In fact, the two best ways to teach our body to recruit more muscle fibres are: lifting heavy weights, and sprinting up a hill.

If you do notice that your body is getting bigger due to strength training, what you can do to prevent this is to do a 30-60 min easy run before the gym session, and don’t take a protein drink during/after the session.

Types of Strength Training

We can identify a couple of different forms of strength training and each of them has its own benefit and place in a training program.

1. Weight lifting (heavy lifting, to improve general strength)

2. Power training (lifting a light weight while making a fast movement)

3. Plyometrics (such as hopping and bouncing)

4. General strength and conditioning (body weight exercises)

5. Hill sprints

Now let’s get into a bit more detail about all this. We’ll place videos about all of the forms of strength training on our Kenya Camp YouTube channel.

1. Weight lifting

   
   

Weight lifting for runners can be seen as the base of all strength training. It can be done throughout the year and is a relatively safe form of strength training, with proven benefits. Science is pretty clear about this: heavy weight lifting improves your running performance. Personally, I feel like 90 – 95% of runners can benefit from doing weight lifting. Examples of exercises that can be done are:

- Squat

- Lunge

- Barbell Push Press

- Step Up

- Dead Lift

- Good Morning

I do not recommend doing all of these exercises during one strength sessions. Preferably, start with three to four exercises. When you do two weight lifting sessions per week, you can change up the exercises.

Runners can expect the biggest impact from heavy lifting with less reps. This means:

• 1-6 repetitions, and 2-4 sets of this.

• Do all repetitions of a set non-stop (without pause)

• Take 1-2 minutes of rest between the sets

• First finish one particular exercise (for example the squat) before moving on to the next exercise

• Lift heavy, but not until exhausting

About the last point: it’s important to lift heavy. At the end of the last set, you want to feel like you could do a few more reps, but not 10 more reps. Sometimes it’s advised to aim for 80% of your 1 rep max (the maximum you can lift if you do only 1 rep), but from my experience, this depends on the person. Some can do 90% of their 1 rep max and be okay with that. Don’t go to exhaustion though! Science shows there is no extra benefit, and maybe even a negative effect, from trying to lift until failure.

Runners who start with weight training, I normally advise to start with a light weight, for example the barbell only. If that is heavy, use a dumbbell, or a broom to replace the barbell. First you need to get the movement right. This is extremely important. Don’t start lifting heavy before you master the movement. Ask a gym instructor to check on you. Once you have the right technique, you can slowly start adding some weight. With some exercises, you will find that you can add 2.5 – 5 kg every 2-4 weeks, whereas with other exercises, you may find it much harder to add weight. That is fine.

I’ve heard some athletes talk about the rule that you should not lift more than your body weight, but I don’t believe that is based on anything. How much you can lift depends on the person, and on the exercise that you perform. But for example, for the squat exercise, in my experience 150% of body weight for men and 125% of body weight for women is a good and challenging goal for most runners. Don’t stress if you don’t get there though. In the end, what matters is the process of getting a challenging strength session done, and recruiting those muscle fibres.

Final point: make sure you do a proper warm-up. In the case of lifting this means 10 min of running, elliptical or cycling, to make your body warm. After that, do some flexibility exercises to get ready. Finally, start each exercise with a lighter weight. For example, if you know you can do squats with 60 kg, start this exercise with 30-40kg (1 set of 5-6 reps), before moving to 50-60kg.

2. Power training

   
   

What I mean with power training is just another form of weight training. You can be in the same gym, and use the same weight lifting stuff. The difference is that the focus is not on heavy lifting, but on making a fast movement. To be able to make that fast movement, the lifted weight has to be a bit lighter.

In some cases, this means doing the same exercise as we discussed under A. weight lifting. You just execute the exercise faster, or finish it with a jump. An example is doing quick squats and jump up at the end of each squat. In some cases, it means doing a totally different exercise. Examples of more power type exercises are the clean and the snatch. They both involve a fast movement. If you’re not sure how these exercises should be done; we will place videos on our Kenya Camp YouTube channel.

Doing power training does not necessarily mean that the weight has to be light – some elite runners can do real power exercises with more than their body weight. It just means that the primary focus is not on lifting heavy, but on making a fast movement. You then lift the weight you can handle while doing that.

Generally speaking, the importance of power training increases the shorter your race distance. So power training is more important for 1500m runners and 5000m runners, than for marathon runners. Why is that? Because the main goal of lifting weights is to be able to apply more force into the ground. Applying more force into the ground, gives us bigger strides and thus more speed. This is of course essential for middle distance runners. At the same time, it still matters for marathon runners as well.

Just consider this: an elite marathon runner such as Eliud Kipchoge has a stride length (during the marathon) of close to 2 metres. He combines that with a cadence of around 180 – 185. Many amateur runners are also able to run with a cadence of 180 per minute. In fact, this morning when I did a one hour run at 4.15/km, my cadence was 188, but with a stride length of only 1m25. So the difference between an elite and an amateur is not cadence. The big difference is in stride length. Elite are able to put massive forces into the ground for more than 2 hours, enabling them to ‘fly’ longer (have bigger strides). Part of that is because elites tend to have a very stiff and effective Achilles tendon that allows them to bounce off the ground. But part of that is muscle power.

Secondly, power training is generally done closer to the competition. You start with heavy lifting in the base period, and in the last 2-3 months before the race you can replace some of the heavy lifting with power lifting.

3. Plyometrics

   
   

Plyometrics are all exercises that focus on a short ground contract. Sometimes we call them drills. Think of exercises like skipping (single leg or double leg, A skip and B skip), hopping, bouncing and bounding. These exercises focus both on the ‘neuro muscular connection’ and the stiffness and function of our tendons. Neuro muscular connection is a fancy word for the connection between our brain and our muscles. Plyometric drills are a way of teaching us the right running coordination, such as having a short and active ground contact, aggressive hitting of the ground, and making sure we hit the ground under our centre of gravity (not in front of it).

These exercises also help us develop the right tendon stiffness. As you can read in my previous blog about Kenyans and their superior running economy, our tendons (especially the Achilles tendon) are very important in terms of elastic energy return. They work as an elastic band that stores and releases energy. This is free energy that doesn’t cost us any ATPs. Doing plyometric exercises helps us improve the functionality of the tendons.

You can do plyometric exercises on different moments. One is to do it at the end of an easy run. For example, the day before a workout you can do a 40 min easy run followed by 20 min of plyometric drills. Do 30m of skipping, 30m of hopping, 30m of bouncing. Each exercise 3 x 30m with a walk back recovery. You can finish it off with a few strides (fast running is the ultimate plyometric exercise). It can also be done as part of the warm-up for a workout. After some easy warm-up running and stretches, you do some plyometric drills. This then serves two purposes: apart from teaching you the right movement and improving tendon stiffness, it also serves to prime your muscles for the workout.

Make sure you check our Kenya Camp YouTube channel for the video about plyometric drills where coach Collins and I will teach you how to go about them.

4. General strength and conditioning (S & C)

   
   

With general strength and conditioning I mean all exercises that don’t require anything more than your own body to do them (apart from an exercise mat). Think about exercises such as: hamstring bridge, hamstring plank, donkey kicks, push ups and different types of core strength and core stability exercises.

S & C is a good supplement next to weight lifting, and as a way to maintain some of the strength that you gained through heavy lifting. It’s also good as an introduction to strength training. Compared with weight lifting, it does not have the same impact, but it does help you to get to a certain base level. And the big advantage is that it’s easy to do at home.

My top 5 tips for runners when it comes to strength and conditioning exercises:

1. Doing 3 sessions of 10 minutes per week, is more effective than 1 session of an hour

2. Don’t go to exhaustion, just get started.

3. There are no best or magic exercises. Different core exercises all stimulate the core muscles in a slightly different way. Mix it up!

4. Focus mostly on exercises for core, hamstrings and glutes.

5. Do try to increase the number of reps from week to week.

A bit more explanation about this. You may have heard of a boot camp, or certain strength sessions where people go ‘all-out’ for an hour or more until they are totally exhausted from all the sit-ups, chin-ups and other exercises. If this makes you feel good, go for it! But as a running coach and movement scientist, I don’t really see the point. And do you see elite runners doing this? I don’t. Why? Because elite runners don’t care about looking tough in the gym, or about what they enjoy doing. They simply go for the most effective method.

If you are serious about working on your strength, start with 2-3 sessions of strength and conditioning (each lasting 10 to 30 minutes) per week, and later on add 1 x weight lifting per week. Once you’re used to the weight lifting, you can consider doing 2 weight lifting sessions a week – whether this is something that works for you depends on the person. But that combination of weight lifting, with some added body work will get you there. It’s also sustainable throughout the year.

You do need to make the conditioning sessions slightly longer, as you start to get stronger. Because at first you may be tired after doing 2 sets of 10 hamstring bridges. You won’t be able to push your hips up anymore, so that’s a good stimulus for you. While 6 months later you can do 3 sets of 20 with the same effort.

5. Hill Sprints

   
   

Hill sprints can be considered the most specific form of strength training. Just like when lifting weights, sprinting up a hill is mostly a neuromuscular stimulus. It’s a way of teaching our body to recruit more muscle fibres.

What do I mean with that? Normally when running, we don’t use all the muscle fibres in our legs. We may use just 60% of the muscle fibres, while the rest is inactive. The highest possible number of fibres (still probably just 70% or thereabout) are recruited when we lift heavy weights or when we run all out up a hill.

Because hill sprints are quite an interesting workout for runners, I want to write a separate blog post about them. For now, I will just describe what a session of hill sprints looks like.

Before starting, you do a proper warm-up. For example, 15 min to 30 min of easy running. Then you do some dynamic stretches and/or drills, plus a few strides to get your muscles ready for fast running. Make sure you have a nice hill, with a gradient of around 5-15%. It should not be too steep, forcing you to run up in an unnatural way. Mark the start line. Start 5-10 meters before the start line, since there is no need to have a ‘standing start’ like a sprinter. That would put unnecessary strain on the hamstrings. Run up the hill for 8 to 10 seconds at 90-95% effort, while making sure you maintain good running form. Hit the ground hard with your legs. Focus on using power, not on high cadence. Run the last 2-3 reps at really close to all-out effort. A total of 6-10 reps is enough.

Hill sprints help you improve speed and strength (by enabling you to recruit more fibers), and I feel like they can also have a good effect on your running form. They kind of force you to have an effective running form, where you use the elastic energy and learn to ‘pop off’ the ground.

Key Benefits of Strength Training for Runners

As mentioned earlier, strength training has a couple of benefits that are essential for runners who want to maximize their performance.

Injury Prevention: We all have our weaknesses. As many runners who are injury prone can confess, weak muscles and tendons increase the risk of injuries. Physiotherapists all over the world point this out to runners who come to their clinic with an injury. More often than not, the solution to the injury – or at least part of the solution – is to strengthen certain muscle groups. Strength training fortifies muscles, tendons, and ligaments, reducing strain on joints and lowering the risk of common running injuries.

Improved Running Efficiency: Strong core and leg muscles help maintain proper running form, reducing energy wastage. This efficiency allows you to run longer with less fatigue.

Increased Speed and Endurance: Building muscle power enhances your stride and push-off force, leading to faster speeds and improved endurance, especially during long-distance races.

How to Incorporate Strength Training into Your Program

Balancing Running and Strength Workouts

Runners sometimes fear that strength training, especially the heavy lifting kind of strength, will impact their running sessions. This is a genuine concern. When it comes to general strength and conditioning, as well as hill sprints and plyometric drills, we don’t have to be too much concerned. But heavy lifting has more impact and can take time to recover from. Yes, lifting is good, but we are runners, not weight lifters. Generally, this is my rule of thumb:

First 3-4 weeks of lifting weights, it’s fine if there is some soreness or stiffness.

After the first month, the muscle soreness should be down to a minimum and not affect your runs.

Then I’m talking mostly about the important running workouts. If the strength session makes you feel a bit tired during a 10km easy run, that’s not a big deal. But if the muscle soreness continues to be there at a level that impacts your quality running workouts, then you should reduce the load of the strength session(s). It doesn’t mean you should stop, definitely not! But you are probably lifting too heavy, or doing too many reps.

Strength training should complement your running plan, not interfere with your running workouts. This is also why I recommend adding one type of strength training at a time.

A big mistake runners make is adding all different forms of strength at once. They have never done any strength training in their life, and now they realise it’s important, so they suddenly start lifting weight twice a week, plus adding general strength and conditioning 2-3 times per week, AND adding plyometric exercises at all. That is way too much for a normal person to handle.

Best Days to Train for Optimal Performance

What is the best day to place your gym workouts? This is an important question. As mentioned above, heavy lifting can sometimes impact your runs. Ideally, we plan our gym session on a moment in the week, where it may impact an easy run, but not an important workout. If the only price you pay for getting stronger, is some heavy legs during the easy run the following morning, then that is a fair deal! At the same time, you want to place your weight session on a moment that you can recover well from it, so that it has the best impact on your strength.

So here’s are the two best options:

• AM running workout, PM weight training: This gives you ample time to recover from the strength session until your next workout. Never do a weight lifting session in the morning, followed by a workout in the afternoon.

• The day after a workout, followed by another easy day: This is my personal preference. I would do a workout on day 1, then an easy run + weight session on day 2, another easy running day on day 3, and the next workout on day 4.

  
  

Which of those two options is best for you, depends on your preference. I know runners who always preferred lifting in the afternoon, after having done a running workout in the morning. But I’ve also coached athletes for who this did not work. It didn’t really work for me either. I was always too tired from the workout that I did in the morning, to be able to have a proper strength session in the afternoon. So try this out for yourself and pick what works best.

How to Build it Up

As mentioned above, you can’t suddenly start adding all kinds of strength training at once, because that way you will overload your body. Like all training, you also have to build up the load of the strength training. Here is my advice:

1. Start with general strength and conditioning. Use your own body weight only for some floor exercises on a mat. Rather than doing 1 hard session of S & C, start with 3 sessions of 10 minutes each, spaced throughout the week. For example, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As you get stronger, start doing more reps and more sets. Thirty minutes of S & C is generally long enough. After some months, you can start adding exercises with dumbbells.

2. After having done this for a couple of months, start lifting weights once a week. Combine once a week lifting with two weekly sessions of general S & C, always spaced throughout the week. See below for an example week.

3. You may want to try out lifting twice a week, but whether that works for you, depends on the person.

4. Once you’re used to the lifting, start adding a few light plyometric exercises at the end of the gym session. See how your legs respond to this.

5. If you’re not getting very stiff from the plyometric drills, start adding a separate drills session to your weekly routine.

6. Always keep enough space between strength sessions. I don’t see the need of doing S & C the day after a weight lifting session, since your muscles are still recovering from the previous day. The other way around (weight lifting the day after S & C) is a better option, since S & C is generally not that heavy and runners recover more quickly from it. In the same way, don’t plan plyometric sessions on consecutive days. Allow your body to recover and get stronger from the session, before you do another one!

Here an example of a training program that includes different forms of strength training:

Day	Session	Notes
Monday	Easy Run + Strength and Conditioning	10-30 min of exercises
Tuesday	Running workout	No strength today
Wed	Easy run + GYM	Heavy lifting
Thu	Easy run	No strength today
Friday	Running workout + plyo	10-15 min of skips and hops
Sat	Easy run + Strength and Conditioning	10-30 min of exercises
Sun	Longrun / workout	No strength today

This way you’re doing one session of heavy lifting, which is not expected to affect your running workout two days later. It might make you feel tired during the easy run on Thursday, but that is fine. There are also two sessions of S & C (Monday and Saturday) but since these are much lighter than the weight lifting session, they are not expected to affect your runs at all. The plyometric session on Friday is done as part of the warm-up, after some easy running and before you start with the actual workout. If you respond well to this, you can consider adding a second session of plyometric drills during the Tuesday workout.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overtraining

Strength training is beneficial, but like with everything, it’s the dose that matters. Overdoing the strength training can lead to fatigue, overtraining and injuries. Make sure you recover properly between sessions. Having a coach can be very beneficial here. Your coach can help you monitor your recovery and, when needed, move your strength session to another day.

Ignoring a Proper Warm-up

All exercises, and especially the heavy lifting ones, require warm-up. Neglecting warm-up, stretching and mobility exercises can lead to tight muscles, which increases the injury risk. These warm-up exercises also help you perform the actual strength exercises in a better way.

Lifting too Much or too Little

Some runners keep on making the mistake to lift too heavy, causing them to run like a cripple person for 2-3 days. Back it off! Strength training is not about proving yourself. It’s about improving yourself. Lift what you can handle, without going to failure, and without being too stiff the following days.

At the same time, I have met runners who were happy lifting the same amount of weight for many months. Just like with running, you want to try to improve. In the gym this means trying to add some weight to what you are lifting. If you have done deadlifts with 50 kg for the last 2 months, it’s time to try to challenge yourself and lift 55 kg. At some point you will reach a ceiling, but the intention has to be to try to add weights.

With general S & C, the intention is to keep adding reps or sets. Don’t do 2 sets of 10 reps of hamstring bridge for many months. Once you have done this for a few weeks, try if you can do 3 sets of 8 – 10 reps. And don’t be satisfied until you can do 3 sets of 20 reps. Check out our Kenya Camp YouTube channel for more tips.

Ignoring Recovery After the Strength Session

A strength session, just like a running workout, requires food intake for optimal recovery. After a heavy lifting session, consume a protein-rich meal, preferably within 30 minutes. Things like yogurt, beans, eggs and chicken can work well. There are also lots of vegan options. In case it was a very heavy session, consider taking extra proteins before bed-time.

Conclusion

Strength training is a game-changer for runners. It enhances endurance, prevents injuries, and generally improves overall performance. By incorporating the right exercises into your routine, balancing workouts, and focusing on recovery, you can maximize your running potential.

FAQs

1. How often should runners do strength training?

Runners should strength train 2–3 times a week, with at least one session of weight lifting.

2. Can strength training replace running workouts?

No, strength training should complement, not replace, running sessions. It enhances endurance and performance but doesn’t substitute running-specific training.

3. What’s the best time of day to do strength training?

General S & C can be done any time of the day, but weight lifting should be done at least 3 hours after waking up to get an optimal benefit. If done on the same day, run first, then lift later.

4. Do I need gym equipment for strength training as a runner?

You can do lots of strength exercises using only bodyweight. Adding resistance bands or dumbbells can enhance your routine. However, I do recommend starting with proper weight lifting as well, so you need a squat rack and weights in different sizes for this. That being said, most gyms are filled up with lots of machines that are useless for runners. What you really need is the weight lifting stuff, a matt, and possibly dumbbells and bands. At Kenya Camp in Iten we have a gym where we provide these for our guests.

5. How long does it take to see results from strength training in running?

Most runners notice improvements within 4–6 weeks of consistent strength training.

6. Will strength training give me bigger muscles?

If you’re a distance runner and you’re doing the strength training the way I described in this blog, it will not lead to bigger muscles.

7. Do I need guidance during strength training?

When it comes to lifting weights: yes. I definitely recommend that, once you start lifting weights, you do your sessions with a coach or gym instructor who can watch you and comment on your technique. Once you got the hang of it and know how to execute the exercises properly, it’s fine to do it by yourself. Also when it comes to plyometric drills, it’s better to have a coach with you to teach you the right way to do the exercises. Doing them in the wrong way, will make them ineffective.

By integrating strength training into your running program, you’ll become a stronger, more resilient, and faster runner. Happy training! More FAQ

Here are some articles for the science nerds:

• Nicolas Berryman and others: Strength training for middle- and long-distance performance: a meta-analysis (2017).

• Carlos Balsalobre – Fernandez: The effects of strength training on running economy in highly trained runners: a systematic review with meta-analysis of controlled trials (2015).

• Leena Paavolainen: Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power (2020).

• Lee Wang and others: Resistance exercise enhances the molecular signalling of mitochondrial biogenesis induced by endurance exercise in human skeletal muscle (2011).