Leg weights and running?

[ShannonC]

I'm just trying together to put together a new plan for my training. I'm going to try and train for a half marathon I think and am just wondering, for those of you who lift weights as well as run, do you think just doing a leg workout once a week would be enough? Normally I do legs twice a week but I find that I pretty much need a day off before and after a weight leg day to recover, so with more running two days of leg weights might be out of the question.

I'm still planning on doing 2 or 3 days of upper body I think...but am not sure about the lower body part of it...

Any thoughts would be great.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

I think weight training is very important to runners. In fact, I attribute a lot of my marginal running ability to previous lifting.

That being said, depending on your running experience, once you begin running you're going to sore in places you didn't know you had and the last thing you'll want to do is lift lower body. However, depending on the intensity of your running plan and far out your goal race is, a lower body workout can definitely be done as a cross-training workout once a week.

Some of these guys are able to handle more but, as a beginner, I would say once a week is fine. I know that once my volume and intensity crept up, I have found it very difficult to do much, if any lower body lifting.

I think it also depends on what your actual objective is. I'm training to run a marathon as best I can. I believe weight training actually now affects my running training negatively, i.e. I can't run at prescribed paces. If your goal is to just run it, keep up with the lifting for sure.

This is pretty convoluted and maybe even contradicting. Wait for the experienced guys for more information. This is just what I've noticed from the short time I've been training for running.

[gobbla]

One of the big rules is "don't do more unless you have a compelling reason to". Start off with once a week. If you notice continued progression in your running then you might add another. If at any time you see a marked drop in performance cut back on something. If running is the priority cut back on the lifting and vise versa.

[BamaDave]

I agree with the other guys - keep up some lower body weight training, but don't go overboard until you see how you react. There's some thought that weights help avoid muscle imbalances in runners that can lead to many of the numerous aches and pains that runners complain about.

It's all about priority as well and how much time you want to devote to running versus weight training. If you want to run the best half-marathon time you can, you'll probably have to go lighter on the lower body weight training than if your primary goal is finishing and you don't care as much about your time. It's always a balancing act!