We independently review everything we recommend. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.
Today’s guest post is brought to you by performance coach Jonah Rosner, sharing a more efficient way to schedule your lifts — because, as it turns out, runners need to lift weights too, or something.
But that’s not all — Jonah is also offering a free plan to strengthen your feet and calves while you adjust to your new life as a hybrid athlete. You can check out that plan and download it right here.
Anyway, let’s learn how to pick things up and put them down in a responsible manner.
Jonah Rosner is a former NFL sports scientist with training experience across all major US Pro sports. He’s previously partnered with Nike to launch the Nike Running Performance Lab in New York, which utilizes tools developed for NFL players. Jonah also runs the Marathon Science newsletter and offers a marathon training plan that integrates tech, AI, and performance testing along the way.
Hey! Jonah here.
Are your strength workouts secretly sabotaging your marathon?
One of my clients was crushing weights but watching her track times tank — until we made one simple schedule change. The result of that change? She PR’d every single track session during her marathon build. (And no, we didn’t cut her lifting — we just got smarter about timing it).
Here’s what we came up with to help her through a better balance: We broke down the science of muscle damage (in plain English), worked out a balanced weekly lifting schedule, figured out how to stack hard sessions to maximize gain, and set recovery windows that actually work.
So, if that sounds like something you’ve been waiting for in your own lifting routine, let’s jump into a few of the major points.
I’ll start with a warning — most runners wreck their track workouts because they lift the day before. In their heads, it seems smart to split up the hard work into two different days, but here’s the truth.
Heavy lifting and fast running both put massive forces through your legs, which, in turn, leads to eccentric muscle damage. These powerful contractions happen when you lower a heavy squat or when your foot strikes the ground during an interval, thus creating micro-tears in your muscle fibers that are essential to make you stronger.
The kicker, though, is that your body needs 48 to 72 hours to repair this damage. During the post-workout recovery phase, your muscles are as tired as your mind is after trying to teach your grandma about slang — it’s a labor of love.
So, here’s what a lot of runners do that turns their workouts into a disaster: Heavy squats on a Monday, followed by a speedy track workout on a Tuesday. After all, can’t miss a Track Tuesday… or can you? Well, research has proven that damaged muscles don’t hit target paces. And, when you miss your paces, your overall training quality takes a dive.
So, let’s roll along to what I’ve declared is the perfect weekly workout schedule.
Now that you’ve got the science, you wanna know the secret? Of course you do. It’s hard days hard, easy days easy.
By stacking your hard sessions, you maximize your recovery time and let your legs truly recharge. So, what I mean is that you can stack your hard runs and lifts on the same day. On top of that, you can lift two or three times per week, max (anything more is overkill for runners). Logistically, it’s more sensible to save your lift until after you run, and even then, I’d leave about a six-hour break before you do it.
But, as we all know, life happens. If you can’t possibly stack your workouts on the same day, you should at least think about giving yourself two full days of recovery between a hard lift and a track or speed session. No matter what, keep a full two days between tough sessions.
And seriously, don’t lift heavy before a long run — your legs will thank you. Here’s another look at the schedule, you know, for visual learners:
Here’s why this works: Your body recovers from lifting and running simultaneously. Think of it as killing two birds with one recovery stone. In fact, research also shows that stacking hard sessions can enhance recovery and maximize training benefits over time. It’s kind of like the boost I get from a post-run ice cream.
Here’s the gist: Stack hard runs and heavy lifts on the same day, wait six hours between lifting and running, and limit yourself to two or three sessions of lifting per week. Oh, and always lift after runs, not before.
A few good recovery rules of thumb are to always leave 48 hours between tough sessions, once again, lift after, not before, and if you can’t stack, wait two days between hard sessions. Got all that?
Here’s that foot and ankle plan one more time, you know, to get you started.
Have something to say? Leave a Comment