Where strength training fits in your running week
Mark your easy, hard and long runs. Get the days to lift — never before a key run — adjusted for base, build, peak and race week.
- Tue — After your hard run, ideally a few hours later — keeps easy days easy and gives legs a full recovery before the next key run.
- Thu — After your hard run, ideally a few hours later — keeps easy days easy and gives legs a full recovery before the next key run.
How this was calculated: 2 sessions in this phase. Never the day before a hard or long run, never on long-run day, at least a day between lifts. Base phase: heavier lifting, 3–5 reps. Build and peak: keep the load, cut the sets.
Estimates for healthy adults, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, have a medical condition or a history of disordered eating, speak to a qualified professional first.
Worked example
A runner with a hard session Tuesday and Thursday and a long run Sunday, in a build phase, gets two strength sessions: Tuesday after the interval session and Thursday after the tempo run — never Saturday, the day before the long run. In peak weeks that drops to one; in race week, none.
Common questions
- Should runners lift before or after running?
- After, when the run is the priority — ideally a few hours later. Lifting first is fine in a base phase when building strength is the main goal.
- Does strength training make you a faster runner?
- Heavy and plyometric strength training improves running economy in trained distance runners, typically without adding body mass (Blagrove et al., 2018).
- Why lift on a hard running day?
- Stacking stress on one day keeps your easy days genuinely easy and leaves a full recovery day before the next key run. Lifting the day before a long run is what hurts.
- Should I strength train in race week?
- Stop heavy lifting about a week out. Short mobility or activation work is fine; anything that leaves you sore is not.
Get strength sessions planned around your running week, every week.
RunnerStrong starts from these numbers, then learns from what you actually log — and tells you why every time it changes something.
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