How to fit Lifting into a training plan

Don't. I know it's an unpopular opinion on LRC but traditional weight lifting is useless for distance running. Even harmful. Instead, use resistance bands on a horizontal and unilateral manner. Specificity is key.

I would suggest doing heavy lifts after your running sessions. You can do mobility stuff on an easy run day.

Running is the priority so it doesnt matter if youre a little tired for the weights sessions. Recover from them both at the same time

Weight training is great from improving economy and power. Also as a middle distance guy youll notice the difference when youre closing a race with the bear on your back.

If you incorporate the correct type of strength training. Traditional weight training molds the fascia opposite of the running motion. Look it up.

Yes, its important to do the correct type of weight training. Dont do the incorrect type.

Also dont be dissuaded from doing it by people on the internet who dont want to do it and cherry pick internet guff that give them a reason not to do.

Science is only as good as the experiments they are able to run in lab conditions. Plenty of coaches and elite athletes incorporate strength training successfully.

Absolutely none of this makes any sense. I can tell you're into something along the lines of GOATA, Functional Patterns, or one of those "alternative" strength programs that's produced zero good athletes. One of those strength programs that draws lines all over athletes they have zero relation to and they say, "Look how good Usain Bolt is, he's one of us! ;)"

To OP, strength train on your workout days. The most basic outline I can quickly give is:

- Do some warmup, duh. Band stuff, mobility, etc.

- Do your most intense, coordinated, explosive movement first. E.g. power cleans. Don't go until exhaustion, and don't lift so heavy that it becomes not snappy. The goal is to move something heavy AND fast. I like to work up to a heavy double or triple on power clean. Basically keep doing sets of 2 or 3, adding 5lbs at a time, until you're like, "If I add 5 more pounds, it's gonna get a little sloppy."
- Do you biggest strength exercise next. This would be something like squats or lunges. Something as simple as 3x5 will work. Reasonably heavy, but don't kill yourself.

- All your accessories can follow. I like RDLs, pullups, and weighted planks

My own experience and research suggests -

Lift on your workout days and do it as the second session, ideally after eating and resting after the run.

If you lift first you’ll have no legs for the running workout, even if you leave a decent gap. And if you lift on your easy running days you won’t recovery properly from either activity.

One of the Huberman episodes - I think on testosterone - cites evidence that lifting after endurance training reduces the hormonal response from lifting, but you can minimise that effect by leaving as long a gap as possible to recover. ie run in the morning; lift in the afternoon.

That’s been my approach for several years and it has served me well. Good luck.

lift on you hard day.

if you lift on easy days then you defeat the purpose of the easy day.

This is rubbish. If you have a weak body you're form isn't going to hold up at fast paces, you'll run inefficiently.

But to OP, you want to lift weights after your harder sessions. So I'd lift Tuesday and Friday on your plan. One of those days can be more explosive exercises like squat jumps, single leg hops, lunge jumps, med ball circuit, stuff like that. And the other day more traditional lifting.

A lot of people will tell you not to lift or to lift in a way that does not actually increase strength in a meaningful way.

You can look up the research data on your own and see who types of resistance training leads to improvements in running economy and performance.

Heavy resistance training (defined here as at least 85% of your 1-rep max) and explosive training (defined here as plyometrics or explosive lifting with lighter weights) has been shown to improve running economy and performance.

Ok cool. How do we do that in the confines of a running program in which you may be running 1-2 hours a day, doubles etc?

Keep your easy days easy and your hard days hard. Lift after your hard effort for that day. Preferably hours after, such as part of your double.

Keep the volume low and focus on the prime movers. I always suggest Front Squats and Trap Bar Deadlifts because they are easy to perform and require less technical skill. 3 x 5, 5 x 5, warm up/ramp up to one max set of 5, warm up/ramp up to one max set of 3. There are a lot of loading parameters that will work and keep the volume low. Incorporate explosive movements and plyos over time also focusing on explosiveness. Doing 100 box jumps is good cardio. Doing 5 sets of 3 box jump focusing on power and explosiveness is the type of plyometrics we are talking about here.

Alan

I would also throw out, during a mesocycle of relatively lower running volume/intensity would be a good time to incorporate weight training. Then as you you closer to the time you're trying to peak with higher intensity, lower the weight training or do bare minimum

Yep, strength training is periodized just like running. You can make lots of strength gains in the offseason/base building period. Transition that to power gains as running training gets more serious. When it's time to race, strength training is there to keep you sharp and injury free, you should do the bare minimum.

We used to follow almost the same exact schedule in college, expect we ran 7 days w/ long run on Sunday. We did weights Monday AM and Thursday AM. Three days a week is overkill for runners getting in lots of miles.

*except. Also I would recommend keeping the exercises to 2-3 sets to avoid excess fatigue in the context of your running schedule.

Looking at the lead packs both male and female of major marathons supports this position.

Anecdotally, the guys in my age group who finish ahead of me could barely budge weights I play with.

You don't need to be big in order to increase strength in some meaningful way.

Lift. Or don't lift. I don't care. Too much dogma to fight through to change people's minds.

Alan

Lift on one or two of your "hard" days, after your training sessions. Go to baye dot com for info on HOW to lift.

Seems like a lot of teams, collegiate and pro, lift on their easy days now. Big caveat is that these teams are often doing doubles or double workouts. I imagine it’s hard to lift after two workouts. Or hard to lift after running 18-20 miles. Lifting the day after seems fairly common. Then you can take the following day, two days after the workout, as your true recovery day. If the lifting is making you so sore that it impacts your running then you’re overdoing it.

You could lift any day, but the lifting should complement the type of running that you do. Olympic lifts would work better after an interval workout or speed day while lifting to promote recovery might be done after easier runs.

I went to a talk by Ryan Banta about strength training for runners. It is a part of his Sprinters Compendium and a big part of his program. Google him.