people really recommend squats and deadlifts? I'm pretty fast and have never done them

Coach wrote:

Call out, most average runners would be healthier if they trained more like cross fitters and less like elite runners.

Right Coach, but we can't confuse effective training for distance running performance with healthy running.

To Call Out or whoever else.....I know what it means to run 100-120 miles a week, up to 140 a week on occasion. I was never great but trained as hard as I could for many years. But that was a decade ago.

Also, runners lifting weights is nothing new.

Steve Spence attributed part of his success in 1991 (WC Marathon bronze) to weightlifting.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

Coach wrote:

Call out, most average runners would be healthier if they trained more like cross fitters and less like elite runners.

Right Coach, but we can't confuse effective training for distance running performance with healthy running.

To Call Out or whoever else.....I know what it means to run 100-120 miles a week, up to 140 a week on occasion. I was never great but trained as hard as I could for many years. But that was a decade ago.

Also, runners lifting weights is nothing new.

Steve Spence attributed part of his success in 1991 (WC Marathon bronze) to weightlifting.

Alan

If you don't do strengthening, you get weak and forget about muscle groups.

By forget about muscle groups I mean the muscle is so underused/atrophied that you can't even activate it or use it functionally.

Even 1 easy weightlifting session every 2 weeks for someone running 120mpw can be enough to keep those stabilizing and core muscles tuned. It can make a BIG difference in how you feel on runs the next day, almost as if you've tapped into a couple more sources of propulsion. I've lifted after 3-4 months off lifting during 100mpw and felt as if my stride got 6-12 inches longer the next day with nothing else changed.

When you look at Farah you see a really really lightweight guy who has a lot of concerted rotation and core movement which lends power to his stride. If you shut down half the muscles in his back I guarantee you he wouldn't be getting golds like it's easy. And if he were to run his mileage for a year without doing any other kind of strengthening, that's essentially what would happen.

No one on here saying don't do strengthening exercises, but if you think that deadlifts and squats done with heavy loads is essential for success in distance running, you're flat out clueless.

If you get injured doing 3-4 near-max reps of squats or deadlifts then you're weak as F@#$! It should be no issue whatsoever, and that stuff will help much more than squatting the pink dumbbells.

The heavy loads are important in a similar way that sprinting near maximally is important and hills sprints are important. The difference being that there are muscles which are very important for your running which can become weakened by running, which is somewhat antithetical.

Who said they were essential? I've never said that.

What is essential is running. That's it.

Stretching? Not essential.

Massage? Not essential.

Good diet? Not essential.

Weight lifting? Not essential.

I could go on.

Essential? No. Beneficial? Yes.

Alan

ukathleticcoach wrote:

Are you faster than Seb Coe as you are certainly more stupid.

I am not sure how fast Seb Coe is at age 59, but I bet the OP (in his 20s?) is probably faster than him.