Strength Training for Runners

From Running Times online…

Run Stronger, Run Longer: How Strength Training Benefits Runners

Improve running time to exhaustion

By Mackenzie Lobby

As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine

 “Strength training is an important component in most professional sports. In distance running, however, we’re in the stone ages,” says Luke Carlson, CEO of Discover Strength and strength coach for many of the elite runners of Team USA Minnesota. Carlson believes that too many distance runners leave certain performance variables to chance when they forego regular strength training.

In the world of ancillary training, there is no other type of “extra” workout that is backed by more academic literature. “The preponderance of peer-reviewed research suggests that strength training improves running performance, whether that’s running economy or time to exhaustion,” Carlson explains.

Stephen Haas, a member of Team Indiana Elite, immediately noticed a difference in both overall performance and health since joining the elite ranks and committing to an organized weekly strength workout. “I really think it has helped us a lot. No major injuries in four years in any of the guys is pretty amazing,” he says.

Brett Gotcher of McMillan Elite in Flagstaff agrees. Over the years he has had coaches who have put less emphasis on strength, but since joining McMillan, he’s seen tangible improvements in his performances. “A lot of times people associate strength training with getting buff,” says Gotcher. “That’s not our purpose at all. I think it is one important aspect that can help make someone that ‘complete’ runner we all strive to be.”

Read on here.