Run Better With Strength Training

I love helping women run a 5k…

and did you know you can run a 5k and not have your knees kill??

See it’s all about how S.T.R.E.S.’D your knees are. That’s the Strength, Training, Recovery, Equipment, Stretching and Diet part of your running program.

When I started running I was in college. I wanted to lose a few pounds with running and I started to feel really good with it.

I would run a few miles on the treadmill before or after my shift at my on campus job through the financial aid package.

Throughout college I would just run a bunch of miles on the treadmill and call it a day. It was easy because I lost weight and since I was on the treadmill I could study all those muscles, bones and ligaments that I was always being tested on as a DPT student.

Once I graduated college and grad school I continued running. And I met a new guy (now he’s my husband) and we liked running together… we even planned a few half marathons to do together.

As I went through the training plans I realized that even though I felt like I could run all day- breathing wise… I felt like my legs just couldn’t keep up.

I was never out of breath but my legs would ache and feel like lead halfway through a run… even if it was just a short run!

It wasn’t that I was out of shape… like cardio-wise… it was that I was out of shape strength-wise.

I needed to beef up my strength training to run farther, better, faster, stronger.

At first I didn’t believe it. You know trainers would say “you gotta strength train if you want to run good.” Yea yea yea… and I’d wave them off.

Then after my first half marathon I decided in the off season I was going to actually give it a go. I had a gym membership and I was pretty much just using it for the treadmill.

Well wouldn’t you know I started strengthening my muscles and the next running season I felt lighter when I ran.

The longer runs were easier and my legs didn’t feel like lead.

So how does this relate to you?

You’re doing all the right things now… you’re running, and you feel like you could go all day if it weren’t for your legs.

It’s not that you’re out of shape with your cardio… that’s going great! It’s that your muscles are out of shape. They aren’t working at their optimal performance.

Incorporate strength training into your routine to really amp up your run.

Not sure what to do?

There are lots of places to find out what strength exercises are best for runners.

Especially strength exercises that are best for running 5k.

You can look online, YouTube, find some DVDs to download or ask your local personal trainer. 

The important thing to remember when finding strength exercises to improve your 5k run is to find someone that can help you based on your needs.

Watching YouTube videos to find strength exercises for running is great. But, how do you know these are the right exercises for you?

Are you doing the exercises right?

Is it supposed to hurt?

How do you modify the exercise if you can’t do it right?

There are lots of questions that come up when you’re doing exercise from YouTube that you can’t just ask the author to answer.

Working with someone who can answer those questions and make sure that the answers are pertinent to a woman who wants to run 5k distances… not someone who is cycling, or doing another kind of sport.

My clients always tell me how much they enjoy the fact that they can just ask me a question about their exercise to make sure it’s the right one for them to do, they are doing it right, how to advance it, how to make it easier, where they are supposed to feel it, and so many other questions they have.

By working with me my clients can focus on the workout and not have to stop what they’re doing to google it or find a modification on YouTube. They know where to go in their program to find the answer they are looking for and if it’s a new question to them they get to just ask me.

If you’re looking for answers to your questions about strength training for 5k running send me an email to blog@dralipt.com with the subject : STRENGTH TRAINING FOR 5K RUNNERS and I’ll respond.