Strength Training for Endurance Athletes: Why It Improves Running Economy

The gym session is usually the first thing endurance athletes drop when training volume peaks, and that is the wrong session to cut.

As a CSEP-CPT certified coach, I want to explain why you should keep lifting. If your plan does not include prescribed strength sessions yet, here is why it should.

Lifting will not make you slow. Many runners worry that lifting heavy will make them bulky or slow. The evidence points the other way. A meta-analysis of controlled trials in well-trained distance runners found a large beneficial effect of strength training on running economy, using two to three sessions per week for 8 to 12 weeks.

Stronger tissues handle more running. Strength training builds muscle and tendons that tolerate the repetitive load of running, which makes it one of the most useful tools for reducing overuse injury risk.

Here is what changes in your body. Heavy lifting improves neural drive. Your nervous system learns to recruit more motor units and activate them more effectively, which raises force production. It also increases tendon stiffness. A stiffer Achilles tendon stores and returns more elastic energy with each foot strike, so your muscles do less work per stride. Together these changes improve running economy, which is the oxygen you use at a given speed. You can run faster at the same effort or hold your pace for longer.

Timing within your season matters. Heavy lifting has to sit in the right place in your plan. In base season, when we address limiters, the focus is building muscle and maximal strength. In season, the focus shifts to maintaining strength and developing power, and lifting volume drops so you stay fresh for your key running sessions. This periodized approach prepares your musculoskeletal system for the thousands of repetitive impacts at peak mileage.

The goal is not to wring everything out of yourself for a single finish line. The goal is to build the strength to keep crossing finish lines for the next ten years and beyond.