Tradeoff: speed v strength

Let’s face it, Distance Runners are skinny.  Really skinny.  Like yours truly in this photo from ’01.

I had a friend test my body fat that summer and it came out to 4.5%.  I was 6’2″ of pure bone and tendon.

I remember My Mom looking at a shirtless Justin Timberlake on the cover of Rolling Stone and saying ‘Why cant you put on some muscle and look like that.’  How’s your self esteem when a member of a boy band is more jacked than you?

In the words of N’sync it is ‘Gone, baby it’s gone.’

JT pictured after months of ingesting steroids

I remember in 8th grade bragging about lifting weights three times a week for the entire summer.  My Sister’s looked at me with legitimate concern.  ‘When’s it going to work?’

I know, I know.  Sisters will bust your balls.  Trust me, this was legitimate concern not good acting.

I’ve never had a whole lot of muscle.  I’m what trainers call ‘ectomorphic‘.

Thankfully I’m a Runner and Runners don’t need a whole lot of muscle.  Muscles are heavy.  They require more oxygen,  Large muscles will not make you fast.

But being strong will help make you fast.  It won’t make you fast, mind you, but it well help.

What are the main things that make you fast?  I’m glad you asked.

You have to have the right ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers.  This one’s mostly genetic. Certain fibers will transition from one type to another but in the end you’re predisposed to being either strength or endurance. Your type 1 vs type 2/2b fibers  will determine your ceiling.  Unhappy with your ratio?  Take it up with Mom and Dad.

You have to metabolize oxygen efficiently.  This one you can improve with training but their is a ceiling here as well, once again determined by Mom and Dad’s chromosomes.

Elite runners are all seriously skinny.  I’ve heard that an elite runners weight is equal to twice their height in inches minus 10.

Can’t achieve that?  Don’t beat yourself up.  In the top pic I was 74″ with a bodyweight of 155.  To be elite I would have had to weigh around 134.  So I guess I was as good as I was going to get with my body.  I still had a great time and ran pretty fast for being so fat (kidding).

Lungs, Legs and a skinny (ectomorphic) body determine your ceiling.  Mileage and speed work will bring out your latent talent.  The right mileage and speedwork can really turn you into a stud.  Having a great coach and teammates to push you can cut seconds, if not minutes, off your times.

I’d guess that alot of elite runners don’t have the perfect lungs and legs.  They just work hard and take the right drugs.

Now Weightlifting will make you strong but it will also make you heavy and reduce your VO2 max.

So to answer the initial question: No, weights will not make you fast over a long race.

Being strong will though.

I watched the Massachusetts state Cross Country meet a few years ago.  As an adult, Run Coach and Trainer it was amazing to watch.  The race broke into packs early on.  You could look at the bodies of kids in each pack and see what the physical differences were that separated the groups.  You can’t look at someone and guestimate their VO2 max or their muscle fiber ratios, but you could eyeball the difference between the front pack and all who came after.

The front pack looked strong.

They had great posture and muscle definition.  They were more mature.  More muscular (cut, not big).

Being strong creates great running mechanics and more resilient muscles which increases resistance to injury and breaking down.  Strong runners can run more miles and recover quickly.

Hold up!  Don’t lift weights but get strong?  What the hell are you talking about?

Good point.  Allow me to explain.

This isn’t the type of strength you’ll come across by lifting weights.  You will come across it lifting yourself.

As in do lunges, squats, single legs squats, pushups, planks, single leg deadlifts etc.

Hint- Yoga is nothing if not lifting yourself.  Do yoga.  Hint, hint.

Some rules for runners getting strong (aside from hiring Yours Truly for Run coaching).

Running is about moving your body and your body alone.  Train that way.  Bodyweight exercises.  Don’t worry about how much you lift.

You live your life on one leg (think about it). Train your legs accordingly.

Two or three strength sessions a week will do.  They don’t have to be more than :20 long. You’ll get cut and look pretty good.

Don’t expect to gain much size if you’re running a lot.  You’ll only get frustrated.  And don’t expect to gain a ton of strength if you’re running a lot.

I have a client who came to me for strength and getting cut.  He was consistently throwing up some amazing weights and slowly but surely cutting away at his already lean waist.  Week after week he got stronger and stronger.  Then he came in one day and wanted to run the marathon.

We pivoted.

His mileage increased and his lifts dropped.

Then he lost size in his shoulders and across his chest.

He trained hard, overcame a tough knee injury in the final month of training and ran a fantastic 3:40’ish marathon on a slow/hot day in Boston.  I’d call it a 3:30 on a perfect day.

We met for a follow up session a few weeks later.

‘What’s next?’ he asked.  I looked at this once jacked guy, now skinny with visible bone structure under his shirt.

‘Why don’t you put on some muscle, look like that?’

The lesson: Want to get huge?  Don’t run high mileage.