Balancing running & gym

[Jellybunny98]

Hoping for some advice from those who have perfected it!

I have always primarily been a runner, have ran a few ultras, lots of marathons & halfs, all great, no issues. I’ve recently started going to the gym as well, I have a 2 year old & a 7 month old and so I just don’t have the time to dedicate to huge long runs at the moment and I’ve actually really enjoyed doing more strength training but I cannot figure out how to balance gym & running in a week to not be incredibly sore?

I have a half in September & a marathon in October so can’t fully stop running and nor would I want to, but how do we fit the gym and runs in together? Google seems to suggest making “hard days hard and easy days easy” so running AND gym on the same day, then a total rest day, but this feels like injury territory to me?

Any tips welcome!

Are you taking in to account the hormonal changes your body goes through post pregnancy? Not suggesting you don't continue to train but you need to factor in the specifics when getting advice from Google. Are you getting advice on female training less than two year post partum? There are great female-centred experts out there. Start with Dr Stacy Sims.

For example, pregnancy effects your ligaments and joints. Training needs to take account of that.

Thank you for your reply, I should have mentioned yes I’ve been assessed by & worked with a physio specifically for this both during, between & after both pregnancies etc to ensure I wasn’t doing anything unsafe/harmful. I did ask for her advice on this and the general advice was to listen to my body & that is great but a bit vague! Just wondering how others balance it without feeling too sore!

I've tried hard days hard and easy days easy & it's a recipe for extended DOMS for me (also mainly a runner but dipping my toe into the gym).

On Tuesdays I go to the gym at the crack of dawn before work & do full body strength and then an easy run in the evening. Wednesdays interval workout before work & lunchtime yoga. Thursday home gym workout for posterior chain, easy run. Friday easy, Saturday hard, Sunday long. Monday collapse in a heap lol.

Like I say I have tried workout and hard running & it just means I miss 2 days of running trying to recover. I'm too old to take chances now!

This is exactly what I have found! I generally don’t feel too sore after running now, even long runs, achey legs sometimes but it’s quite rare that I get that real sore muscle ache feeling however WOW after the gym I really do feel sore and they don’t feel fully “better” for 2 days. That’s really why I’m trying to weigh up whether it would be better to do one really heavy day & a total rest day or spread it out and then be running/training on sore legs!

I think I will try something like your plan this week and see how I go! Last week I tried the heavy days heavy and I did just feel sore all week😂

Yeah my club do track intervals on a Tuesday, I haven't been for a year because I know i won't be able to walk down the stairs normally let alone run until Friday 😂

I double up, although I dont go to the gym, I lift weights at home.

30-40mins weights and 3-4 mile run 4 days a week and 6-8 mile run 1 day a week. Then 2 total rest days where I may just for a 30 min walk.

Hi

I'm currently building up to my first half in September. I'm not a natural runner and l certainly don't have the physic of one! Strength training is key for me as l am hyperflexibile and am prone to hip and back issues because of it.

I work 3 days a week so my routine is roughly:

Mon - long run
Tues - work
Weds - medium run plus full body strength
Thurs - work
Fri - work
Saturday - parkrun plus full body strength
Sunday - swim

OP are you building in occasional weeks off the gym? I do some reasonably heavy gym training for a non-competitive athlete and every few months will just have a "re-set week" off.

Are you warming down and stretching enough?

Would you consider a sports massage to flush your legs out?

I am in the inverse position to you (gym goer getting back into running) and my week is like

Mon heavy weights
Tues circuits consisting of press ups, weighted box jumps, sandbag lunges
Weds rest
Thurs circuits with more dynamic movements/ jumping
Fri short fun run
Sat rest
Sun long run

DOMS does improve as you become more used to strength training, though changing programme can bring it back. I generally run on the same day as my strength workouts - this may mean I can't lift as much but I feel I am still getting the benefit of the strength workout because I am still pushing close to failure.

What reps and sets are you doing? Lots of people recommend high reps for runners but I think low reps can sometimes be better if you have the form/experience to do them. The standard idea is that high reps build endurance but I train endurance from my long runs so it seems better for me to use strength to complement that by working on power. I find low reps don't leave my legs as tired, plus it's more interesting so I am more motivated!

I found that doing shorter sessions in the gym over more days was helpful. So I aimed for 3 days a week gym, 3 days a week running and a rest day. This let me keep momentum with running which is usually a mid distance (for me about 6-7 miles), a shorter one, then a long run once a week. I’d train legs the day before the short run, full body before intervals, then upper body before the long run so I was going out on fresh legs. I think it also takes quite a bit of time with weights before you’re not sore! At least a couple of months really. Swimming is great to loosen up

I had this very problem! My gym was really affecting my running. I also hated the gym so I just gave it up as I thought some running that I enjoyed was better then rubbish gym and rubbish running. Not very helpful I know!!

I’m the same and I think my strategy is going to be to do a gym week and a running week alternately. I don’t go hard enough at the gym because I don’t want it to impact my running, and vice versa. I reckon a gym focus week with a gentle 5km maybe, then a running focus week with stretching.

I agree @UnaOfStormhold running is effectively bodyweight reps, I don't need to replicate that in the gym.

I try and lift heavy and do 3 sets of 5-10 reps depending. It's tiring in a different way to running.

Some things to think about for me for sure!

I think I’m going to spend the next few weeks trialling some of the suggestions here and try to figure out what works and what doesn’t! This week I’ve ran Mon & Tues, went to the gym this morning so I’m thinking if I totally rest tomorrow, potentially then gym on Friday, rest Saturday and do my long run Sunday that might work, but we will see! I’m running with both kids in a double running buggy so even my easy runs never feel truly easy in the way they would be if I was just running myself otherwise I think I could use my easy run days as basically active rest days.

Interesting suggestion of full weeks off and not something I’d thought about but may be worth a try, I do regular deload weeks for running but didn’t consider the same for the gym.