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To run well, you’ve got to run regularly… right? But what if you prioritise strength training over clocking up the miles – is that the key to getting faster? We explore the relationship between running and conditioning for improving that crucial 5K time.
There are two kinds of runners: the person who runs to protect their physical and emotional wellbeing, and the person who chases down PBs. Both are equally valid but at some point, many of us will want to see just how much fuel is in the tank. If speed becomes our goal, how can we achieve it? And how big a role should strength training play if we’re looking to shave down those all-important 5K or 10K times?
Sprinting requires better anaerobic fitness and recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibres, while long-distance running is about aerobic capacity and slow-twitch fibres. Because of those differences, training has to be tailored to a specific goal. If you’re training for a marathon, you might find that a Sunday morning 10K tempo run gets easier over time but a speedy 5K runner may not make it to 21K, let alone a full marathon. While strength and conditioning may keep us all safer from injury, how much strength training do we need to do to get faster?
My own running PBs have been inexorably linked periods of increased cross-training. A couple of years ago, while I was in the middle of a bodybuilding programme at a weight training gym, I ran my fastest 5K at just under 21 minutes. Since then, the intensity and regularity of my weight training have significantly decreased and with it, my capacity for speed (I struggle to push myself beyond about 24 minutes!). My fastest marathon came after four months of running twice a week and bi-weekly Hit and Run classes at Sweat It, which involved intervals of weights and sprints.
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