Run Your Race Podcast
When I first listened to David Goggins' book in 2019, I was hooked. If he could run 100 miles without training, I thought I could do it with training! It unlocked something in me, leading to my journey into ultramarathons. Since then, I've completed multiple 100- and 200-mile races, something I once thought impossible. This podcast aims to give you that same mindset shift. Each week, we interview elite endurance athletes to inspire you to believe more is possible and push yourself to the next level.
Run Your Race Podcast
#021 - How I approach strength training as a runner
Strength training is critical for runners to prevent injuries and improve performance, not just a supplemental activity. My approach to strength training transformed me from an injury-prone runner to completing multiple 100 and 200-mile races and running daily half-marathons for over 150 consecutive days.
• Running is a single-leg sport, so focus on single-leg exercises like lunges, step-ups, and Bulgarian split squats
• Aim for lower reps (6-8) with higher weight to train fast-twitch muscle fibers rather than building muscle size
• Schedule strength training on your hard running days (track workouts or long runs) to consolidate stress and recovery
• Complete 16-20 sets total (3-4 sets of 5 exercises) with a mix of compound and single-leg movements
• Always do a proper 10-minute warm-up including 100 bodyweight lunges before every strength session
• Consistent strength training pays dividends in injury prevention and running longevity
DM me to get the warm-up routine I use, and please share what topics you'd like covered in future episodes.
What is up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Run your Race podcast. I'm your host, pierre Schell, and I'm so excited to go over how I approach strength training as a runner and how you should approach strength training as a runner. So I'm going to give you a little background of my story with strength training. Then I'm going to give you a little background of my story with strength training. Then I'm going to hit you with some really tactical tips that you can implement into how you go about your strength training today. Literally, you can implement these things today and it will make you a much, much better runner. Okay, are you ready for that? Okay, so my story.
Speaker 1:I started running when I was in high school. I played lacrosse, and during lacrosse we did a lot of strength training. Now, I always had someone programming for me and so I didn't necessarily make my own program. And then, as I got out of high school and into college, I didn't really know what I was doing. And after high school was really when I got into running. I ran my first half marathon in high school as a senior, first full marathon in high school and then beyond, I went in college into 50 mile races, 60 mile races, a hundred mile races, but I didn't know how to train and strength train for injury prevention, and so I always ended up getting injured. I always ended up skipping my mileage up too quickly or running too hard and ending up with injuries. I remember the first hundred mile race that I ran. After it, I basically felt like I broke my foot, like I had stress fractures in my feet because I didn't prepare for that. And yes, if you go a hundred, you're bound to get something, at least your first 100 mile race. But with strength training you can really limit the effects of it. Because, if you think about it, when you run 100 mile race, or if you see someone who's running 100 mile race, it's not their cardiovascular system that is impacting them or hindering them late into the race. What is hindering them is the muscle breaking down. So if you have stronger muscles if we have muscles that require it just makes it easier. If we have strong muscles, so it makes it it easier to run, then we're going to be able to go further right with less breakdown.
Speaker 1:And so, really, it wasn't until I moved to Texas in 2020 what was it 2022? To work for Steve Weatherford, who was, uh, twice named fittest man in the NFL, amazing man and also super knowledgeable when it comes to fitness. So I started training with him every single day for two hours and we'd strength train, and really this is what has helped me go from getting injured after my first hundred mile race to running three 100 mile races in a year, then three 200-mile races in a year and now running a half marathon every single day for over 150 days straight to break a Guinness World Record. Okay and so strength training has played a vital role in allowing me to keep coming back and not have any major issues and major injuries. Okay, and so, really, the whole purpose of strength training is to help prevent injuries and help us get faster. And strength training is important for running because without it, we won't be able to run. If we're injured and I think a lot of times as runners, we can have this thought that, oh, if we're not running, we're not getting better, when in reality, we need to look at our whole body as a system that works together. And when we strength train, when we eat right, when we sleep well, all of these things it makes us better runners. Okay, and so strength training is so important. It's not just you're only getting better at running when you're running, you're getting better when you're strength training as well.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, think about running and think about it. It's a single leg sport. You use both legs, but you're only using one at a time, and so, because of that, we really want to focus on single leg movements. Okay, so, these are your lunges, your step ups, your Bulgarian split squats. Single leg box jumps really help and, yeah, there's a place to still do like deadlifts, squats, all of those things, but we really want to do a ton of single leg movements because running is a single leg sport.
Speaker 1:Okay now, when it comes to training, a lot of people think, oh, because I'm running, I'm doing it so repetitive. I need to build muscular endurance by doing a ton of reps, high reps, low weight when in reality, I'm a huge fan of doing lower reps and higher weight, because this trains your fast twitch muscle fibers, and so I aim to do no more than six to eight reps per set. So you are training those fast twitch muscle fibers and you're getting stronger. When you train less reps, you actually get stronger, you strengthen the muscle, whereas when you're doing more reps, you're actually building the size of the muscle through hypertrophy. Okay, and so through. Yes, we want to look good, yes, we want to have big muscles, but for performance we want to have strong muscles. I'm a huge fan training lower reps, higher weight to really build up those fast twitch muscle fibers.
Speaker 1:Now, as a runner, you're like Okay, well, I've got my easy run days, I've got my track workout days, I've got my long runs. When do I strength train? That's a great question. You want to strength train on the days where you're doing your track workouts or your harder days. So a lot of times I'll do two leg days a week. Sometimes I'll only do one, but when I do two, it's on my track workout day. And then my long run day. When it's only one, I'll do it on my track workout day. The reason we want to do this is because we want to concentrate the effort and also the soreness. And so if you say you do strength training on Tuesday, then track workout on Thursday and then longer on Saturday and then easy runs in between, it's like you're always going to be sore because you strength train on Tuesday, then you're sore Wednesday, then you do speed on Thursday. So you're always going to feel sore, and so that's why I like to concentrate it. Let your difficult days be really difficult, your easier days be easier and all of those things. Okay. And so, yeah, that is a general framework for strength training.
Speaker 1:I like to hit anywhere from 16 to 20 sets of legs and that will typically be like five exercises, about three to four sets each, and I'll do some compound movements. I'll do a lot of single leg movements. I'll push the sled. I'll pull the sled focus on those knees and I do a ton of body weight lunges Let me just say this too and I do a ton of body weight lunges. Let me just say this too Every single time I strength train, I'm doing a 10-minute warm-up at least to be able to warm my body up, get my body ready.
Speaker 1:A lot of people in sports, we grew up and we do warm-ups, but then we stop doing them, and you wonder why you're stiff. You wonder why you're getting injured in these things. Well, we stopped doing them. And you wonder why you're stiff. You wonder why you're getting injured in these things. Well, we stopped warming up, and so that's why warm-ups are so important. If you want, dm me, I'll get you the warm-up that I do. I always start with 100 body weight lunges, even if I'm doing arms, because it still strengthens my legs, and once you do it over and over again, it doesn't take all more than like three minutes or so. So I do that and then, yeah, I get going with the workout. So, anyway, that's that, and then I do a series of dynamic stretches to get me ready for the workout.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that is strength training. That is a little crash course on strength training for runners, on how to approach it, how to do it and all of those things. Okay, obviously that's a big overview, that's broad. I just wanted to hop on and share, you know, just some things for philosophy, some things for pointers, and really encourage you, as a runner, to make sure that you are strength training, because it will pay dividends in the long run, in your longevity being able to handle those speed workouts, being able to handle those long weeks of training, and it'll help you to run your race. So, guys, I hope you like this. If you did, please DM me, share what topics you want to be covered on the show and let's keep getting after it and go out and run your race.