I struggle at the end of marathons, especially hilly ones, with all the downhill pounding killing my legs. I know that running more hilly tempos would help with this but am wary of increasing mileage/pounding during training due to injury risk.
Anecdotally or scientifically, do you guys think lifting weights with your legs (squats, leg presses, leg extensions) to beef up the muscles in your legs would help them feel less beat up in the later stages of a marathon?
skeletor1234 wrote:
I struggle at the end of marathons, especially hilly ones, with all the downhill pounding killing my legs. I know that running more hilly tempos would help with this but am wary of increasing mileage/pounding during training due to injury risk.
Anecdotally or scientifically, do you guys think lifting weights with your legs (squats, leg presses, leg extensions) to beef up the muscles in your legs would help them feel less beat up in the later stages of a marathon?
It’s best to not to be lifting weights with your legs when your legs are already beat up in the later stages of a marathon.
Maybe losing that "pounding" metaphor will help. Ive heard that description of running for eons and it's annoying. Run horizontally and look ahead, not down. Quit pounding!
skeletor1234 wrote:
I struggle at the end of marathons, especially hilly ones, with all the downhill pounding killing my legs. I know that running more hilly tempos would help with this but am wary of increasing mileage/pounding during training due to injury risk.
Anecdotally or scientifically, do you guys think lifting weights with your legs (squats, leg presses, leg extensions) to beef up the muscles in your legs would help them feel less beat up in the later stages of a marathon?
No. Run more miles.
Probably not, but I'm way to tired (and chaffed) to pound at the end of a marathon anyway.
just use the alphafly and your legs will be fine
Personally, I think incorporating more marathon or faster paced stuff into long runs gets you more "bang for your buck."
Some coaches say they have "science based" lower body lifting programs designed for marathons, but I don't know how credible such claims are.
I think that what you are talking about is the phenomenon where, late in a marathon, your leg muscles are fatigued and lose some of their ability to absorb the impact of your footstrike. There is exponentially more force the faster you are running, so it makes sense that you feel it more on the downhills. Theoretically, increasing the number of muscle fibers could help you delay when this happens.
If you are going to incorporate lifting into your training plan, I recommend doing it before you run. This will "pre-fatigue" your muscles, to simulate running on tired legs. For legs especially, emphasize lifts that use eccentric contractions.
Definitely include squats. Anything else that works your quads is good, as they tend to be used as the "braking" muscle when you are running downhill.
You should also include pull-ups. If you are near your proper marathon race weight, you should be able to do a set of 7-10.
Something else you could try other than lifting is just to hammer a long downhill while you are running. This will train your legs to better absorb shock.
skeletor1234 wrote:
Anecdotally or scientifically, do you guys think lifting weights with your legs (squats, leg presses, leg extensions) to beef up the muscles in your legs would help them feel less beat up in the later stages of a marathon?
Yes.
To "beef up" the muscles, no. The goal isn't to gain weight, but rather make your muscles more efficient so you expend less energy and can prolong that end-of-marathon leg pain as much as possible. Do lower body lifts in a high-rep range do improve your muscular endurance. Take short rest.
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