Strength Training for Half Marathon Runners: Do You Need It, and How Should You Use It?
Strength training has become almost a default recommendation for runners.
Spend a few minutes looking through running content online and you’ll see runners squatting, deadlifting, lunging and jumping, accompanied by claims that strength training will make you faster, improve your running economy and prevent injuries.
There are good reasons for runners to strength train.
But that doesn’t mean every half marathon runner should automatically add two or three gym sessions to their week.
For me, the first question isn’t:
What strength exercises should a half marathon runner do?
It’s:
Is strength training actually the best use of this runner’s available training time?
That’s an important distinction.
A runner training three or four times each week while juggling work, family and everything else in life may gain far more from becoming consistent with their running than from replacing one of those runs with a gym session.
On the other hand, an athlete with sufficient training time, an identified weakness, a history of injury, age-related strength loss or a performance limitation may benefit considerably from a properly structured strength programme.
And if we’re going to include strength training, I don’t believe in simply doing the same collection of exercises, sets and repetitions throughout the year.
Just as I periodise running training, I periodise strength training.
Let’s look at where strength training fits into half marathon preparation, when it deserves a place in your programme and how I structure it so that it supports your running rather than competing with it.
Half Marathon Performance Is Primarily About Running
Before we talk about the gym, we need to remember what we’re actually training for.
A half marathon is an endurance running event.
That sounds obvious, but it’s easily forgotten when we’re surrounded by messages telling us about all the additional things runners supposedly need to do.
The foundation of your half marathon performance is your aerobic fitness and your ability to sustain an appropriate running pace for 21.1 kilometres.
That fitness is developed predominantly by running.
The principle of specificity tells us that our bodies adapt specifically to the training we perform.
If you want to become a better runner, you need to run.
That means that, for most recreational half marathon runners, I would prioritise things such as:
- Consistent running
- Aerobic development
- Appropriate Level II running
- A progressively developed long run
- Purposeful quality sessions
- Recovery
- Injury management
- Race-specific preparation
before worrying about whether the athlete needs another session in the gym.
This is consistent with how I approach endurance athletes generally: strength training can be useful, but it has an opportunity cost. Every hour spent strength training is an hour that cannot be spent running, recovering or sleeping. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
And for the time-poor recreational runner, that matters.
Strength Training Is a Tool, Not a Requirement
I don’t see strength training as something every runner must do simply because they’re a runner.
I see it as a tool.
And like any training tool, it should have a purpose.
There are several situations where I think strength training can earn its place in a half marathon runner’s programme.
Injury Rehabilitation
This is one of the clearest examples.
If you’ve had an injury, undergone surgery or developed a significant muscular weakness, targeted strength training may be an important component of your rehabilitation and return to running.
In this situation, strength training isn’t an optional extra.
It may be part of what allows you to run consistently again.
An Identified Weakness
The key word here is identified.
Not guessed.
Not something you saw on social media and decided you probably have.
If assessment, injury history or your training identifies a genuine weakness, appropriate strength work may help address it.
Healthy Ageing
As we get older, maintaining muscle mass and strength becomes increasingly important.
Many recreational half marathon runners are in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, and strength training can therefore have benefits that extend well beyond their next race.
In this situation, we’re not necessarily talking purely about half marathon performance.
We’re also talking about maintaining a strong and capable body for the years ahead.
A Performance Limitation
Sometimes strength genuinely is limiting an athlete.
If that’s the case, improving strength may contribute to better running performance.
But again, I want to identify the limitation rather than simply assume that every runner needs to become stronger.
That’s why my answer to the question “Do runners need strength training?” isn’t automatically yes or no.
It depends on the runner. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
Don’t Put the Icing on Before You’ve Baked the Cake
I’ve previously described strength training for endurance athletes using a cake analogy.
Your consistency, aerobic development, event-specific training and injury management are the ingredients that make the cake.
Strength training is often the icing.
There’s nothing wrong with icing. It can make the finished product better.
But icing can’t rescue a cake that hasn’t been baked properly.
The same applies to half marathon training.
If you’re running inconsistently, missing long runs, turning your Level II sessions into races and struggling to recover between workouts, adding another two or three training sessions probably isn’t going to solve the underlying problem.
I’d rather get your running right first.
Once those foundations are in place, we can decide whether strength training will add something worthwhile.
If You’re Going to Strength Train, Get Stronger
Once we’ve decided that strength training belongs in your programme, my philosophy is relatively simple:
Train your sport to improve your sport. Strength train to get stronger.
I don’t believe every gym exercise performed by a runner needs to resemble running.
You’re already doing your running-specific training when you run.
Your long run is running-specific.
Your Level II running is running-specific.
Your hill repetitions, tempo sessions, threshold sessions and other quality workouts are running-specific.
Your gym session has another job.
Get stronger.
That’s why I use largely the same relatively small library of strength exercises across the endurance athletes I coach. The fundamental qualities we’re developing include lower-body and hamstring strength, pushing and pulling strength, trunk control and posture. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
You Don’t Need Dozens of Exercises
Another mistake I see is the belief that strength training needs constant exercise variety.
It doesn’t.
You don’t need a completely different programme every few weeks because your muscles have somehow become bored with your previous exercises.
I’d rather have you learn a relatively small number of good exercises, perform them properly and progressively develop your ability to perform them.
Some of the exercises I commonly use include:
- Back squat
- Barbell reverse lunge
- Swiss ball hamstring curl
- Single-leg Swiss ball hamstring curl
- Wide-grip lat pull-down
- Cable seated row
- Bent-over barbell row
- Swiss ball dumbbell press
- Swiss ball Russian twist
- Swiss ball oblique curl-up
- Prone cobra
This gives us lower-body strength, hamstring strength, pushing, pulling, trunk control and posture without needing an enormous exercise library. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
And importantly, progression doesn’t necessarily require a new exercise.
We can progress an exercise by manipulating:
- Resistance
- Repetitions
- Sets
- Recovery
Sometimes we’ll progress the movement itself. A bilateral Swiss ball hamstring curl, for example, can progress to a single-leg variation.
But variety for the sake of variety isn’t the objective.
Progression is.
Strength Training Should Be Periodised Too
This is where I think many runners who do strength train miss an opportunity.
They’ll periodise their running but perform essentially the same gym programme throughout the year.
The same exercises.
The same number of repetitions.
Similar loads.
Similar sets.
Week after week.
If your running training changes as you move towards your goal half marathon, why shouldn’t your strength training change as well?
My approach uses four broad strength phases:
Strength Endurance → Basic Strength → Specific Power → Strength Maintenance
Each phase has a different purpose and should complement what we’re trying to achieve with the athlete’s endurance training. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
Phase 1: Strength Endurance
The first phase prepares you for the strength work that follows.
Rather than immediately loading up the bar and trying to lift as heavily as possible, we establish a foundation.
We use lighter resistance and higher repetitions while concentrating on good technique and controlled movement.
We’re developing muscular endurance and work capacity while preparing muscles, tendons and connective tissues for the heavier loading that comes later. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
For a half marathon runner, this fits naturally alongside the Foundation and Injury Prevention phase of your running programme.
At this point, much of your running is controlled Level II work. We’re establishing aerobic fitness, building consistency and preparing your body for the more demanding training that will follow.
The same philosophy applies in the gym.
Build the foundation first.
Phase 2: Basic Strength
Once that foundation has been established, the emphasis shifts.
Now I want to develop strength.
Resistance increases and repetitions decrease.
We’re no longer primarily developing the ability to perform lots of repetitions against relatively light resistance. We’re increasing the amount of force you can produce.
For a half marathon runner, this can fit alongside the Early Quality phase, when your running is also beginning to progress beyond the predominantly steady running of Foundation and Injury Prevention.
This doesn’t mean we suddenly turn every session into a hard workout.
Your running still needs to be the priority.
The strength programme needs to fit around it.
Phase 3: Specific Power
Strength gives us the foundation.
The next step is developing the ability to apply that strength more powerfully.
That’s the role of the Specific Power phase.
The training emphasis changes again, just as the running programme is becoming progressively more specific as you move closer to your target half marathon.
This can correspond with the Transition Quality phase of the running programme.
Again, we’re not trying to turn the gym into a running session.
We’re progressing the strength qualities we’ve already developed while your running continues to provide the event-specific stimulus.
Phase 4: Strength Maintenance
Eventually, the priorities change.
As your half marathon approaches, your race-specific running becomes increasingly important.
This is not the time for the gym to create unnecessary fatigue that compromises your important running sessions.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning strength training completely.
Instead, the goal becomes maintenance.
We’ve spent weeks or months developing strength. Now we want to retain as much of it as practical while reducing the training cost.
This fits alongside the Final Quality phase of half marathon preparation, when your running becomes increasingly focused on the demands you’ll encounter on race day.
As I explain in my broader strength periodisation approach, reducing strength-training volume as competition approaches is appropriate; simply stopping can mean giving away some of the adaptations you’ve worked to develop. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
Where Should Strength Training Fit Into Your Running Week?
This is every bit as important as selecting the exercises.
A strength programme can look fantastic in isolation but create problems when you place it into an already demanding running week.
I don’t want a strength session compromising the quality of your key running workouts.
For example, if you’ve got a demanding quality session scheduled, I generally don’t want you completing a substantial strength session on that same day.
Similarly, I don’t want to place heavy strength work where it leaves your legs exhausted for your long run.
The precise arrangement depends on:
- How many days per week you run
- How many strength sessions you’re completing
- Your training age
- Your chronological age
- Your injury history
- Your ability to recover
- Work and family commitments
- Your current training phase
- Your half marathon goal
This is one of the reasons generic weekly templates have limitations.
Two athletes training for the same half marathon may require quite different weekly schedules.
What About Doing Strength and Running on the Same Day?
Sometimes this is necessary.
An athlete running five or six days each week simply doesn’t have enough days available to give every training stimulus its own day.
When I need to double up, I’d rather pair strength training with a Level II steady run than place it alongside a demanding quality running session.
Where lifestyle allows, I also prefer separating those sessions — perhaps running in the morning and strength training later in the day.
I’m not obsessed with prescribing an arbitrary minimum number of hours between them.
The practical objective is simply to provide as much recovery as the athlete’s lifestyle reasonably allows.
Training needs to work in the real world.
Don’t Let Strength Training Ruin Your Running
This is perhaps the most important practical point in the entire article.
More training isn’t automatically better training.
If adding strength work means you’re constantly tired, your quality running deteriorates, you’re cutting long runs short or you’re struggling to recover, we need to reconsider the programme.
My approach to coaching isn’t to maximise the amount of training an athlete can squeeze into their week.
It’s to minimise the amount of training required to achieve the athlete’s goal.
That philosophy applies to strength training too.
If two well-placed strength sessions provide everything an athlete needs, I’m not looking for an excuse to add a third.
If strength training isn’t currently the best use of an athlete’s available time, I’m not going to prescribe it simply because strength training is fashionable.
Every session needs to earn its place.
Can You Develop Strength Without Going to the Gym?
Yes.
Strength training doesn’t automatically mean lifting weights.
Resistance can also be introduced within your sport.
For runners, hills are an obvious example.
Running uphill increases the resistance you need to overcome while retaining the movement patterns of running. Hill repetitions can therefore provide a valuable running-specific strength stimulus. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
This is one of the reasons hill repetitions feature prominently during my Early Quality phase.
But I wouldn’t consider hill running and gym-based strength training to be interchangeable in every situation.
They can have different purposes.
The question remains:
What adaptation are we trying to achieve?
Once we know that, we can select the appropriate tool.
What About Injury Prevention?
This is another area where I think runners need to be careful with absolute claims.
Strength training can certainly form part of an injury rehabilitation or injury-management programme, and improving an identified weakness may be useful.
But I don’t want runners believing that simply doing squats and lunges gives them some kind of immunity from running injuries.
Training load still matters.
Recovery still matters.
Consistency still matters.
How quickly you progress your running still matters.
Your injury history matters.
Strength training is one component of the bigger picture.
And importantly, if you’re so fatigued from your additional gym work that the quality of your running deteriorates or your overall training load exceeds what you can recover from, adding strength training hasn’t necessarily made your programme safer.
Strength work needs to complement the programme, not compete with it.
Strength Training for Your First Half Marathon
If you’re preparing for your first half marathon, don’t assume you need to do everything at once.
Running consistently is the priority.
Build the volume of your Level II running.
Develop your long run progressively.
Learn how your body responds to training.
Develop the consistency required to reach the start line healthy and prepared.
If you have enough training time and recovery capacity to include strength training appropriately, excellent.
But if adding gym sessions means sacrificing the running that prepares you to cover 21.1 kilometres, I’d question whether that’s the best trade-off.
Remember:
The goal isn’t to become the best gym athlete in the half marathon field.
The goal is to become a better runner.
Strength Training for Experienced Half Marathon Runners
The calculation can look different for an experienced athlete.
If you’ve already developed years of consistent running, you’re comfortably completing the required volume, you’ve built a good aerobic foundation and you’re looking for smaller improvements, strength training may provide another avenue for development.
You may also have greater training capacity and a better understanding of how quickly you recover.
That’s when we can integrate strength more deliberately into the overall periodised programme.
But the same rule still applies:
Running remains the priority.
Strength training supports the goal.
It doesn’t replace it.
The Bigger Picture: Build a Better Runner, Not Just a Stronger One
Strength training can be valuable for half marathon runners.
It can help address weaknesses, support rehabilitation, contribute to healthy ageing and develop physical qualities that complement your running.
But I don’t believe the answer is simply:
Every runner should strength train.
Start with the athlete.
Look at their goals.
Look at their training history.
Look at their injury history.
Look at the time they have available.
Look at what is actually limiting their performance.
Then decide whether strength training earns a place in their programme.
And if it does, don’t simply throw a random collection of exercises into the week.
Keep the exercise selection relatively simple.
Learn the movements properly.
Progress them.
Periodise the training through Strength Endurance, Basic Strength, Specific Power and Strength Maintenance. (Coach Ray – Qwik Kiwi Coaching)
Fit those sessions intelligently around the running programme.
And always remember:
Train your sport to improve your sport. Strength train to get stronger.
Your running makes you a better runner.
Your strength training makes you stronger.
Put the two together appropriately, and strength work can become a valuable part of preparing for your next half marathon.
🏃💪 Ready to Add Structured Strength Training to Your Running?
If you’ve decided strength training has earned a place in your programme, the next challenge is knowing what to do, how to progress it and how to structure your training over time.
That’s exactly what my RunStrong – Build Strength for Faster, More Efficient Running plans are designed to provide.
There are two options depending on how long you’d like to develop your strength:
RunStrong 12-Week Plan — NZ$59
A structured 12-week programme with three targeted gym sessions each week, progressing through foundational strength work, strength development, power development and maintenance.
RunStrong 24-Week Plan — NZ$99
For runners wanting a longer progression, the 24-week version includes three gym sessions each week and develops your strength progressively across the full six-month programme.
Don’t add random strength workouts simply because somebody told you runners should lift weights.
Give your strength training the same structure and purpose you give your running.
Run strong. Race strong.
