Guide
How do you balance lifting and marathon training?
Keep lifting through the block, because it makes you more economical and does not reduce your VO2 max. Protect the long run: no heavy leg work on the day after a run of 75 minutes or more.
Last updated: 2026-10-13
By Ole Fiegenbaum, founder of Loadcast. Before the app, Ole's triathlon training ran through one ChatGPT chat. More on the landing page.
How this page was made: the rules and example weeks come from the Loadcast engine, and every example week runs through the same check as the app. The studies are linked. The text was written with AI help.
Keep lifting through the block
Lifting makes runners more economical and does not reduce VO2 max or blood lactate. This is why you keep lifting through a race block instead of dropping it.
Blagrove et al. 2018. Sports Med. Strength training and middle and long-distance running performance, systematic review. DOI 10.1007/s40279-017-0835-7
The long run is the session to protect
A long run blunts heavy leg strength for a day or two. Heavy leg work on top of it slows both the lift and your recovery.
Škof & Strojnik 2006. Br J Sports Med. Neuromuscular fatigue after prolonged running at anaerobic threshold. PMC2491987
What to do in a marathon week
In Loadcast, a run of 75 minutes or more counts as a long run, and a little less if you are older. The day after it, heavy legs are swapped for upper body.
- If you ran 75 minutes or more yesterday, lift upper body or train easy today.
- If you ran less than that yesterday, heavy legs stay in the plan.
An example week
This week passes the next-day rules the app runs, with no day moved. The long run is 100 minutes.
Monday: upper body, 60 minutes.
Tuesday: tempo run, 50 minutes.
Wednesday: heavy legs, 60 minutes.
Thursday: easy run, 45 minutes.
Friday: rest.
Saturday: easy run, 45 minutes.
Sunday: long run, 100 minutes.
- If your long run is Sunday, Monday is upper body or an easy day, never heavy legs.
- If your long run is Saturday, heavy legs move from Sunday to Tuesday or later.
What Loadcast does with this
In the app, the matching rule reads like this.
Your long run is still in your legs, so no heavy leg work today. A long run tires the legs into the next day. Heavy leg work on top slows both strength and recovery. Upper body or easy today. Legs get their strength day once they have recovered.
Every rule with its mechanism is on How Loadcast decides, the studies are on The research behind our content.
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