In recent times, half marathon has become quite a popular form of exercise. There are many benefits that attract individuals to choose half marathon as a form of fitness regime. In comparison to full marathon, half marathon does not require as much time to complete. This is beneficial to those who are time poor or want to perform other forms of physical activities and do not want to dedicate a large portion of their available training time to running. Many can use half marathon as a steppingstone to progress to full marathon. In addition, the fitness demand for half marathon can be somewhat less than full marathon.
Why strength train?
There are many benefits to strength training can help long distance runners in many ways. However, despite overwhelming research and evidence showing the importance of strength training for half marathon, many runners prefer to only run as part of their preparation or ongoing fitness regime for half marathon. There are two main benefits to strength training for half marathon. Firstly, the correct strength training program can rapidly improve an individual’s running performance. Secondly, a well-structured specific strength training can help an individual stay injury free and enjoy many more future half marathons. Just running alone is not enough to improve half marathon time and pace.
Strength training for performance
Like many other sports, running is a skilled sport. Overwhelming research evidence shows running requires a combination of good core and lower limb strength. An efficient running gait can assist an individual make the most efficient use of their force production from their legs. An appropriate and specific strength program can develop the muscles of lower body, predominantly hips, quadriceps, hamstring, calf muscles to be stronger and prepare the body to withstand the repeated load of half marathon running. Running puts multidirectional demand on the body. This means every time we are stepping on one leg and moving on to the next, our upper torso needs to be stable to ensure all the force produced by the legs are propelling the body forward and not being wasted in countering unnecessary movements of the upper torso.
Strength training for injury prevention
The most common injuries for lower limbs are overuse injuries. Overuse injuries are generally due to repeated loading of weakened connective tissue or movement dysfunction. Hence it is important to make the bone and connective tissue to be resilient and increase their load bearing capacity. Further, any movement dysfunctions need to be addressed to avoid repeated incorrect loading of a specific structure such as patella tendon, achilleas tendon, hip flexors or low back above its capacity. Both injury risk factors can be corrected and reversed by a well-designed specific strength training protocol. A well-designed strength training will ensure to not only make the muscles, but the bones, tendons, and ligaments strong. It can also improve the elastic capacity of the tendons to improve running efficiency while avoiding overuse injury such as tendinopathy. A specific strength training can not only make the muscles stronger, but also address the movement dysfunctions of a half marathon runners to ensure they run with good posture and technique.
Strength training tips for half marathon
Half marathon is an endurance based running sport. Hence a strength program should consider the repeated load bearing and force production capacity of an induvial. Runners should tailor their program to be more specific to half marathon as opposed to a general strength program with no specific goals. A well-designed strength program should consider both bilateral and unilateral compound movements. Bilateral movements can be squats, deadlifts, double leg hip thrusts etc. Unilateral compound movements to consider can be lunge variations, hip hinge variations such as single leg RDL etc. In addition to compound movements, accessories are also important for strength training for half marathon. Accessory exercises can incorporate core stability training, hamstring curls, leg extensions, calf raises etc. Since half marathon is an endurance sport, sets and reps should be selected accordingly. Low volume high load training may not yield the best benefit for half marathon.
In conclusion, strength training can greatly compliment an individual’s half marathon performance and enjoy running injury free in the long term.