Howdy,

Looking for tips/advice on creating and maintaining a good running and lifting program... and here is the tricky part, training up for a half marathon in July. So I need to start adding volume and long runs in June (11 weeks away).

I have an established base on running, ~15-20 miles a week previously with 3-4 runs per week, but when doing so, never lifted legs, and struggled to hit upper body.

Currently, I'm very likely over-lifting lower body and not giving my legs enough rest time, but I miss doing squat/RDLs/and really just having strong legs..

M: 5x5 Day A
T: Run 4 miles (Speed Work)
W: 5x5 Day B
TR: Run 4 miles (Easy)
F: 5x5 Day C
S: Run 5-6 miles (Easy)
Su: Rest

Day A: Squat/Bench/Row + Misc Accessory
Day B: OHP/RDL/ + Accessory and Core
Day C: Squat/Bench or OHP/ + Accessory

Doing this for three weeks, (Wk 1-3) then weeks 4-6 keeping all else the same adding a mile to Sat runs each week. (7mi/8mi/9mi)

Weeks 7-9, thinking about dropping a lift day and Sat runs will start increasing by one miles each week (10mi, 11mi, 12mi).... Still trying to figure out what to do here.

10-11 taper and race week. Drop lifting lower body completely...

I'm sure there's better ways to gain strength while weight training, I've just had the most success historically with 5x5 so its always what I default to.. Please give me some advice.

What's your overall goal? Just doing the half for fun or are you trying to run a PR?

Consider switching to low weight, high reps on lower body exercises to maintain strength and tack on a 2-3mi easy run afterwards.
If T speed work is always to be short, hard intervals, incorporate some mileage at race pace during your TR run and consider increasing time at Tempo pace each week.

I am by no means an expert, and probably more of an example of what not to do, but if you have a time goal that you consider to be fast for you, I'd run at least 4 days a week. You can get to the mileage with 3 but you're probably not going to make any big speed improvements.

As stated what are your goals and also how old are you? 25 year old me could handle a volume that high but 40 year old me would get fatigued/injured doing anything like that.

And a half marathon in June? Hope you are not in Texas. I did triathlon for a few years and how much slower you had to race in the Texas summer heat is crazy

Early 30's.

I will probably PR, not that I'm exactly aiming for a PR, but I've only done one other half after about 3 months of running and hit 2:30. I've been running pretty consistently since, so I'll be able to do better next time. I'd like to get to around sub 2, but I know running in the summer is going to make that tough.

Funnily enough, the half marathon is the "too hot to handle half" in Dallas. So, yes. hot.

If I can land anywhere between 2-2:15 I'll be happy.

I have been doing something pretty similar for the last 6 months except training for a full marathon (next weekend) and lifting 4-5 days a week. My weight lifting plan is similar except a 3 sets of 5 (Starting Strength) program and deadlifts on Wednesdays. I used Hal Higdons marathon training program so Wednesdays I lift heavy DL and run. I tried to do my lifting in the morning and runs at night on those days.

I didn't drop lifts or drop weights. It sucked a lot in months 1-3 as my body adapted but I eventually was able to very slowly increase weight while increasing miles and pace, and I hit a PR on a half midway through training (1:40). The only time I'll take off lifting legs is the week of the race but I will still do upper body and two 2-3 mile light jogs.

So I think your plan is fine based on my recent experience and age (mid 30s). It's just hard work and high grocery bills to do both without losing something in one or the other.

Im curious about this too.

I always think to myself: I should start lifting weights.

But then I always have some sort of 10k or half coming up and need to run, but its very difficult to run with sore noodle legs, so I just give up lifting again to continue on.

Maybe dont lift so heavy? But that's how you build muscle so not sure.

I think it comes down to focus and prioritization. I typically lift three or four times per week in addition to running pretty much every day. I view the lifting as a supplement to running to assist in injury prevention, stabilization, and power. So, I focus a lot on weighted trunk and core work, and my leg work is mostly isometric. I typically do one heavy leg day per week, and I do it the day after my long run.

I am not lifting heavy relative to what I could be doing, but I am also not prioritizing the absolute value of the weight I'm moving around. I am certain that I could focus on that, increase the weight I'm moving, and my running would suffer. But I'm also certain that the strength training I am doing is helping my running, which is my main focus.

When my running gets really heavy and hard, I will cut strength training down to two, maybe three, times per week.

I would do the following
M: run (4 miles) and lift
T: run (4 miles) and lift
W: run longer (6 miles)
Th: run (4 miles) and lift
F: rest
Sa: run (10 miles)
Su: run (speed)

My lifting would be focused on upper body and core plus some dumbbell squats. Nothing heavy on the legs put that load in the running efforts.

I do similar to the above but also add in an hour cycling most days.

Another approach could be to lift less (or lighter) but run hills more on tempo and long runs. Builds strength and helps with speed.

ETA...I've run the Too Hot to Handle 5k a couple of times, starting temps close to 80. Always felt bad for the HM runners, but might consider it this year as a training run for Chicago.

I would avoid lifting the day before your long run or your speed workout days. For it being your first half, I would also consider dropping speed work and just doing easy runs. The cumulative effect of running + lifting will be enough to give you plenty of ammo to finish the race. Instead of speed work, I would consider adding another run day before throwing in speed work.

If you want to keep the speedwork, I would try and double dip on those days and do speedwork in the morning and lift that evening/afternoon.

On the plus side, unless things have changed drastically, the race course is relatively easy. I ran the race 8 or so years ago. At that time, Ft Worth still had a midnight race (Not El Scorcho but the one that came after for a few years), I ran the midnight 25K and then did Too Hot To Handle.

I'm a big proponent of the BarryP running plan. Basically you run 6 days / week with ratios of 1/2/1/2/1/3. So for weekly mileage of 20 runs are 2/4/2/4/2/6, for 25 it's 2.5/5/2.5/5/2.5/7.5, for 30 it's 3/6/3/6/3/9, etc. I started with 20, then added 5 to weekly mileage every 2 weeks until I got to where I wanted to be.

Throwing in weights, I would do upper body workouts on longer mileage days and lower body (or cycling) on shorter mileage days.

Got in incredible running shape using this coupled with MAF heart rate.

Bingo.

I run 6x a week and do strength 2x a week. I typically do hills on Tuesday, then strength after the run. Easy day on Wednesday. Then speed/tempo on thurs followed by strength. Rest day Friday and then weekends are for long runs.