5 Strength training mistakes runners & cyclists make in-season

Hi everyone,

It’s officially Spring this Thursday! For most runners and cyclists, this is the most enjoyable stretch of the training year.

Volume increases, races are around the corner, and there is a renewed focus on performance.

It is also the point where strength training quietly disappears. And that is a problem, because this is exactly when your body needs it most.

Not necessarily on purpose...

Then you look back and realise it has been eight weeks since your last strength session!

Unfortunately this often happens just as your training load is increasing the most.

I see this every year amongst runners training for a marathon. They’ve ramped up their long run mileage, strength training has stopped and unfortunately they pick up a niggle or injury.

This is a classic case of the capacity-demand mismatch that we discussed here. Basically, as your training load goes up, your body’s load tolerance does not keep up and that gap is where many overuse injuries begin.

Strength training exists to close that gap. It helps your body tolerate the work you are asking it to do.

Through my work with runners and cyclists over 30, I see the same mistakes appear every spring. Small decisions that seem harmless in the moment slowly undermine training consistency.

Today I want to dive into five common in-season strength training mistakes and what to do instead.

Mistake 1: Stopping strength training when the season starts

This is the most common mistake.

Runners and cyclists build and focus on strength training throughout the winter.

Then as they approach events and races, their strength training disappears.

The thinking usually sounds like this:

“I don’t want to feel sore for my key sessions.”

Or:

“I don’t have time now mileage has increased.”

The problem here is that strength, like endurance, is not something you build once and keep forever.

Strength training develops qualities like force production, tendon stiffness, joint stability and neuromuscular coordination. These are the physical qualities that help your body tolerate training load.

If your strength training falls off your training plan completely, those qualities begin to decline.

We know from research on detraining and decades of coaching experience that these qualities start to decline surprisingly quickly. Strength and power qualities can begin to decline in as little as 2 to 4 weeks when the stimulus is removed.

This does not mean all strength disappears overnight, but it does mean the qualities you spent months building last winter begin to decline surprisingly quickly…

… just when you need them the most.

So the physical demand on your body increases while the qualities that support that demand begin to decline and then the gap between load and tolerance widens again.

What to do instead:

Instead of stopping strength training, shift it into maintenance mode.

Your goal is to maintain the strength qualities you have already developed so they continue supporting your running and cycling.

For most runners and cyclists this means two short sessions per week. 30-45 minutes is often enough, this is not the time to set new PB’s with your strength work. Instead we focus on protecting the durability that allows you to keep training and express the strength you’ve built.

Think of it like maintaining your bike, you would not stop servicing it once race season begins - the same logic applies to your body.

Mistake 2: Dropping the weights in favour of high rep lifting

This usually happens because endurance athletes are trying to avoid soreness.

In the build up to race season or days when you want to go out and enjoy many sunny miles on the tarmac and trails, the last thing you want is a strength session that leaves your legs feeling heavy for your next run or ride.

So the weights get lighter and the number of reps increase. The session becomes sets of 15, 20, sometimes even more reps.

The thinking sounds sensible:

“If I keep the weights light, I won’t get sore.”

What’s worth remembering is that running and cycling are high repetition sports.

A one hour ride involves thousands of pedal strokes, as does a long run involving thousands of strides.

So it feels logical that strength training should mirror that. However, this removes the exact stimulus strength training is meant to provide.

Strength training builds the force capacity that supports those thousands of pedal strokes and strides.

There is another issue with very high rep lifting: volume is one of the biggest drivers of fatigue in strength training.

If you’re doing high-rep strength training, your strength session volume increases quickly. That extra volume can create more fatigue and soreness than controlled lower repetition “heavier” strength work will.

So the strategy meant to avoid soreness can actually create more of it.

What to do instead:

Instead aim for controlled strength work and work to Reps in Reserve (RIR) to take into account your fatigue on the day:

For example, complete at 2-3 RIR:

Rest properly between sets and focus on movement quality.

Mistake 3: Lifting to failure

Another pattern I see often is runners and cyclists pushing strength sessions as hard as they can. Every week they try to lift heavier.

That approach works poorly in-season during race/event preparation.

When endurance training volume is high, your recovery capacity is already being used by running and cycling.

If strength sessions are pushed to exhaustion as well, you’re adding more training stress.

What to do instead:

This is where a simple system called Reps in Reserve (RIR), that I mentioned above, becomes helpful.

RIR means how many repetitions you could still perform with good form at the end of a set.

For example:

If you complete a set of 6 repetitions and feel you could have done two more, that is 2 RIR.

This is one of the best tools you can use to ensure your strength training supports your running and cycling. The load you’re able to lift on a deadlift is going to feel a lot different with a 20 mile long run in your legs or 200km in the saddle compared to when you’re fresh.

Mistake 4: Ignoring single leg strength

This is a mistake that doesn’t just apply to in-season, your strength training should always look to include single leg work as running and cycling are unilateral sports. However, there is a tendency to skip this work in-season.

Many runners and cyclists rely mostly on bilateral exercises. These exercises are very useful, but single leg strength matters. Bilateral strength does not automatically transfer to single leg control. Hip stability, knee tracking, and ankle strength under load all need to be trained specifically. When they are not, you often see form break down late in a run or ride, and that is where niggles tend to start.

Exercises such as:

These help build strength, stability and control around the hip, knee and ankle. All of which you need for stronger, more controlled running and cycling.

What to do instead:

Train both on one leg and two! They each develop different qualities your running and cycling rely on.

Mistake 5: Trying to progress strength every week during race season

As endurance athletes, we are used to progression:

It is easy to assume strength training should progress in terms of load every week as well.

However in-season, your goal is to maintain key strength qualities and keep your body resilient whilst your running and cycling peaks (and remember that increasing the weight that you lift is just one way to progress your strength training!)

In mistake 1, we saw how quickly strength and power qualities can begin to decline once the stimulus disappears. Maintaining the strength qualities you built earlier in the year allows them to keep supporting your training while your endurance workload increases.

If your strength sessions help you run and ride better later in the week, they are doing their job.

What to do instead:

Aim for 2x weekly short strength sessions that prioritise movement quality.

As you're entering spring training this year, this is the key idea I want you to keep in mind:

Do not remove strength training even though your running and cycling volume is likely increasing.

This is when it really comes into its own. You simply need consistent strength work that fits around your running and cycling.

If you would like more conversations on how to make this happen with runners and cyclists over 30 who are trying to train consistently and stay injury resilient, you are welcome to join my free coaching group.

There are now over 750 runners and cyclists sharing training experiences, asking questions, and learning how to integrate strength training into endurance sport.

Thanks for taking the time to read today’s slightly longer newsletter.

Before I go:

Welcome to Spring!

Emma x