Gym Work During Marathon Training: What to Keep and What to Drop

During marathon training, keep one or two short strength sessions a week built around a handful of lower-body and trunk exercises, and drop almost everything else: high-rep leg circuits, workouts that leave you sore, and anything new in the final weeks. The aim changes over the block. Early on, the gym builds strength. As mileage climbs, it maintains it with less volume. In the taper, it shrinks to a light reminder or stops. Placement matters as much as content: never put hard leg work in the 48 hours before your long run.

This post is about managing the gym inside a marathon block specifically. For the general case for lifting as a runner, see our guide to strength training for runners.

Why bother with the gym at all mid-block

Running hundreds of miles in a few months puts repeated load through calves, knees, hips and feet. Strength work gives those tissues more capacity to cope, and it maintains muscle that endurance training on its own does not challenge much. It will not replace miles, and an extra run is often worth more to your finishing time than an extra gym session. The case for keeping some lifting is about staying robust enough to complete the plan, not about adding fitness on top of it.

What to keep

The essential list is short. Each item earns its place by either strengthening tissue that takes a beating in running or by training a quality that running does not.

• A single-leg squat pattern. Rear-foot-elevated split squats or step-ups. Running is a series of single-leg landings, and these build strength one side at a time.
• A hinge. Romanian deadlifts or a trap bar deadlift for the hamstrings and glutes.
• Calf raises, heavy and slow. Straight-knee and bent-knee versions. The calves and Achilles do a great deal of work over 26.2 miles.
• Trunk work that resists movement. Side planks, Pallof presses and suitcase carries rather than endless crunches.
• One upper-body pull. Rows or lat pulldowns, to keep the upper back working and posture comfortable late in long runs.

Keep repetitions moderate to low, typically 5 to 8 on the main lifts, with weights that are genuinely challenging but leave a couple of reps in reserve. Heavier, lower-rep work builds strength with less fatigue than high-rep burnout sets, which is exactly what you want when your legs are already doing a lot.

What to drop

• High-rep leg circuits and “runner’s burn” classes. They mimic the fatigue you already get from running and add soreness without much extra strength.
• Training to failure. Leave reps in the tank. Failure sets cost recovery you need for key runs.
• Lots of new exercises. Novel movements cause the most soreness. Pick your exercises early in the block and stick with them.
• Heavy eccentric work late on. Slow lowering phases and big jumps are useful early, but they can leave muscles sore for days.
• Extra hard cardio in the gym. Your running plan already covers it. Rowing sprints are not cross-training if they replace an easy day.

How the gym changes across the block

Phase	Sessions per week	What the session looks like
Base (early weeks)	2	4 to 5 exercises, 3 sets each. Build strength; this is where progress happens.
Build (mileage rising)	1 to 2	Same exercises, 2 to 3 sets. Keep the weights, cut the volume.
Peak (longest runs)	1	2 sets of the main lifts plus calves and trunk. 30 minutes at most.
Taper (final 2 to 3 weeks)	0 to 1	Light, familiar movements, well short of hard. Nothing in the final week that could leave you sore.

The principle running through the table: keep intensity, cut volume. Lifting weights you know you can handle, for fewer sets, preserves strength remarkably well. It is the extra sets and the novelty that cause fatigue.

Where to put the sessions in your week

A good rule is “hard days hard, easy days easy”. Strength work fits best on the same day as a quality run session, after the run with a few hours between them if possible, so that the following easy day is genuinely easy. That keeps your easy days free for recovery.

1. Never lift legs heavily within 48 hours before your long run. If the long run is Sunday, finish leg work by Thursday.
2. Run first, lift second when both fall on the same day. The run is the priority session.
3. Upper body and trunk can go almost anywhere. They interfere very little with running.
4. If something has to give in a busy week, drop the gym, not the long run.

Signs you are doing too much

• Legs still sore from the gym on the day of a key run.
• Easy runs feel unusually heavy for more than a couple of days.
• Resting heart rate noticeably higher than normal over several mornings.
• Sleep getting worse despite feeling tired.
• Niggles in the same place that do not settle between sessions.

If two or three of these appear together, cut a gym session that week before cutting any run, then reassess. Persistent pain, as opposed to normal stiffness, is a reason to see a physiotherapist or your GP rather than train through it. Check with your GP first as well if you have a heart condition or are returning to running after a long break; the NHS exercise guidance is a sensible starting point for anyone building up from scratch.

A sample peak-phase session

About 30 minutes, once a week, after an interval or tempo run:

1. Warm-up: 5 minutes of leg swings, bodyweight squats and glute bridges.
2. Rear-foot-elevated split squat: 2 x 6 per leg.
3. Romanian deadlift: 2 x 6.
4. Standing calf raise: 3 x 8, slow on the way down.
5. Seated row: 2 x 8.
6. Side plank: 2 x 30 seconds per side.

That is it. It feels too easy compared with your base-phase sessions, which is the point.

After the race

Give yourself at least a week or two of walking, easy movement and light upper-body work before going back to heavy leg training. When you do, start at the base-phase volume with lighter weights than you finished on, and build back over two or three weeks.

Working with a coach

The hardest part of combining the two is adjusting week to week as your running plan changes. In 1-1 personal training in Highgate, I write the gym sessions around your race date and running schedule, and we adjust them according to how your legs feel that week. The studio on Archway Road is a short run from Highgate Wood and Hampstead Heath, so some clients come in straight after a run. Read more about how training with Artem works.

Questions we get asked

Should I stop lifting weights before a marathon?

Reduce it in the taper, and avoid anything that leaves you sore in the final week. Many runners keep one very light session until about ten days out.

Will weights make me heavier and slower?

Not with this volume alongside marathon mileage. Building significant muscle needs far more lifting and eating than a runner’s plan allows.

Can I lift on the same day as a run?

Yes, ideally after a harder run, with some hours between the two.

Is upper body training worth it for runners?

A small amount, yes. One pull and some trunk work keep posture comfortable when you are tired late in a long run.

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