How to combine running with the gym?

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There are more and more popular runners – there are the race data to prove it. And they want to reconcile those outings to improve their times and clear their sessions in the gym, their CrossFit workouts or new functional strength activities that really engage. How to combine it?

Andrea de Ayala, fitness and running coach, has gone from not running to lowering her time from 10K to 40 minutes in just two years. At the same time, she teaches as a Bootcamp instructor at the Studio 1 by SmartClub gym in Madrid. This is a high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which combines strength work with cardio spikes. So nobody better than a person so trained every day, and specialist in designing career plans, to design a routine that avoids injuries and overtraining.

HOW MANY DAYS TO TRAIN

The athlete's motto is: "Happiness is trained". EM

The first thing that clarifies is that the adaptations depend a lot on each person, their lifestyle, needs and physical condition, so it is difficult to draw up general recommendations. "If you are someone who simply wants to create the habit of running or preparing an easy race, I recommend three days a race week, three days of gym and one of rest. If it is someone who is preparing marathon I would recommend between three and four days of running and two of specific strength, "he says.

When you prepare for a race you prioritize these workouts over the rest. What kind of work is complementary or even convenient? "Generic strength training, especially specific, is not only complementary, but essential to be able to progress in the race and, above all, not to damage our joints. As a supplementary cardio I recommend the bike, since the knee does not suffer direct impact and is much less harmful, "advises De Ayala.

And which would be contraindicated or not recommended? "It is not convenient to abuse, which does not mean to stop doing completely but to reduce, the cardio sessions with impact. You have to prioritize running training and this type of cardio doesn't add anything when you're adding miles."

PRIORITIZE WHAT YOU NEED

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A person who wants to lower race times and begins to take running seriously, in the opinion of Andrea de Ayala, "must prioritize what he needs over what he wants." To lower times requires a specific race plan and design your complementary strength training sessions, preferably with a professional, without going crazy.

"There will be collective classes that can be combined and others that will be better reduced, those of cardio and a lot of impact as we recommended. The perfect thing is to go to the gym to train specific strength for running and make a weekly schedule in which you organize your workouts to be able to alternate your races with other disciplines that you like, "says the coach.

How to develop this specific force work? "It is fundamental, essential. Not training strength means in 100% of cases an injury in the short-medium term. Running is a very tough sport on a physical level because both bones, muscles and ligaments suffer a constant impact at a high cadence for a long time. We need to have super protected bones and joints so as not to damage them, and for that we must work an enveloping musculature that, in addition, serves us to have resistance and running power, "he advises.

STRENGTH AND CARDIO

The instructor, in a moment of her Bootcamp in the gym. EM

De Ayala always recommends the people he trains to make a training agenda to organize them and make them a priority in their day to day. "Alternate running training with strength training, do not do two days in a row. In case you have to do both training sessions on the same day, always the strength first and the race later."

For strength training works simple and effective exercises for both large and small muscle groups, with moderate-high weight, depending on the person, type of exercise and goal. "It is interesting to work, in addition to lower body that is obvious, train the core, our axis, which will give us stability and support." Also very important to exercise the upper train, he proposes: "The arms play a fundamental role in movement and help running speed."

HOW TO AVOID INJURY

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Beware of passing you. It is dangerous to prepare a long distance without a plan, warns Andrea de Ayala: "If you have a plan you will not fall short or overdo it. Going with more kilometers accumulated than recommended in your preparation can give you the mental peace of mind of thinking that you have trained a lot, but the reality is that you have overtrained, so you run the risk of injury a few weeks before the race. "

On the other hand, we must not only be careful with exceeding the recommended running workouts, but also the complementary ones: "Reducing as much as possible the impact workouts in the gym is convenient. Although they are not directly a race, they are also cardiovascular exercise, "he insists.

The week before the race, the training was very different from the previous ones: "We lower volume of kilometers and intensity, it is a pyramidal training, you start from a base in progression and, when you reach the peak, the descent begins reducing load as the race approaches". There is no need to stop, says the coach: "Both the week before and the race week are also trained, until one or two days before the race, which I ask for mandatory rest, not even walking too much. All the rest that can be done the day before will be restful for the race day." Let's take note and enjoy the sport.

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