Introduction to Distance Running for Lifters

Running can make you healthier and a more well-rounded athlete. And, though it won’t make you stronger it might help your recovery during and after lifting. It also provides a chance to suffer for long periods which must be good for your mind, right?
Running for a lifter or non-competitor can be kept pretty simple. I will lay out a few principles to follow. The nitty gritty details can be worked out based on your lifestyle and with a little bit of accumulated experience. The important things are to stay injury free and to be consistent.

Pacing

How do you go about pacing yourself? Hard intervals sound cool and look good on the internet. They are not the way to get started. You will want to build an aerobic base. Building this base requires a pace that allows you to carry on a full conversation. If you are by yourself, or don’t feel like talking, maintain a pace that allows you to breathe through your nose and run with your mouth closed. For the novice or non-competitive runner this is the most important pace at which to do most and maybe even all of your distance running. It will allow you to recover quickly, thereby allowing more consistent training. It may help you prevent injury. It will contribute to the development of the capillaries in your legs so that you become more efficient at doing endurance.
A note about running with your mouth closed: when I first tried the nose-breathing approach I felt panicky, right from the first few steps of the run. It kind of reminded me of when I first tried on a mouthguard during boxing or jiujitsu. I stayed committed to it and after a few weeks I adapted and relaxed. Even after you get used to it you may find it hard to keep your mouth closed at the beginning of any run or while going uphill. Not to worry. Just find your groove and try your best to breathe through your nose as much as possible and slow down when you need to.
In the spirit of keeping training simple I will close with three methods to keep you healthy i.e. prevent injury.

The Ten Percent Rule

There’s an old adage in running: do not increase your mileage by more than ten percent each week. This Ten Percent Rule is intended to protect the runner from injuries to connective tissue and to other parts of the body that are slower to adapt to training. While lungs and major muscles may adapt fairly quickly, supportive structures can adapt quite slowly to the stresses of running. You do not need a GPS watch and you do not need to track your kilometres or mileage. With just an analog watch you can track time on your feet and that is enough information to follow the ten percent rule. I prefer a simple analog approach to training using minimal or no wearable tech apart from my analog dive watch. If you find such slow increases in weekly volume to be unbearable then you might want to consider jumping on a rower, a bike, swimming, or finding another no or low impact style of aerobic training as a supplement your running. Remember when you are first starting that ten percent of zero is zero. If you have not been running recently then you cannot start slowly enough.

Rollback Monthly

For many of the same reasons for which I advocate the Ten Percent Rule, I recommend that you reduce your volume once every month or five weeks. For one week, cut your overall mileage, kilometres, or time on your feet by half. The following week, continue with your usual mileage increase as if the rollback never happened.

As an example:

Week 1 - 50 mins
Week 2 - 55 mins
Week 3 - 60 mins
Week 4 - 66 mins
Week 5 - 33 min (rollback)         
Week 6 - 73 mins

Run on soft surfaces
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Whenever possible run on grass or other soft surfaces. Yes, you may be more likely to roll your ankle so be careful. Your ankles will become stronger and, more to the point, you will take less of a pounding on a forgiving surface. If you do not have access to a park or trail then look for safe boulevards and grass verges if running during the day where you can see potential hazards. If you are wanting to race on roads in the near future then it is important to condition your body to running on that type of surface. I would try and keep it to a minimum however.
If lifting is your priority then keep it the main thing and structure your running around your strength and technical work. Try running right after lifting to give yourself maximum recovery time before you lift again. Also see how running on your off days from lifting works for you. Keep training simple, let your body adapt at its own rate, and remain consistent. Avoid all the distractions, learn to listen, and then do what your body tells you.
                                            Al Heinemann