I’ve written about my cardioqueen/endurance junkie days many, many times. I’ve also written about how endurance training is not the best for building muscle and burning fat.
One of the things I do is help women break the “more is better” mindset, and teach them how to incorporate shorter, more intense workouts in place of hours upon hours of cardio.
But there are always those who have a passion for endurance. And ya know what? I do too…to an extent.
In the past couple years, knowing what I know now, I’ve started incorporating some longer distance running back into my routine. I’ve done a couple halfs and one full marathon (just this past December). I enjoy the challenge of these types of events every so often, so it has been fun and interesting to reintroduce them into my fitness regimen.
Have I lost muscle? Nope. Have I stayed the same leanness-wise. Yep.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s a tricky balance; but below, I have come up with my top tips for maintaining muscle while training for an endurance event. If they help you, let me know!
- First and foremost, I realize that I do not have to (literally) run my butt off to train for an endurance event. In my cardio queen days, if I didn’t hit a certain number of miles per week, I would completely stress out about it, and try to make up the miles the next week. Now, I actually run the absolute minimum I have to! 🙂 I usually follow a modified version of Jill’s half-marathon training plan, depending on the distance I’m training for – but typically, I run no more than 3 days per week.
- I realize that on long run days, my hunger will increase and I will need to fuel a little differently than usual by adding more clean carb. Before, I was not in-tune with my body (and let’s face it, used my mileage as justification to eat whatever I wanted), and I pretty much had a continuous free-for-all meal of sugar on long run days. Gummy bears, soft pretzels, bagels, cereal, etc. ALL THE CARBS! This only made me hungrier and more tired. Now it’s all about protein, clean carbs and veggies – and maybe a glass or two of vino ;-).
- I know now that rest days are crucial to heal the body, and to enable it to push harder. I rarely ever rested before – I’d workout for 3 or 4 hours per day, 7 days per week most weeks. This left me feeling exhausted, sick and I had a ton of inflammation going on. Whew.
- I lift heavy 4 or so days per week: I tend toward the muscle-burning side of the equation, so I have to work a bit harder than some on maintaining that muscle. I lift heavy (for me) about 4 days per week, but still no longer than 30 minutes. In between fueling with good nutrition, proper training and clean supplements, I’ve been able to maintain muscle quite easily.
- I have a better understanding of the type of body I want to work for. It’s no longer about trying to be as thin as possible. In fact, over the last 6 years, I have actually gained a handful pounds because of adding muscle to my frame, while my body fat % has decreased. I want to be strong, fit, mobile and functional now and well into the future. When I was running all the time, it seems I had some kind of injury every other month. My bone density was super low, and I felt a lot older than I was. Strength training has helped to increase my bone density to excellent levels, and I haven’t been injured since 2009.
- Finally, and I think this is most important, I actually get now that it’s all about balance. I don’t run now because I feel I have to in order to “stay in shape” or “burn calories”. I do it because it’s fun for me, at least for now. The moment it stops being fun, I’ll take a break. It’s all about balance and liking how you move.
As always, I love to hear from you. Let me know if this resonates!!
xoxo,
Tara
P.S. Are you a runner or cardio junkie who is tired of not seeing the results you desire? Maybe you even feel like you need to do MORE exercise to get those results? I DID TOO!! Luckily, I was able to break the cycle, and I would love to help you do that too, while still doing the things you love. I’ll be launching my Runner Rehab program soon – get on the wait list to be among the first to know when it launches, as well as receive exclusive discounts on the program :-).