Strength training is essential for runners because mileage alone breaks down muscle, tendon, and bone over time. Heavy, intentional lifting improves running economy, protects against injury, supports hormonal health in peri/menopause, and prevents the performance decline many runners mistake for “aging.” Running builds endurance. Strength training builds the body that can sustain it.
Every now and then, someone online tries to resurrect the “runners don’t need to lift” narrative like it’s a fresh take. The newest version usually comes wrapped in “it’s counterproductive” or “running more is enough for most people.”
And then a handful of coaches chime in with “totally agree” as if physiology politely agrees to bend to their opinions.
Let’s talk about what’s really going on.
Running builds fitness, yes. But running is also repetitive, high-impact, and unforgiving when the foundation is weak. Mileage alone doesn’t solve the problems runners keep tripping over. It exposes them.
This idea that lifting “isn’t necessary” survives for one reason: people confuse bad strength training with good strength training. If someone half-heartedly did light circuits, random Instagram workouts, or avoided real load because they were scared of soreness, then of course they didn’t see results. They weren’t doing the kind of strength work that actually changes tissue, mechanics, or performance.
Good strength training — heavy, intentional, progressive — is a different story entirely. That’s the work that builds tendon quality. That’s the work that helps bone density. That’s the work that holds your form together when you’re ten miles deep and starting to negotiate with the universe. And that’s the work most runners have never experienced.
Running alone doesn’t build muscle. In fact, the opposite is true. As we age, and especially during peri/menopause or surgical menopause, muscle mass drops off faster than people realize. You can be aerobically fit and still be losing the structural strength that makes running efficient and sustainable. That’s why your stride feels different over the years. That’s why recovery feels slower. That’s why pace holds don’t hit the way they used to. It’s not a lack of discipline — it’s a lack of strength.
This is also where gender and physiology come into play. A lot of the loudest “just run more” takes come from men who have never experienced hormonal shifts, lower muscle protein synthesis, or tendon vulnerability from dropping estrogen. They can bounce back faster. They can absorb more mileage without falling apart. Their physiology allows them to be the exception — but they love to present it as the rule.
Meanwhile, women — especially in peri/menopause — are out here trying to train on bodies that actually need load to thrive. Heavier strength isn’t cosmetic. It’s protective. It supports metabolism, bone health, speed, power, fatigue resistance, and long-term athleticism. It’s also what helps you stay upright, balanced, and injury-resistant in the rest of your life, not just your running life.
And because no one talks about this enough: running alone is a straight shot to low energy availability for a lot of women. When the body is under-fueled, it quietly strips away the very things athletes need — hormone production, muscle mass, recovery capacity. That’s not a “try harder” problem; that’s a physiology problem. Strength training helps mitigate that by supporting tissue and metabolic health in ways running simply can’t do.
The bottom line here is pretty simple. Strength training and running are not competing interests. They’re a partnership. Running builds your engine. Strength training builds the frame that carries it. You’re not choosing one over the other — you’re choosing whether you want longevity or burnout.
If you want to keep running strong into your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond, lifting heavy is not extra. It’s the missing piece. Mileage develops endurance. Strength preserves the body that makes endurance possible.
Runners who understand that stay in the sport.
Runners who don’t… repeat their injury cycles until they eventually quit.
Ready to Strengthen the Body That Carries Your Running?
If this hit home and you’re realizing that running alone won’t build the durability, stability, or resilience you need long-term, I’ve already built the perfect next step.
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It’s built on the same principles in this post: intentional load, smart progression, and real tissue adaptation.
If you want your running to feel better not just next week, but next year, this is where you start.
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