One foot following another.....: CAN YOU BE A RUNNER AND WORKOUT AT THE GYM TOO? An Experiment (Part 1)

It is perhaps the lesser known of the Commandments handed down that day on Mount Sinai…..probably. You know? The ‘fitness one’?

‘Thou shalt never mix fashionable strength training sessions with endurance running! Lest ye become too heavy to move at a pace faster than a hesitant, two legged donkey over bumpy terrain!’’

I’m taking liberties, and (between you and me) and I’m hardly an expert on biblical facts. Regardless, it has long been touted that any type of strength based training is amongst the WORST things an aspiring runner can do for his or her fitness. Akin, perhaps, to repetitive head injuries, recreational hot-coal walking, or Cheese grater home pedicures.

So it was with great trepidation that I strode into……SHOCK…..a gym last November.

You see, after a few years of dedicated (some would argue ‘manic compulsion’) running training, mostly, using the tried and true methods of weeks involving standard long runs, hill sessions, and regular speed/interval work, I’d found myself at the end of the season with a vicious, niggling hip fatigue injury.

My options were spelt out in plain English by my General GP (after conformation xrays and tests);

1) Quit running and buy 5 cats,

2) Start riding a bike, or

3) Swim.

This left me with an obvious problem. I’m not a ‘cat person’, I have a horrible habit of holding my breath too much when I swim, and the terrain (and drivers) where I live is not accommodating to cyclists (I look horrible in lycra also).

It was eerily around the time of this realisation that a close friend of mine (and local Gym owner)

Mitchell suggested I try out a week or two at his gym (The approachable and welcomingly titled; ‘People’s Gym’). Normally I would politely decline such an offer, but Mitch himself is supremely fit, as well as being an accomplished Ironman and Triathlete. My interest was in the least sparked.

By another seemingly cosmic coincidence (if you believe in it) that afternoon I noticed an Instagram post by Australian (and QLD) runner Britney McGowan of her at the gym……doing…of all things…..bar pullups!

I messaged Mitch that night to say that I’d give it a shot.

Fast forward to the first week of classes (they pretty much rotate around generally short workouts of varied functional movements and strength and agility training) which was…….interesting……..to say the least. Ego had me loading up the weights, puffing out my chest, and trying to keep up. It was a painful lesson to learn, as I left each session with arms fatigued to the point of resembling a T-Rex, and my technique being worthy of ridicule and bewilderment.

Slowly I came to the ultimate realisation that everyone was firmly focussed on their own workout,

and not the weird grunting man struggling with weights akin to light grocery shopping. With my ego set aside, Mitch began to mentor, and scale, and teach.

Eventually I got better. Not great mind you, but better. I also began to enjoy the break from the repetition of running.

I’ll admit the mind games started around then too. I asked myself daily, “What if everyone was right? What if I became unable to run again?”

But as is the case at times of mental-crossroad-bewilderment it is easy to regret taking ‘the road less travelled’. It can be too easy to slip into the mindset of the supreme pessimist. However, luckily the ultimate truth always comes; with the clarity of time and hindsight.

I began to supplement my daily gym class-workouts with easy runs, growing in increments, and with a supreme focus on comfort (mentally and physically). Leading up to the first ‘race’ of the season; the Twilight Running Festival 10km, I was supplementing the classes with 4am starts, and around 100-110km running weeks.

RESULTS:

The results initially were interesting. I began to ‘tone’ up, with muscles. My body stopped looking like a runners, and more like the ‘athletes’ that are sold to us in sporting advertisements. I was bumpy in all of the right places, and looked ‘strong’ instead of drawn out and lightweight.

My core strength and overall flexibility and strength improved at the gym also. By far I wasn’t the strongest at the gym (There are some AMAZING athletes there), but the difference in four months was light-and-shade in comparison. I was a better gym athlete.

But the true test was to see how this affected my running, with the first test being the Twilight Running Festival 10km event!

Approaching the race I found my nerves were worse than normal (I’m normally quite anxious before events). For the week leading up to the day, my anxiety built and built, until the day before; where they were practically crippling.

I can attribute this to nerves around the effects of the gym-training, the lack of regular speed sessions (to remind the mind that a fast pace is possible), and the fact that I have traditionally had a mixed history with this particular event (it is often rained out, I’ve had a start line calf injury, and a rather scary mid-race seizure!). I’ve never run ‘fast’ at Twilight, but it was an event that was always satisfying to podium at.

The weather this year was clear, if humid, and the afternoon start was warm, but not too overbearing. The conditions were the perfect testing ground.

When the start-gun went, I took off with a close friend (and team-mate) Drew Williams. From there a few runners pushed past. At around the 3 kilometre mark, I found myself working hard to stay in 5^th position.

Then a strange thing happened; with the same continued struggling effort, I pushed past 4^th, and then at the halfway mark, found myself in 3^rd place. I set about finishing strongly.

Whilst I didn’t end up catching Drew (the well-deserving winner) or second place, I did finish upright, in 3^rd place, and in a time within 10seconds of previous years. The effort during the race seemed to be harder than normal, but my stamina and ability to recover did significantly feel improved.

With the experiment not nearly completed, and without any substantially conclusive results…..at this stage it does appear that the supplementary gym workouts weren’t hindering my running performance.