weight lifting and long distance running(cross country) do they mix?

[maxiscool]

If one is serious about cross country, would weightlifting be beneficial or detrimental to being a good cross country runner?

[sillz100]

most likely itll hurt you slightly. max strength does not effect distance running. and you will have to work harder to carry the extra weight.

there is a right way to lift for long distance running or long duration sports, but its unlike what most people do when they lift

[MindZiper]

I did cross country for my school.
And I did with an "asthma" that i didn't knew about, and I didn't do THAT bad. just expect for skinny people to beat you easily.
throw them a 45lb weight and show them whos boss afterwards.

my best time was 3 miles in 26 min. (with this seasonal asthma that i get...)

[silverspeed]

If you aren't eating enough to gain weight, then yes, lifting would definitely not hurt running, and would probably help. If you are gaining weight, then it's controversial. Personally, I'm 190 lbs and run 40 miles a week without any extra trouble. I ran a 26-high 8k at 180 lbs several months ago, so I don't think extra muscle weight hurts you much as long as you keep running. Of course, I ran a 26:26 at 165 a year ago, so you could argue from that that weighing more made me slower - I think it was due to other factors, but it's all up for debate.

Just experiment and do what you enjoy. Make sure you're eating enough too, since lifting + running burns a heck of a lot of calories.

[PrettyPinkDonut]

yes...just dont expect results as fast as if you were just lifting

[FROGGBUSTER]

long-distance running will destroy your strength gains.

[PrettyPinkDonut]

true...unless the person wasnt physically active before

[TheIronOwl]

Doing both is a son of a bitch I can tell you that much. In HS when I did XC, weightlifting, and soccer simultaneously, I was eating over 5k cals per day just to keep what I had. Even keeping my size I was obviously weakened, but it was kinda funny seeing these 120 pounds twigs be taken over by me haha. Now when I did and trained for the marathon no matter what I did, I lost muscle. Period. If you're just sticking to 5k's you should be able to maintain though even though I think it is written in the stars that the two should be separated.