One of the most common questions we hear from runners in the Asheville area once race season is fully underway is some version of this: "Should I keep lifting, or will strength training in season wreck my legs before my race?" It is a fair concern, and the short answer is that not only can you maintain a strength practice during race season — you probably should. The longer answer involves understanding how to structure that work so it supports your running rather than competing with it. Done thoughtfully, in-season strength training reinforces the very qualities that keep you healthy and running fast: joint stability, neuromuscular control, and the resilience to absorb the cumulative load of a full training block.
The fear is understandable. You have worked hard to build your fitness, your legs feel good, and the last thing you want is to show up to a race with heavy, fatigued quads because you squatted two days before. But the solution is not to abandon the weight room entirely — it is to shift your approach. Think of in-season strength training less as a block of hypertrophy work and more as a maintenance and activation practice. The goal changes from building new capacity to preserving what you have already built and keeping your neuromuscular system sharp.
Here is what that looks like in practice.
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Adjust Volume, Not Necessarily Intensity
One of the most evidence-supported principles in sports science is that strength gains — and more importantly, the injury-protective adaptations that come with them — are maintained with surprisingly low training volumes once they have been established. Research consistently shows that reducing sets to as few as one or two per exercise, while keeping load and intensity relatively high, is sufficient to preserve strength across a competitive season. This means you do not need to do less hard work; you need to do less total work.
A practical in-season template for a runner might look like two sessions per week, each lasting no more than 30 to 40 minutes, with a focus on compound movements that translate directly to running mechanics: single-leg Romanian deadlifts, step-ups, split squats, hip thrusts, and calf raises. These are the movements that reinforce the posterior chain, the hip stabilizers, and the ankle complex — the structures most implicated in common running injuries like IT band syndrome, patellofemoral pain, and Achilles tendinopathy.
Timing Matters More Than Most Runners Realize
When you place your strength sessions within your weekly training schedule is arguably as important as what you do in them. The general principle is to avoid heavy lower-body strength work within 48 hours of a key workout or race. This gives your neuromuscular system adequate time to recover and ensures that residual fatigue does not blunt your performance or, more importantly, alter your running mechanics in ways that increase injury risk.
A structure that works well for many runners we see here in western North Carolina is to schedule strength sessions immediately after a moderate-effort run — not before, and not as a standalone session the day before a quality workout. Pairing them this way concentrates the fatigue into a single training day, leaving the surrounding days cleaner for recovery and performance.
Plyometric work — bounding, single-leg hops, box jumps — follows similar timing rules but deserves its own mention because it is often underutilized during race season. Low-volume plyometrics, performed when legs are fresh, are excellent for maintaining the elastic stiffness and ground contact efficiency that make running economy possible. Even two to three sets of single-leg hops twice a week can make a meaningful difference over the course of a season.
What to Scale Back
During race season, the movements most worth deprioritizing are those with the highest recovery cost and the least direct transfer to running. Heavy bilateral back squats, maximal deadlifts, and high-volume eccentric work all fall into this category. They are valuable in the off-season for building a foundation, but during a competitive block, their cost-to-benefit ratio shifts. Scaling back on these while maintaining the single-leg, hip-dominant, and stability-focused work gives you the best of both worlds: preserved strength adaptations without the systemic fatigue that compromises your running.
If you are unsure which movements are most relevant to your specific mechanics and injury history, a biomechanical evaluation can be enormously clarifying. Understanding where your individual weaknesses lie — whether that is hip abductor strength, ankle stability, or trunk control under fatigue — allows you to build a strength program that is actually targeted rather than generic. You can learn more about how we approach that work here.
The Psychological Piece
There is also something worth naming that goes beyond the physiology. Runners who maintain some form of structured strength work during race season often report feeling more confident and more in control of their training. In a season full of variables — weather, travel, taper anxiety — having a consistent, manageable strength practice can serve as an anchor. That sense of agency matters, especially for runners who have dealt with injury in the past and carry some understandable apprehension about it recurring.
FAQ
Can I strength train the week of a race?
Yes, with appropriate modifications. A short, low-volume session of bodyweight or light-load activation work — think glute bridges, single-leg balance drills, and banded clamshells — performed three to four days before your race can actually prime your neuromuscular system without accumulating meaningful fatigue. Avoid anything heavy or high-volume in the final 72 hours before race day.
What if I am starting strength training for the first time during race season?
If you are new to structured strength work, race season is not the ideal time to begin a high-intensity program — but it is a reasonable time to start with low-load, movement-quality-focused exercises. Beginning with bodyweight single-leg work, hip hinge patterns, and calf strengthening allows you to build the neuromuscular patterns without the recovery cost of heavy loading. Many runners in the Asheville area begin this process with guidance from a physical therapist who can ensure the movements are being performed correctly from the start.
Book an Evaluation
If you want a strength plan that is built around your race schedule, your movement patterns, and your injury history rather than a generic template, we are here to help. Contact us to book an evaluation at The Runner's Mechanic in Asheville, and we will work with you to build a strategy that keeps you strong, healthy, and ready to race.