Having successfully lost weight through long distance running before, I knew what the potential outcome of my marathon training would be. I would get fitter – great, I would shed fat – great, I would grow stronger mentally – great, and I would risk losing muscle – not so great. Of course you can retain muscle when endurance training if you take the right steps but if you are trying to become the best at the endurance event you possibly can, you have to accept that your body needs to make some changes.
Six Pack Success
Let’s start with a few vain observations first. As running is such an effective calorie burning exercise, there is definitely a chance to shift that stubborn stomach fat. My six pack (previously four pack) has become increasingly visible and defined throughout my marathon training. Whilst running requires core strength, I have supplemented this with my favourite core exercises such as the front and side plank, which I think has retained some size on my abs.
Leaner, Lighter But Not Stronger
Since I am pushing myself to get the best marathon time that I possibly can, as you would expect, my body has responded by making changes to become efficient at running. I am taking on more calories but obviously not quite enough to maintain my body weight and build from four months ago when I started training. As well has running, I have consistently done two other activities: I have been swimming once per week; and I have done one body-weight resistance session per week. I believe that these two activities have helped me retain some muscle that I had previously built, just by calling my muscle fibres into use. I have used some benchmarks to check my strength is not being lost too much. For example, I can do the same number of pull-ups now as before I started marathon training (although I am now lifting less body-weight I suppose).
Let’s take a look to see if it has worked…
How Much Muscle Have I Retained Whilst Becoming A Long Distance Runner?
Pre-marathon training back in December 2009
Pre-Marathon training - 78kg
Post-marathon training taken April 2010
- Post-Marathon training – 73kg
Ultimately, I think we can see that I have shed some muscle through marathon training. I have never been massive but more an athletic build when it comes to muscle size and definition. My love for sports has led to a preference to stay active and mobile as oppose to putting on ‘visual mass’ which doesn’t really serve much of a purpose for me. I have no doubt that it would be possible to train for a marathon and maintain your body-weight and muscle mass up until race day. However, you may need to accept that you will not reach your full potential as a long distance runner because obviously it takes more work to lug around that extra body-weight, be it muscle or fat. Only being able to do one swimming and one resistance training session per week alongside running (as described above) has been a real life ‘rule free’ approach for me. Trying to throw in another weights session just hasn’t been realistic.
Muscle Can Be ‘Recalled’ In The Future
Since I am going for a sub 3 hours 30 minutes time (quite fast in my eyes!), I have be willing to sacrifice some body-weight. I’ve been in this position before, when I had the worst injury of my life, so I am confident that any muscle lost or ‘wasted’ will return through muscle memory if I put in hard and smart resistance training after the marathon. I’ll be honest, I cannot wait to pack on some pounds (muscle mostly and a bit of fat I’m sure)! Most muscle has been lost from my back, shoulders and arms. My legs were already long and skinny – so not much to go from there! I plan on using some good ‘progressive overloading‘ in my weight training to regain what I have lost.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my marathon series of articles. There is only one thing left for me to do now, run that darned thing!
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