Strength training for the Chicago Marathon is the part of the plan everybody agrees with and almost nobody schedules. The race is Sunday, October 11, which puts most people somewhere around week nine of an eighteen-week build right now, staring down the biggest mileage of the year. This is exactly when the lifting quietly disappears from the calendar, and exactly when it starts to matter most.
Here is the version a coach would give you, from a gym that has spent 17+ years putting Chicago runners under a barbell without ruining their long run.
Why marathon runners should lift, in two sentences
Heavy strength work improves running economy, which is a technical way of saying the same pace costs you less oxygen at mile 22 than it did before you started lifting. And the largest review of injury prevention in sport found that strength training cut overuse injuries by about half, which is the entire ballgame in a sport where most goal races are lost in physical therapy rather than on the course.
There is a Chicago-specific argument on top of that. This course is famously flat and famously fast, and flat means your stride never changes. No downhills to unload the quads, no climbs to shift the work elsewhere. It is 26.2 miles of the same movement repeated about 35,000 times. Tissue that handles that load is tissue you built in a gym months earlier.
The one rule that keeps lifting from wrecking your running
Strength work supports the run. It does not compete with it. Practically, put lifting on days that are already hard and leave the easy days easy. Lift after a quality run rather than the morning before one, and never the day before a long run. Runners who get hurt adding strength training almost always added a third stress day to a week that already had two.
If a session leaves you sore enough to change your stride, it was the wrong session. There is no prize for the hardest gym day of your marathon block.
What to actually lift
Six patterns cover it, loaded heavy enough to be interesting and stopped well short of failure. Think three to five sets of three to six reps, not sets of twenty.
- Squat. Back squat, front squat, or a safety bar if your shoulders complain. This is the base of everything else.
- Hinge. Deadlift and Romanian deadlift. The posterior chain is what holds your hips level in the last six miles.
- Single leg. Split squats, step-ups, lunges. Running is a single-leg sport that people insist on training with two legs.
- Calves, on purpose. The calf complex absorbs several times your bodyweight every stride, more than anything else in the chain, and the soleus is the most under-trained muscle in distance running. Heavy bent-knee calf raises, weekly, no exceptions.
- Hamstring eccentrics. Nordic curls or slow eccentric RDLs. Cheap insurance against the injury that ends the most marathon builds.
- Carries and core. Farmer carries, suitcase carries, anti-rotation planks. Your torso keeps all that force pointed forward.
Skip the burnout circuits and anything that turns into cardio you already get plenty of. You do not need more conditioning in October. You need to produce force when you are tired.
How it changes as the race gets closer
At roughly nine or ten weeks out, two sessions a week is the target and the weight stays heavy. As mileage climbs through late August and September, hold the load and cut the sets rather than going lighter, because light and high-rep is the combination that makes you sore.
In the final two to three weeks, drop to one short session, cut the volume in half, and stay far from failure. Inside the last five days, leave legs alone. What you do not do is stop lifting the moment the taper starts. Runners who quit cold turkey in week 17 tend to describe race day as feeling flat, and that is not a coincidence.
Where to strength train for the Chicago Marathon
We run three gyms in the city, all built for this kind of work rather than for posing in front of a mirror. Barbells, racks, platforms, sleds, ergs and turf, plus a coach in every session so nobody is guessing at deadlift setup in week 12 of a build.
- River North, 1030 N Larrabee St. A straight shot east to the lakefront path, which is where half of this city's marathon mileage happens.
- Logan Square, 2080 N Milwaukee Ave. Minutes from the 606, and on the Blue Line for anyone whose long run ends nowhere near home.
- Avondale, 3747 W Belmont Ave. Northwest side, with easy parking, which matters more than runners admit at 6am on a Tuesday.
Members get 24/7 door access through the Wodify app, so a lift happens at 5am before a mid-week run or at 9pm after one. For class hours, the full schedule is here and the programs page covers what runs when. Visiting for the race and want to move the week before? A drop-in is $30 at any of the three.
Our group fitness and CrossFit classes both work for runners, though a marathoner in peak weeks usually wants the strength portion and a short finisher rather than the full metcon. Tell the coach you are ten weeks out. That is all it takes to have the day adjusted.
The part where something starts to hurt
Somewhere between now and October, roughly half of you will develop a nagging something. Shin, knee, IT band, achilles, hip. The window to handle it is the week it appears, not the week it stops you.
Our River North building also houses a strength-focused physical therapy practice, so the assessment and the training plan happen in one place instead of across three providers and a month of phone tag. The bias there is toward keeping you running on a modified plan rather than handing you six weeks of rest and a printout.
Fueling, because you cannot lift your way out of underfueling
Marathon builds make people lose weight they did not intend to lose, and the muscle goes with the fat. If your long runs have started feeling worse rather than better, eating is the first place to look. Nutrition coaching handles the plan, and an InBody scan tells you whether the scale is dropping off the right pile. Scan once now and once after the race.
After October 11
Take the week after the race off and mean it. Then come back, because October through February is the only real strength block a marathon runner gets all year. The standard alternative is signing up for another marathon while still limping.
One other option. We are a HYROX affiliate, the race format is running mixed with functional stations, the season runs through the winter, and the fitness you spent all summer building carries straight over. It gives the fall a point without asking your body for another 20-miler in November.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I lift weights while training for a marathon?
Yes, and the research is unusually one-sided about it. Heavy, low-rep strength work improves running economy, and the largest review of sports-injury prevention found strength training cut overuse injuries by roughly half. The mistake is not lifting during a marathon build, it is lifting like a bodybuilder during one.
How many days a week should marathon runners strength train?
Two. Three is fine early in a build, but once long runs pass 16 miles, two sessions is the honest ceiling for most people. Strength is the supporting cast in a marathon block, and the run schedule gets first pick of your recovery.
Should I stop lifting during the marathon taper?
No. Cut the volume, keep the intent. In the final two to three weeks, drop to one short session a week at about half the usual sets, and stop lifting legs inside the last five days. Stopping cold in the taper is how people arrive at the start line feeling flat.
Will lifting weights make me heavier or slower as a runner?
Not at two sessions a week on marathon mileage. Meaningful muscle gain needs a calorie surplus and a lot of volume, and a 40-mile week supplies neither. What changes is how much force you put into the ground before your form falls apart at mile 20.
Where can I strength train for the Chicago Marathon?
Chicago Strength runs three gyms in the city: River North at 1030 N Larrabee St, Logan Square at 2080 N Milwaukee Ave, and Avondale at 3747 W Belmont Ave. All three have barbells, racks, sleds and ergs, run classes from early morning through evening, and give members 24/7 door access through the Wodify app. First class is free for first-time clients, drop-ins are $30, and the number is 312-664-0130.
Ten weeks is plenty of time to get stronger and no time at all to waste. Claim your free first class at whichever gym is closest, or check what a month costs on the membership page. Questions about fitting this around your plan go to 312-664-0130.