i'm a distance runner. i can't help it. :jumping:

anyway, what i was wondering was if any of you possible runners out there know anything about how weight training (heavy weight, few reps) hurts/helps/does not affect one's ability to run efficiently and fast.

thanks for any input you guys have!

Weight-training by itself will not significantly affect your running.

Building muscle and gaining weight on the other hand may as your body then needs to do more work to move more mass.

But being a female and a distance runner means that unless you are very genetically gifted (as well as abnormally high levels of testosterone) you are going to have a hard time gaining that mass. I would go ahead with the training but watch your scale after a few weeks and note your performance.

I don't know whether it's an effect of doing no cardio for the past four months or an effect of gaining almost 20 pounds of muscle in the past six months, but I'm having a hell of a time getting back into running.