Yes, 2023 and prior......I also no strength and conditioning. Also neglected things. I was already walking since covid 2020 and then ran in 2023, but the upper body really skinny like bamboo. My relatives all shocked at my physique, yes performance wise i pretty decent, but they scared i have "internal problems".
I was like 173cm and as light as 55-56 kg range then.
But if done consistently, 1-2 years period can already see very good gains if done consistently.....no need for off seasons at our level if you can help it. But my feel is that it it needs to be very slowly progressed up at our ages. No need to have off seasons but need to have that "enjoy it" mindset.
Now i am around 68kg. My running times like not radically different also.
(in fact my 3k timings got decent improvements but it might be due to specific shorter distance trainings rather than 2023 and prior in which i focussed more towards 10k region).
Backpack + weights or bands on the band is fine, provided your back muscles are sufficiently strong. If not also risky. Really need to be careful and slowly progress up (can also use lower reps like 1-2 and mix with unweighted, before slowly adding up).
Just anyhow quick google, found one specific to strength. 3.62% improvement to 5k TT. Also done on subjects not much different to most of us. That is around 60 seconds for a 27 min. Not as much as the 2 plus minutes for plyo jump squat/drop jumps, not sure if these 2 can be added and we just call it 3 mins possible.
A higher % would come from higher mileages, structured training via running of coz, but i think no real harm real S&C if you have plateaued already due to whatever reasons. Like for me, i cannot run long distance one, so if you tell me 2 to 3hr runs, i cannot do. But i can long distance cycle, so better than nothing even tho less specificity. Adding in strength and conditioning no brainer for both running + cycling, which both needs.
Main note : test subjects ascertained 1RM first, then trained 4-8 reps with 80% of 1RM. But i think for us no need to know 1RM, just hoot 8 reps till close to failure (1 to 2 reps before failure) can liao. Doing 50-100 reps is probably not the way to train, but still once in a blue moon is a fun way to play around lah, eg 100 push ups.
You can do to failure as well, or even drop sets ie fail liao then regress weight/resistance and hoot again till you fail again, but those quite advanced and needs to be able to tahan suffering.
ps note. 6 weeks only....nothing fancy. The plyo study i posted earlier was 8 weeks.
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ic_Running_Distance_and_5-km_Race_Performance
