Winter is the best time of year for a runner or cyclist over 40 to build strength, because the two qualities you rely on behave very differently. Aerobic fitness fades within weeks when training stops. Strength, once built, holds on as little as one session a week. That makes the off-season, when mileage naturally dips, the right window to build the durable quality, so it is already in place when the spring miles return. If you read our guide to strength training for runners and cyclists over 40, you already know why strength matters. This post covers when to do it and how to shape a November-to-March block that ends at a spring start line.
Why build strength in winter instead of spring?
Because endurance is perishable and strength is durable, and the smart order is to build the durable quality first. In a review of detraining in athletes, Mujika and Padilla found that trained athletes lose roughly 4–7% of their VO2max, a standard measure of aerobic capacity, within 2–3 weeks of stopping training, and 6–20% once the break stretches past about four weeks.
Strength behaves very differently. In a 2010 study by Rønnestad, Hansen and Raastad, strength gains from a 12-week preparation block were fully preserved through 13 weeks of competitive season on one strength session a week.
Put those findings side by side and the calendar writes itself. Aerobic fitness has to be kept up constantly and sharpened close to race day; you cannot bank it in November. Strength can be built when you have time to spare, then held cheaply while the miles ramp back up. Winter, when long runs shorten and rides move indoors, is the stretch of the year when strength work costs your sport the least.
What can a winter block do for your running and riding?
For runners, the clearest evidence is on running economy, the energy cost of a given pace. A 2018 systematic review in Sports Medicine by Blagrove, Howatson and Hayes pulled together 20 studies and found that strength training improved running economy by 2–8% compared with controls, with no increase in body mass and no harm to VO2max. The programs that worked typically ran 2–3 sessions a week for 8–12 weeks, which is about the length of a November-through-January build.
For cyclists, a 2015 study by Rønnestad and colleagues in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports put elite cyclists through 10 weeks of heavy strength training twice a week, followed by 15 weeks of maintenance at one session every 7–10 days. After the 25-week block, mean power in a 40-minute all-out effort was up 6.5%, while the riders who only rode saw no change. Half-squat strength rose 20% in the first 10 weeks and held through the maintenance phase.
One honest caveat: these studies were done on trained and often elite athletes, most of them younger than the people we coach, so read the numbers as direction rather than a forecast. Nobody can promise you 6.5%. What the research does show is that the benefits came from blocks of 8 weeks and longer, which is why the building belongs before your season.
Does winter lifting lower the odds of a spring injury?
It can lower the risk, and the timing helps. Injuries are common in recreational running: a 2015 review in Sports Medicine by Videbæk and colleagues estimated 7.7 injuries per 1,000 hours of running among recreational runners, and 17.8 per 1,000 hours among novices. Mileage tends to climb fastest in spring, so strength built over the winter is in place before that climb starts.
On the protective side, a 2014 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by Lauersen and colleagues found that strength training cut overuse injuries roughly in half in trials, about a 47% reduction, and reduced sports injuries overall to less than a third. Stretching, in the same analysis, showed no protective effect.
That is a reduction in risk measured in trials of athletes, not a guarantee for any one runner. If you are already managing an injury or a medical condition, talk with your physician first; we build around their guidance.
Will strength work get in the way of your endurance?
Not at the volumes most recreational runners and cyclists train. The worry, called the interference effect, is that mixing endurance and strength work blunts the gains from one or both. An updated meta-analysis in Sports Medicine by Schumann and colleagues found that combined training did not compromise muscle growth or maximal strength. Only explosive power was slightly dampened, and that was when both happened in the same session. And in the running and cycling research above, VO2max was not harmed.
The practical version is simple. Keep strength sessions heavy and short, keep them away from your key runs or rides, and the two qualities coexist. Placing them around your week is part of your coach's job.
How should a November-to-March block be laid out?
In phases, counted backward from the race. Early November to a late-April start line is about 24 weeks, close to the 25-week shape of the cycling study above. Here is how that maps onto a spring season:
- November through January: build. Two coached strength sessions a week, with loads rising in planned steps. Running and riding stay mostly easy and lower in volume: shorter loops at Pheasant Branch, easy rides indoors. That is roughly 12 weeks, in line with the 8–12 week programs in the running research.
- February and March: maintain. Drop to one session a week as long runs lengthen and, weather permitting, rides move back out to the Military Ridge trail. In the cycling study, one session every 7–10 days held what the build phase created. The weight room steps back so the miles can step forward.
- April and May: race. Keep the weekly session and lighten it in race week. The Crazylegs Classic, an 8K from Capitol Square to a 50-yard-line finish in Camp Randall Stadium, falls in late April; the 2026 edition ran April 25, and next year's date had not been announced at the time of writing. The Lake Monona 20K follows in early May.
- Cyclists: stretch the maintenance phase. If your target is the Horribly Hilly Hundreds out of Blue Mounds in June, keep the weekly session going right up to the ride. Whether you choose the 100K, 150K, or 200K route, the climbing rewards the leg strength you built while the trails were under snow.
The start date that works least well is April, when a new strength program has to compete with climbing mileage for recovery.
Key Takeaway
Endurance fades within weeks when training stops; strength, once built, holds on one session a week. That asymmetry makes winter the build season for runners and cyclists over 40. Lift twice a week from November through January, drop to once a week in February and March as the miles return, and reach a late-April or early-May start line with the strength already banked. The research is on trained athletes, so treat the numbers as direction, not a promise.
What does a coached winter session look like?
The movements are the ones laid out in our original post for runners and cyclists; what changes across the winter is the dose. The build phase pushes the progression. Maintenance holds what you built while your sport takes the lead again.
At Alloy Personal Training Middleton, sessions are capped at six members and run about 50 minutes, coach-led from start to finish. Your coach watches every rep, modifies around a cranky knee or hip, and tracks your numbers so the build phase really builds. The monthly InBody scan measures muscle mass, body fat percentage, and water balance, so if you worry that lifting will add weight, you can see exactly what is changing.
If your winter sport is played on an indoor court rather than a trail, the strength base is much the same; we cover it in strength training for pickleball over 40.
How do you start your winter block?
Give the build phase room by booking early. Get Your Complimentary VIP Session at our studio at 8333 Greenway Blvd, Suite 140, just off the Beltline on Middleton's west side, a short commute from Verona, Fitchburg, Cross Plains, or Waunakee. Bring your spring race calendar. You will get a strength and mobility assessment, an InBody scan, a goal-setting conversation, a customized fitness plan that counts backward from your race, and a small group training preview. No pressure, no obligation. The base you carry to a spring start line comes from showing up consistently all winter, and you can read more about how we approach strength training for adults over 40 first.