Weights or running or both?

[Guest guest]

I am a 43 yr old male. I weigh 82 kgs and am 1.75m tall (apologies to

those still on the imperial system). I guess I have what could be

called an " endomorphic " (is that term still used?) body type. In

other words, I " thicken " really easily around the middle and

have " love handles " even when my weight is down.

I have been training fairly regularly for about 9 months and have

lost 10kgs in that time. I run about three times a week (20 to 30

km's a week) and do weights once or twice a week.

I enjoy the running, but recently have become excited about doing

weights and am enjoying learning to olympic lift. I can snatch about

50kg's and can clean about 90kg's. So, nothing stupendous! Those have

come off a much lower base and I am sure that continued training will

see further improvement.

My quandary is this. I am beginning to sense that my running is

working against my weightlifting. When I am running well, I seem to

lose that sense of strength and power I have when I lay off running

for about 2 weeks and just do weights 2 or 3 times a week.

I prefer how I feel when I do weights. Also, I'm not a very good

runner (never have been, even though I played decent rugby and used

to be quite strong in my youth).

The problem is that I am concerned about maintaining my fitness level

and it would seem a shame to lose what I have gained running.

However, it doesn't seem too smart to do two activities that work

against each other.

Does anyone in this group have any thoughts?

Barry Eagar

Brisbane, Australia