Steady State or Intervals/Tempo After Lifting?

Hi all,

I lift using the 5 3 1 method, and I balance this with training for 10k runs. Right now I am stepping up my running volume a little bit. Previously I had been doing 3 lifting sessions a week and 2 runs, 1 being an interval or tempo session, the other a long easy run. I am now after adding a 3rd run to my week, which is a second easy run, half the distance of the long run.

I have found that, for me, 5 training days is optimal. I have experimented with doing 6, giving each lifting and running session it’s own day, but that just didn’t work well for me.

So I am looking to combine one lifting session with one running session. Does it make sense to pair an easy run, or an interval or tempo based run of shorter duration but higher intensity with the lifting? I have been doing the shorter easy run after the lifting session, but it feels like punishment. And it is time consuming. Would the higher intensity run sit better with the lifting, or would I be inviting injury? Part of me has considered doing a jump rope session after the lift instead. I used to do that in the past, but would it achieve a comparable result as the easy run, given that I’d like to improve my 10k time?

Thank you for any help or advice!

I do the arc trainer on squat day but when I run it’s long intervals which necessitates a slower speed. I agree that LISS running on leg day is agony. I have had luck doing a regular hill run in the morning and squatting later and I think the hills are a cns prime.

I have read on here before that doing some sprints before lifting instead of after a lifting session can be beneficial, here is the link:

I personally just started 5/3/1 this week after getting a talking to on here. I have been doing 10 minute slow run followed by 5 minutes of 30 sec on/ 30 sec off sprints. So far this has worked well for me and has not hindered my lifting at all.

No cardio if you really wanna be big and strong. You get cardio everytime you get heart rate going up, like in gym, just keep puffing.