Light Weight Lifting for Marathon Training?

Question

Will a light weight workout help me at all in my Marathon training?

I run in Sacramento and its pretty flat, Im running the SF Marathon in August and there are quite a few hills. I have logged long runs up to 22 miles so far, but its not preparing me for the hills.

Answer 1

The only way to prepare yourself for running hills is indeed...running hills.

Find any grade incline...and do repeats.

Lifting weights won't make you run hills and more efficiently if you haven't been running them all along. It may strengthen your body (which can help), but repeats are the way to go!

Answer 2

Do stairs, lots of them, find a stadium and run up those stairs, a few times (run up and walk down - repeat 5X)  Do this at least 3X per week.  This should help you prepare for those hills.  Run in very small strides when running up those hills in San Francisco.  Good Luck in your SF marathon :)