long distance running and maintaining muscle.

[MaLadyness]

i've got somewhat of a catch 22. tell me if i'm wrong....thanks!

i have naturally muscular legs. they are not huge, but there's some good muscle mass there. i'm going to start jogging for exercise and i've been doing some reading into the ways jogging/long distance running affects your leg muscles. i have read that it helps to "activate" the slow twitch muscle fibers. they create leaner muscle, i guess. which is kinda what i'm looking for. but i have also read that long distance jogging/running can lead to "muscle wasting". that in turn means less fat burned during a workout......so, my question is: how can i jog to keep my legs lookin lean while maintaining a healthy amount of muscle needed to continue to burn a decent amount of calories? what sort of leg exercises can be done without building up the fast twitch muscle fibers? i don't want to jog and get lean muscle only to do squats/lunges/etc. to make them bulk back up. (i use the word "bulk" lightly.)

i don't want to lose my muscle, just get it longer and leaner. is there a good combo that can get me the results i'm dreaming of? or am i just....dreaming.

 

[HyungJun]

Just up your protein intake for the day.

 

[dswithers]

I would recommend a balance of running and weightlifting, maybe 2-3 days a week of running and 2 heavy lifting days. Since you are getting a lot of endurance work with the running, you need to only do a few heavy sets of squats and RDL's to maintain/increase your strength/muscle mass. I don't know how many miles you intend to work up to with running, but that can be moderated depending on how it affects your goals as you progress. For example you might do 2 short runs a week and one long one. That gives you the same cardio benefits as 3 long runs a week without adding up to so many total miles a week to cause wasting. A weekly routine might be:
M: 5K
T: weights
W: 5K
Th: weights
F: rest
S: 20K
S: rest