Trust me next time.
Trust me next time.
I'm pretty sure the reason people don't generally train for strength in those types of events isn't because strength is detrimental to their performance, it's because heavy endurance training and heavy strength training interfere with one another's results. So they pick the one that's obviously gonna be more relevant. No one has ever lamented, "Oh no! I'm too strong and can't run as far as everyone else!"
The reason these athletes don't train for strength is simply that their coaches have told them not to.
Big isn't strong, little isn't strong, tall isn't strong, short isn't strong, fat isn't strong, skinny isn't strong.... strong is strong.
I think we need to differentiate between Athlete's competing in a sport and average people living life as they are very different.
An Athlete, among other athletes, competing in a sport, will benefit from being stronger but generally not from being fatter until the top weight classes... The funny thing is many athlete's don't need to get fatter to achieve a useful strength level for their task because....they are athletes!
Sport by nature is a demonstration of athletic ability. That demonstration takes place on a field/court/stage and is determined by certain "rules". Lifters and fighters have weight classes, Football players have job specialties. Being a strong wide receiver is very good, being a fat wide receiver is not. Being the strongest lineman while being fat is OK as long as you can use that weight. Being a fat middleweight is a bad thing.
Athlete's by nature are stronger pound per pound than non-athlete's.
So as an Athlete, can you get too strong? NO Can you get too fat? YES. Can you get too big (muscle-bound).. very hard as your specialty / weight class and body type generally prevent that. A person can't get muscle-bound bodybuilding if they are also playing competitive soccer 5 days per week. They would be a better soccer player however if they got rid of those chicken legs by doing some strength training off season. I don't believe they can get too big because the workload and training of the sport will regulate them.
If you took a group of successful competitive power lifters and had them start a marathon training program they would need to alter their lifting program, they would likely lose weight and strength, but they would still be much stronger than the average marathoner. They would probably run a pretty fast race by the end (relatively). They surely wouldn't be the same size at the end of the season as the start of the season. The body wants to optimize and regulate. Everything we do has consequences, training for a sport must be one of them.