body weight and running times
97
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724 days
Brad Nicholson posted 1 year ago.
i think the body weight impact on swimming has more to do with body composition.
bone and muscle don't float as well!
however - over this past fall's trail running season i went from 160 to 150 pounds and by the end of the race series. i felt a lot faster, and my results were good. i ended up finishing 7 overall for my age group in the whole series.
1046
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1751 days
Tikal Dog posted 1 year ago.
I have to say based on experience that those number are WAY to low!!
Whenever I gain some weight or loose some weight my 5K times suffer in a range of +-5 to 6 min.
It could also depend on where I am in my training season but I always feel weight slows me a lot!!!
Hyperactive Trifueler!!!! (I refuse to let the status go :p)
1037
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768 days
ChunkyB posted 1 year ago.
I think the cause and effect might be a little backwards here. The fact that you feel better/faster when you run lighter might have more to do with the reason that you're lighter. If you've been training more lately, then you'll probably be a little leaner, and you'll probably run faster too.
Discuss.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
2255
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703 days
TriSooner posted 1 year ago.
"In a 2007 Runner’s World article, Amby Burfoot presented a table describing how much time runners could save by dropping 2-20 lbs. For just a 2 lb. weight loss there is an estimated one minute improvement for the ½ marathon and 1:45 improvement over 26.2 miles. For every pound of (body fat) weight loss an athlete could gain a two-second per mile speed advantage. While this may not sound like much, for those of you that have more than a few pounds to lose, these numbers can add up quickly."
http://www.ironman.com/training/nutrition/jennifer-hutchison-offers-advi...
652
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920 days
Iron Dan posted 1 year ago.
Personally, 1-2 seconds per mile sounds about right to me. When I started running again 2 years ago, an all out mile for me was just over 10 minutes. I have lost about 90 pounds since then and run a mile at about 6 minutes and 45 seconds, at about the same perceived effort. That is roughly 200 seconds better per mile. Taking into account that I am also in much better shape now, I would say that it is about 1-2 seconds per pound.
372
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816 days
Leroy Bonkers posted 1 year ago.
TriSooner - that article is what got me thinking about this. I'd love to see that table from Burfoot but I can't seem to find it. According to the figures in that statement the benifit per mile of a 2 lbs loss would decrease as the distance increased. Does the benefit also decrease (per mile) as the amount of weight lost increases? Can I brag to my former econ teachers that I remember the phrase "diminishing returns"?
531
Member
810 days
cjhoffmn posted 1 year ago.
I'm pretty sure Ken Mierke has some research on this point. He makes a claim about the results you get, but I think he related them in %s. I'd bet he can post some info about it - or he's usually happy to email some of his research too.
does anyone know of some quanitative numbers/research regarding the effect of body weight on running times?
I heard that general wisdom dictates 1-2 sec/mile per pound of body weight (that's 8+ min off a marathon for just a 10lbs drop, or a minute off a 5K). But I've never seen any hard data. A recent article on ironmanlive mentioned some sources I have not been able to track down.
Ancilary question: Does body weight have any impact on swimming?