Weight Advice Pls??

tang1

Not looking for any advice on how to lose it, but i'm a 32 yr old male who is 6ft 1 in height and weighs 14.5 stone, i hav returned to physical activity after ten years of inactivity and abuse. Have a p.b of 20min 50sec for 5km and 46min 18sec for 10km ran in the past 12 months. My question is, am i to heavy to run longer distances than 10km?? I'm not carrying excess weight in anyway and run between 30 - 50 miles a week depending on the hours i work. I've been told i'll need to lose at least a stone in weight if i want to run longer distances than 10km comfortably. Any opinions pls??

menoscemo

tang1 wrote: »

I've been told i'll need to lose at least a stone in weight if i want to run longer distances than 10km comfortably. Any opinions pls??

That's rubbish. I know guys heavier than you and shorter in height who regularly run multiple marathons and Ultras (to a pretty decent standard).

BrokenMan

Im 5'10 and just over 13 stone and have completed 2 marathons. Losing weight would certainly help you run faster but its not a reason for you not to attempt longer distances.

plodder

What does "comfortable" mean? You can certainly run longer distances than that as you are (I'm the same size and I do). But we all want to run as well as we can, and it's certainly true that losing a stone would improve your speed significantly.

ger664

No you are currently doing a high enough weekly mileage that you would encounter in most novice marathon plans.

TheRoadRunner

I'm the same height as you but weigh 2 stone less and my mother reckons I'm big boned! Of course you can run longer distances than 10k. I've watched some ultra races from the US and seen obese people run double marathons in 24 hours. People seem to be more interested in distance run then pace these days. If you want to run fast eat less run more simple as.

tHE vAGGABOND

i'm a 32 yr old male who is 6ft 1 in height and weighs 14.5 stone

Im 34, and the same height and weight..

If you [and I] wanted to do a 3 hour marathon [or faster] I guess we would need to loose some weight to make it easier, but Im regularly running half marathon distances at weekends in and around 2 hours and its no real problem at all.

I guess its all about your goals..

ThePiedPiper

Tang1, it'll prob p!$$ off the PC police but your BMI is coming out at 26.8. BMI is a fairly crude calculator as it would suggest anyone over 25 on the index is overweight but this would include probably ever single member of the Irish rugby team, some world class athletes, etc.

However, I do think that somebody of your height could benefit from losing a stone and a half if you're really motivated by running fast times in races. There'd be less strain on your joints and you will speed up. Personally, I'm 5 foot 11 and my normal race weight is 11 stone or slightly under. People tell me I look skinny until they see some of the people I'm running against!

menoscemo

RunForestRun wrote: »

Tang1, it'll prob p!$$ off the PC police but your BMI is coming out at 26.8. BMI is a fairly crude calculator as it would suggest anyone over 25 on the index is overweight but this would include probably ever single member of the Irish rugby team, some world class athletes, etc.

However, I do think that somebody of your height could benefit from losing a stone and a half if you're really motivated by running fast times in races. There'd be less strain on your joints and you will speed up. Personally, I'm 5 foot 11 and my normal race weight is 11 stone or slightly under. People tell me I look skinny until they see some of the people I'm running against!

James Cracknell is 6ft 1 and 15.5 Stone but that hasn't stopped him being a pretty top class international endurance Athlete. Obviously he hasn't got a pick of fat on him.
The OP says he is not carrying any excess weight, so there is no reason his weight should stop him running longer distances if he puts the training in.

tHE vAGGABOND

Tang1, it'll prob p!$$ off the PC police but your BMI is coming out at 26.8. BMI is a fairly crude calculator as it would suggest anyone over 25 on the index is overweight but this would include probably ever single member of the Irish rugby team, some world class athletes, etc.

Most modern science says:

1) That the BMI is a load of rubbish for everyone who is not "average" - so average height, build etc - if your tall, short, big frame, small frame, big frame skinny or athletic - its a load of rubbish [eg: something crazy like 75% of american football players are obese by their BMI, despite many of them being 6 foot 5 of solid muscle].

and..

2) Most doctors will say that if your BMI is lower than 27.5 your grand [as someone who lost a sh1t load of weight over the last year I have spoken to many medical professionals about it for one reason or another over that time].

The most important thing in this area is your waist size [far more important than weight alone]. There is a ratio you should be under, but I cant think of the ratio off hand [and cant search for that kind of stuff in work :mad:] but if your waist size is over 40 inches for a man or 35 inches for a Woman your in severe danger land - regardless of what your actual weight is.

TheRoadRunner

menoscemo wrote: »

James Cracknell is 6ft 1 and 15.5 Stone but that hasn't stopped him being a pretty top class international endurance Athlete. Obviously he hasn't got a pick of fat on him.
The OP says he is not carrying any excess weight, so there is no reason his weight should stop him running longer distances if he puts the training in.

Top class rowing athlete not top class running athlete. Is his weight still that high or was that his weight when he rowed competitively?

menoscemo

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

Top class rowing athlete not top class running athlete. Is his weight still that high or was that his weight when he rowed competitively?

He is still a decent runner and seems to be more competitive the further the distance is.

AFAIK yes he is still over 15 stone. I know this is a few years ago but Before teh Beijing Olympics he was 99kg....he says he was regularly running 36 minute 10ks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

TheRoadRunner

menoscemo wrote: »

He is still a decent runner and seems to be more competitive the further the distance is.

AFAIK yes he is still over 15 stone. I know this is a few years ago but Before teh Beijing Olympics he was 99kg....he says he was regularly running 36 minute 10ks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

Fair enough but I bet if he lost some of his muscular bulk he'd run faster than 36 minutes.

ThePiedPiper

Yes, but if Cracknell lost a stone, he could be a 30 minute 10km runner. I bet he still does loads of gym work, rowing, and has a large muscle mass. If he decided he was going to concentrate on running, he would probably lose a stone or more.

I used to play Gaelic football, and was a muscular 13 stone with very little excess fat and ran 10km for fitness training maybe 3 times a week. Now, I'm an 11 stone runner with very little excess fat but I'm a hell of a lot faster at long distance running now than when I was playing football 10 years ago.

OP, it depends what your goal is. If you want to concentrate on long distance running, you will do better by not having so much muscle/weight on your body.

tang1

My goal is to run under 1hr 40mins for Dublin Half Marathon this year, like most people my goal is to get better and quicker at running. Dunno if my goal time for half marathon is way off going on my p.b's for shorter distances, but plan on giving it a good lash. Thanks for all the advice lads.

shels4ever

menoscemo wrote: »

He is still a decent runner and seems to be more competitive the further the distance is.

AFAIK yes he is still over 15 stone. I know this is a few years ago but Before teh Beijing Olympics he was 99kg....he says he was regularly running 36 minute 10ks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51zDkhDRbEc

For ever 15 stone guy running fast time there would be 100's running very slow time, think he's an exception. Doesn;t mean you can't run fast been fat, just makes it alot harder

tang1

The fact that James Cracknell would have a huge lung capacity from rowing would this not help him run decent times regardless of his weight??

Woddle

Having seen him on the bbc before London he looks like he's lost a **** load of weight probably as a result of marathon des sables.

menoscemo

Woddle wrote: »

Having seen him on the bbc before London he looks like he's lost a **** load of weight probably as a result of marathon des sables.

I think that has more to do with his head injury while doing the race across America. He was basically in a hospital bed for 6 months and lost his muscle mass. While doing the race across America (after the Marathon des sables) he still appeared to be the same weight he was in the video above.

Mr Slow

tang1 wrote: »

My goal is to run under 1hr 40mins for Dublin Half Marathon this year, like most people my goal is to get better and quicker at running. Dunno if my goal time for half marathon is way off going on my p.b's for shorter distances, but plan on giving it a good lash. Thanks for all the advice lads.

Drop your pb's here for a good indicator.