College athlete proves that weight loss is overrated to run fast
If you haven’t already heard, Rachele Schulist ran almost the same time - just 12 seconds slower - for the 6k NCAA cross-country championships this year, as she did in 2014. Only that this year she was 20 pounds heavier.
Amazing! I mean, the way that a lot of runners go on about weight loss and racing weight, you’d think it was amazing. But it really shouldn’t be, it should be conventional wisdom.
I don’t mention weight a heck of a lot on this blog, mainly because I’m not a nutritionist and I feel unqualified to give my opinion, and also because my opinion is mainly formed from experimentation. Like all things experimentation, what may work for you may not work for someone else.
But I do talk about it a lot in personal conversations with @fuelingforfitness, and to the occasional bystander/ partygoer / unfortunate eavesdropper, and I’m always emphasizing that I’d prefer to be 5 or so pounds over my ideal racing weight (honestly though, I probably haven’t even gotten to within 20 pounds of my ideal racing weight since I turned 30, lol) and fuel my body, vs being at my ideal racing weight and under fuelling my body.
Because I can handle running 10 seconds slower in a 5k if it still means I’m going to progress. Or 3 minutes slower in a marathon, or whatever it works out to be. Because I’m still happy with that 2:56 marathon time, and what is 5 pounds less going to get me, a 2:53? In my opinion that doesn’t really matter unless you reach an elite level.
Good training would get me to that 2:53, or a 2:50, within 3-6 months anyway...and at the same weight!
But even as Rachele proves, this theory still applies at the sub-elite (and even elite) level. This is my favorite quote from her:
“It does work for a little while. That’s the worst part about it.”
It resonates with me because it’s similar to the experience that new converts to 80/20 running have had with running their easy runs at medium intensity. Fast easy runs, like weight loss, can work in the short term, and that’s why it’s hard for people to see the value of running easy runs slowly.
Eventually though, like under fuelling yourself, those medium intensity easy runs are going to lead to burnout and/or injury. But chances are that people usually blame something else when that finally happens.
Rachele said that a switch went off in her head within a year of fuelling the wrong way. If everybody was as smart as her and listened to people who have burned out before, instead of having to experience it themselves, they would reach their potential without burning out. I love her story and I hope it continues to spread!
