Despite a lack in weight gain, I've spent the last few weeks considering the importance of weight for a middle/long distance runner. How significant are those 10 extra pounds and how strenuous of measures should we take to lose them. Currently I sit at 160 lbs (at most) and have since my freshman year (before which I was 150 at most). Given the effort I'm putting into my running, it seems natural that I put forth a little extra effort in this area of life in order to form myself into a better runner. Thus the general goal is for me to drop weight to where I am consistently below 150 lbs. First and fore most I am giving up alcohol until I achieve this. Secondly I will have to make changes to my diet. While I of course know what a healthy diet is, I'm not quite sure what will help to drop a few more pounds. This is where I need help in knowing what to do (let alone reassurement that any of this is necessary). Let me know what you think.
Thursday, 8/23
Regardless of whether I decide to really try to watch my caloric intake, over the next few weeks I'm going to attempt to log my diet and keep track of how well I am eating. Matt's Food log.
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Running, Lasing, Lazing, Cycling, and Drinking in no particular order.
Routes
Personal Records
- 8k (xc): 26:38 (UCR Invite 2007)
- 5k (road): ~16:00 (Stockton Run Against Hunger 2005)
- 5k (track): slow and forgotten (Occidental Distance Carnival 2006)
- 1500 m: 3:54.47 Occidental Invite 2008
- 800 m: 1:55.56 Pomona Invite 2007
- 400 m: ~50 s Occidental Invite 2006 (Mens 4 x 400 m)
12 comments:
Yeah... I've been feeling kinda fat too. Even though I'm putting in the miles and I can tell my leg muscles are more intense than they used to be, I still kinda think: but how much faster would I be if I weighed 115 instead of 120? I think the hard part is energy levels -- I mean, how do you lose weight when you need the energy to train?! Maybe we can come up with an eating plan when I get back. Since we'll be sharing our food, it'll be good to have some backup (aka "Katherine, stop being such a fatty and don't buy that ice cream" &c). It's hard to know how much is safe in terms of dipping into eating-disorder territory though.
Also we should probably invest in a scale that doesn't suck if we're going to do this.
Yeah, so right now, courtesy of megumi, my strategy is going to be around well balanced breakfasts and lunches and small dinners to allow me just enough to recover from my runs. I suppose we can incorporate something like this to losing mad pounds
i think if you stop eating big dinners you will definitely lose weight. you will also be a tired, skinny little bitch who loses all the races because he's too freaking weak.
i know what you're thinking. you're reading (or just finished) Running With the Buffaloes, and heard about Wetmore counting people's ribs, and goucher running best when he's lean, etc.
that might be true for a bit - if you carry less pounds you can run a bit faster, but in the long run you'll end up like
this guy, and no one wants to end up like him.
Don't ever let yourself go hungry, especially when you're training hard (not to mention increasing your training load). I think you should focus more on the way you actually feel than on what some scale tells you about how you should feel.
That being said, I think the two most important things you could possibly do with your diet are to eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables (living near Lake Produce makes this easy), and drink at least 4 quarts of water a day. If you're already doing that, then don't worry about your weight homeboy. It's all muscle anyway.
And yeah, reading Buffaloes definitely give you a sense of what really focused intense college teams are like. But remember that almost everyone but Goucher was injured sometime that season. And within 18 months of that XC victory Goucher (still training under Wetmore) embarked on a stint of at 4+ years of injury-ridden running and forced layoffs. He said he "forgot what it was like not to run in pain."
Following the release of Buffaloes Wetmore was actually highly criticized for the way he trained his runners. He responded with some line about "Well, that's how NCAA champions are made." His answer is probably accurate-- the catch is that when you take a group of runners and train them that way, one may end up a champion while the rest end up unable to run at age 20 (not to ignore the fact that Wetmore has also produced numerous NCAA XC team titles, but you get the idea.)
A saying comes to mind: "I'd rather be ashes than dust." That saying is total bullshit. I'd rather be healthy and fit for the next 50 years of my life than be either one of those things. Especially with a highly aerobic sport like running, in the end you are rewarded for years (even decades) of consistent work, not weeks and months.
Eat as much as you want, just make sure it's healthy. No cheesecake, no wine or beer. Eat scrambled eggs for breakfast instead of corn pops (formerly known as sugar pops).
Perhaps most importantly for you, stop/don't lift weights in the gym. If you have to lift something, make it your own body weight. I honestly wouldn't recommend anything more than sit ups, back raises, and other core exercises.
When I started lifting during my injury period, my weight jumped to 147-148ish, which was a combo of lifting and not running (putting on some body fat). Now, I have stopped lifting, and am running 40-60 miles a week, do sit ups and back exercises, and a grand total of one dip every night to get into the loft. Now my weight is down around 140-142, where I want to keep it. Keep in mind I still eat whatever the hell I want, including those 1 pound bars of dark chocolate from trader joe's. We aren't the same people, but just cut out the lifting is my point. You probably don't even really need pushups at this point.
re: Mark's comment--yes, that may be true... but hopefully you aren't SO fat that you will continue needing to lose weight into the season. the whole cutting back on dinner portions thing is something i only do if i need to lose weight... ideally by important race day you are solidly at a place where you're just maintaining instead of losing, which, given appropriate mileage should be easy to do eating whatever you want and whenever you feel like it.
i'm not sure if i'm alone in this experience, but like your body kinda DOES tell you what it needs. if i'm in a training happy place, then my body just feels like its wants salads and fresh fruits and pasta and maltodextrin... its only when i'm all fat and depressed that i crave candy and fried cheese sticks and chocolate covered everythings...
megumi... I really hear you on the listening to your body thing... I get that a lot... Unfortunately at times like now my body is telling me that it really wants a beer. On the other hand I'm still not sure how bad a few extra calories are every here and there.
Holy shit I can't believe I missed out on this discussion.
Mark- I always thought Jesus had really nice lats. Some runners do look ripped like this
I think what everyone has said is good advice, more or less. You should eat more fruits and vegetables, and a lot of salad. I recall reading about prefontaine could really easily put on upper body mass. But it's interesting to see how he got more and more cut as he got older. Apparently he just didn't eat a lot of meat, but instead ate a lot of very fresh salads. I think if you cut out desserts, and the alcohol, strive to eat more salads and fruit, stick to lean meats, and follow Ian's advice about drinking a lot of water, your weight will naturally float to what is most efficient.
In terms of lifting weights, stick to more body weight exercises (push ups, pull ups, abs, hips, core stuff).
Oh, also try not to consume too much gatorade and fruit juices. If you want to, dilute them, a lot. Like by a factor of four. It's really easy to consume 500 or more calories a day from sugars in juices and other liquids, but some studies have shown that your body doesn't really register liquid calories very easily (which means they will probably just be extra calories laid down as fat). 500 extra calories per day is like the difference of a pound per week.
Update your running log you bum!
I notice that your eating log lasted less than one day, which is about how long any worrying about diet should last.
And yeah, update your log you bum. How fast were those Canon repeats?
How do you know he just didn't eat anything at all?!?!
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