Lighter, Faster, Stronger
I weighed in at 192 this morning. A few folks have commented that I seem, in typical Vince fashion, to be obsessing a little about my weight and my diet. My stock reply is that I am now seeing my body as a race car and that means shoe-horning the biggest, strongest motor I can into the lightest frame I can race in without breaking parts. Lighter is faster, my friends, make no mistake about it. The key to qualifying for Boston for me, is to get down as close to 180 pounds and 10% body fat as I can. The pursuit of this goal has actually gone from being an onerous, I can't believe I have to do this, chore, to being a challenge.
To date, my all or nothing approach to dieting seems to be providing me with the best long-term results. It is just easier for me if I know what I am going to be eating for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the month, and the rest of this training period until I run the Okanagan Marathon in Kelowna on October 9th. The best side-effect of my current regimen is I'm saving a not inconsiderable amount of money by eating at home and not in restaurants and my wine tab is nil!
And here's the science to back all this up...
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/williams.htm
In general, for every 1 percent loss of body mass, primarily as body fat, there will be an approximate 1 percent increase in running speed. Most elite marathon-ers are most likely at an optimal body weight and composition. However, other marathoners who are carrying excess body weight, primarily body fat but also excess upper-body muscle, may enhance performance by losing the excess weight. If you decide to undertake a weight-loss program, a general guide is to lose no more than a pound a week. If you have difficulty losing weight, see a sports health professional, such as a sports dietitian with an R.D. (registered dietitian) degree.
Optimizing your body weight may be a very effective means to improve your marathon performance. V.O2max may be expressed in several ways, including total V.O2max in liters per minute (L O2 /min), or based on body mass (ml O2/kg/min). If your total V.O2max is 4.0 liters/min (4,000 ml/min) and if you weigh 80 kg, then your V.O2max is 50 ml O2/kg/min (4,000 ml O2 /80 kg). If you lose 5 kg (11 pounds; 1 kg = 2.2 lbs) to 75 kg and maintain your V.O2max at 4,000 ml/min, then your V.O2max increases to 53.3 ml O2/kg/min, a 6.6 percent increase.
Let’s apply this body-weight change to marathon running. To run a marathon in four hours, you would need to maintain a pace approximating 176 meters per minute (42,200 m/240 min). Again, disregarding the resting O2 in the ACSM formula, the oxygen cost to run a four-hour marathon approximates 35.2 ml O2/kg/min (0.2 ml O2 3 176 m/min). For an 80-kg runner, this totals about 2,816 ml O2/min (which is running at about 70 percent of V.O2max). If this runner would lose 5 kg of body fat (about a 6 percent loss), the oxygen cost would drop to 2,640 ml O2/min, a savings of about 176 ml O2/min (over 6 percent). Since the cost of running each meter for our 75-kg runner is 15 ml O2 (0.2 ml O2 3 75 kg), the speed of running would increase approximately 11.7 m/min (176 ml O2/15 ml O2) to a speed of 187.7 m/min. This would improve the marathon running time to 3:44:50, or an improvement of about 15 minutes (about 6 percent faster).
And definitely check this Link out!
. http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/energyexp.htm
To date, my all or nothing approach to dieting seems to be providing me with the best long-term results. It is just easier for me if I know what I am going to be eating for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the month, and the rest of this training period until I run the Okanagan Marathon in Kelowna on October 9th. The best side-effect of my current regimen is I'm saving a not inconsiderable amount of money by eating at home and not in restaurants and my wine tab is nil!
And here's the science to back all this up...
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/williams.htm
In general, for every 1 percent loss of body mass, primarily as body fat, there will be an approximate 1 percent increase in running speed. Most elite marathon-ers are most likely at an optimal body weight and composition. However, other marathoners who are carrying excess body weight, primarily body fat but also excess upper-body muscle, may enhance performance by losing the excess weight. If you decide to undertake a weight-loss program, a general guide is to lose no more than a pound a week. If you have difficulty losing weight, see a sports health professional, such as a sports dietitian with an R.D. (registered dietitian) degree.
Optimizing your body weight may be a very effective means to improve your marathon performance. V.O2max may be expressed in several ways, including total V.O2max in liters per minute (L O2 /min), or based on body mass (ml O2/kg/min). If your total V.O2max is 4.0 liters/min (4,000 ml/min) and if you weigh 80 kg, then your V.O2max is 50 ml O2/kg/min (4,000 ml O2 /80 kg). If you lose 5 kg (11 pounds; 1 kg = 2.2 lbs) to 75 kg and maintain your V.O2max at 4,000 ml/min, then your V.O2max increases to 53.3 ml O2/kg/min, a 6.6 percent increase.
Let’s apply this body-weight change to marathon running. To run a marathon in four hours, you would need to maintain a pace approximating 176 meters per minute (42,200 m/240 min). Again, disregarding the resting O2 in the ACSM formula, the oxygen cost to run a four-hour marathon approximates 35.2 ml O2/kg/min (0.2 ml O2 3 176 m/min). For an 80-kg runner, this totals about 2,816 ml O2/min (which is running at about 70 percent of V.O2max). If this runner would lose 5 kg of body fat (about a 6 percent loss), the oxygen cost would drop to 2,640 ml O2/min, a savings of about 176 ml O2/min (over 6 percent). Since the cost of running each meter for our 75-kg runner is 15 ml O2 (0.2 ml O2 3 75 kg), the speed of running would increase approximately 11.7 m/min (176 ml O2/15 ml O2) to a speed of 187.7 m/min. This would improve the marathon running time to 3:44:50, or an improvement of about 15 minutes (about 6 percent faster).
And definitely check this Link out!
. http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/energyexp.htm
posted by Vince Hemingson at 11:02 PM
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