Post Race Weight Gain (and Loss)
STrooper
Posts: 659 Member
Just a quick question for other's experiences.
I went back to daily weight tracking at the beginning of this year rather than once per week or once every once in a while. Part of that is for using data in the Weight Loss Calculator Spreadsheet that Heybales has posted elsewhere as I have decreased weight over the last race training cycle to somewhere close to my target of 165. I range from 164-166 (and increments of 0.2 pounds, since my scale measures with that precision).
So, I am familiar with my daily swings and over the past six months I have dropped from a nominal after Holidays weight of 180 pounds (a little too much turkey, gravy, whipped potatoes and assortments of desserts) down to my racing weight of 165. The good news is that I start my next training cycle next week at my target racing weight and that will be one less thing to manage as I train over the next 18 weeks.
I had fairly large weight gains after my marathon is April and after my half marathon just two weeks ago. I have less data from previous races (because I was weighing weekly), but sensed there was some weight gain from how my rings and watches fit after a race. The weight gain is not immediate after the race (usually 2-3 days after the race). In the case of the marathon, the weight increase was approximately 6 pounds and it took about 7-10 days for the weight to return to normal. In the case of the most recent half-marathon, my weight went from a pre-race value of 164.0 up to 172.4 pounds just four days later. Granted the HM was run in really hot and humid conditions and I set a new PR of more than 10 minutes on the similar course under similar conditions compared to two years ago (I beat my cool weather PR on the course by more than 3 minutes).
The weight spike didn't occur until four days later, though the weight increase began immediately after the race. The day after the spike, the weight dropped by more than 5 pounds. I know most of it was water weight (judging by my trips to the bathroom) probably as my muscles were repairing from the stress of racing, but this was fairly dramatic. Ten days after the race, I'm back down to my racing weight.
Here is the question: have you experienced something similar and is it as great as the magnitude that I experienced? I'm not worried about it and other than the amount of water I was processing, I was just wondering what other people's experiences happen to be.
I went back to daily weight tracking at the beginning of this year rather than once per week or once every once in a while. Part of that is for using data in the Weight Loss Calculator Spreadsheet that Heybales has posted elsewhere as I have decreased weight over the last race training cycle to somewhere close to my target of 165. I range from 164-166 (and increments of 0.2 pounds, since my scale measures with that precision).
So, I am familiar with my daily swings and over the past six months I have dropped from a nominal after Holidays weight of 180 pounds (a little too much turkey, gravy, whipped potatoes and assortments of desserts) down to my racing weight of 165. The good news is that I start my next training cycle next week at my target racing weight and that will be one less thing to manage as I train over the next 18 weeks.
I had fairly large weight gains after my marathon is April and after my half marathon just two weeks ago. I have less data from previous races (because I was weighing weekly), but sensed there was some weight gain from how my rings and watches fit after a race. The weight gain is not immediate after the race (usually 2-3 days after the race). In the case of the marathon, the weight increase was approximately 6 pounds and it took about 7-10 days for the weight to return to normal. In the case of the most recent half-marathon, my weight went from a pre-race value of 164.0 up to 172.4 pounds just four days later. Granted the HM was run in really hot and humid conditions and I set a new PR of more than 10 minutes on the similar course under similar conditions compared to two years ago (I beat my cool weather PR on the course by more than 3 minutes).
The weight spike didn't occur until four days later, though the weight increase began immediately after the race. The day after the spike, the weight dropped by more than 5 pounds. I know most of it was water weight (judging by my trips to the bathroom) probably as my muscles were repairing from the stress of racing, but this was fairly dramatic. Ten days after the race, I'm back down to my racing weight.
Here is the question: have you experienced something similar and is it as great as the magnitude that I experienced? I'm not worried about it and other than the amount of water I was processing, I was just wondering what other people's experiences happen to be.
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Replies
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I've seen similar weight gain (3 to 5 lbs) after long races (marathon or more) but it generally resolves in 2 to 3 days. I have always assumed it was inflammation of the muscles.
Like you, I'm starting a new training cycle already at race weight. I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes!0 -
The difference I've noticed is my weight is usually up the day after.0
