Is it necessary to be thin to be a strong runner?

angel79202

very interesting

tenunderfour

Runners come in all shapes and sizes. I've been smoked by some "heavy" people in races! And I have seen skinny, lean people who look like natural runners who were as slow as turtles. A lot has to do with natural running ability. But, I will say for myself....... I am much faster the leaner I am.

delco714

chiquita1984 - sounds about right . Do you start coughing in short-quick spurts here and there? You use an albuterol-based short-acting inhaler I assume? I rarely need mine anymore. On bad days I sneak a methylprednisolone tab (perks of being in medicine) which decreases inflammation in the respiratory system

LorinaLynn

I'm being brutally honest and I don't want to insult anyone, but ... I'd much rather look like I look (lean but somewhat curvy and muscular) and run like I run (8-8:30 minute mile during races) than be a super fast long distance runner and be as thin as the uber-runners. They tend to be more straight up and down, and I think at my age, that low body fat percentage would make me look really gaunt.

In part, too, I'm a slacker and I'm already happy and content with where I am. I can't see where anything in my life would change if I could do a 5k in under 20 minutes instead of 25, other than a bragging right. Would I really be any healthier? Or would I have to give up some of my hard earned muscle mass and be more prone to injury and additional stress fractures?

Morgaine_on_the_move

delco714--yep, need my albuterol! , and sometimes I do cough, but I no longer have asthma attacks like I did during high school when I played soccer.
Lorinalynn--good points, I enjoy my muscle mass. I have powerful legs and I should be happy about that.

MelissaGraham7

I was recently at the Tarheel 10-miler/Fleet Feet 4-miler myself. It is funny because what I saw was thousands of runners of all builds and sizes. There were plenty of racers who were not thin and who still had great times. It is all about perspective. Are you going to win medals and/or qualify or Olympics if you are not a lean thin machine, no? Are you a "strong runner?" yes! I consider myself a strong runner and can do 10 miles. My pace is about 12:30 min/mile. Yes, that is strong in my humble opinion. You have to have perspective. I don't care if I win records. I'm 58! All I care about is running and doing my best and having a good time. It is not necessary to be thin to accomplish that.

LilRedRooster

Well, depends on what your goal is. I have a more compact build, athletic and stout, certainly not the typical runner build with long, lean muscles and super-low body fat, and I don't go very fast (my default speed for long runs is around 10:45-11:30 minute miles). But I can keep going, and going, and going. I'm built for distances at slower speeds, which makes me happy, because I love trails, and long runs in the middle of nowhere. I want to run an ultramarathon someday, and most of the ultramarathoners I've seen are not build like elite marathon runners. A majority are built like me, with thicker muscles, not the super-lean of the elite runners. Of course, they're not going for crazy-fast times, because that's not what you need on 100 mile trail runs through the mountains.

If you want speed, though, more often than not, the leaner you are, the faster you'll tend to go, with training, because you'll be carrying around less mass, which naturally translates to speed. But not all strong runners are fast, and not all fast runners are strong. There are different goals with different runners, and you can focus on different goals, and be strong with yours.

DisneyAddictRW

JAn 2012 I ran a half 2:38 weighing 205lbs and todAy I ran another half 2:19 weighing 200.4lbs. I trained less for this race I rAn today but I ate much better this past week.

Azdak

Right, I understand that there are tons of thin people out there who can't run. People can run because they train for it, of course. I am just wondering if a BMI on the high side of normal would hold me back, or if I trained hard enough, having a high-normal BMI wouldn't set me back or affect my time/distance.
But as one commenter said, maybe I'd lose weight/inches anyway, from training so hard.

It is likely that a heavier person can train themselves to run longer distances and to run them "strong" (by "strong", I mean to finish with a good, steady pace).

It is also true that lowering weight will improve almost anyone's performance. So, while a heavier person can successfully and enjoyably "run strong", they will probably not be at their peak performance level. (And I am not saying that should be the only goal).

Tzippy7

I think its clear that some body types are predisposed for certain things. My best friend is thin with long legs and she can run much longer. I have naturally huge thigh muscles and I can beat her in a sprint any day.

scorpio516

Strong as in just finish without walking?
Strong as in fast too?

My wife can run a 5k in ~45:00 with a BMI in the mid 30s.

Weight is directly related to time though. Losing 1 lb will generally make you 2 seconds per mile quicker. So 10 lbs over a marathon is worth 8:44.
Of course, there is a limit. There is a point where losing more weight makes you slower.

sullymanjohn

You should read "the courage to start". It really redefined the way I look at running and the way I looked at someone called a real runner. It's a great book and DEFINATELY helps with self esteem and motivation.

Pebble321

Do you want to finish the distance, or do you want to finish it fast?
I've run up to 20km in training though my longest race so far has been 10k. I'm training for a 14km race in a months time and a half marathon in August.
I'm certainly not thin... on the border between healthy and overweight BMI. I can run those distances after training, but I'm not fast.
I suspect that the really fast runners are likely to be thinner - but don't let your size stop you training for longer distance running - if you put in the effort and are lucky enough to avoid injury it is quite do-able.

(Or I could have just said... "what Azdak says").

fteale

I think it goes both ways. To have the stamina to do a 10 miles race you have to have been running a while and be quite keen so you are likely to have got thin over years of running. To be dedicated to running you are probably interested in your health anyway, and so going to be thinner than the average population. Definitely losing weight makes you a faster runner, as long as your body is adequately fuelled for the exercise. The less weight you have to carry around the easier it is to run.

Finally, the lighter you are the less risk you are at of injury, which may be the biggest factor. Overweight people running are much more at risk of shin splints, knee injury and plantar fascitis.

Di3012

I completed my first race this weekend, a 4-mile one. I was proud of my time ( sub 9 minute miles), but I was mostly in awe of the runners who were there doing the 10 mile race. I noticed that almost every single one of those runners doing the 10 mile race was thin. The four mile runners were very varied--many different body types--but the 10 milers were all very lean.

So I'm asking this: to be a strong long-distance runner who is able to run and not walk the distance, is it necessary to have a fairly low BMI? I have always been around the top of a healthy BMI--would it be necessary for me to lower it in order to be successful at the longer distances? or does it just happen that most people who train that hard are thin?

They are thin because they do a lot of running, they do not get thin to enable them to run.

People running over 10 miles, will have done a lot of training, this involves huge calorie burns. They will also burn any excess fat they have as energy, you won't find a good long distance runner who is overweight.

zoom2

I think you might be confusing cause and effect... Are they strong runners because they are lean? I doubt it. They are lean because they regularly run long distances in preparation for the 10 mile race. Chances are if you made that 10 mile race your goal and trained for it you'd be leaner by the time you actually ran it. Just guessing!

I don't know...I trained for and ran 3 marathons and covered 1800 miles in one year and still had bodyfat of nearly 30%. The more I run, the hungrier I am. I tend to be slimmer when I'm running fewer miles and have long runs of no more than maybe 10 miles. The runners I know who struggle with their weight have the same experience, by and large. It's a bit of a catch-22. It's hard to train for high mileage with a calorie deficit...very hard.

Speed is largely determined by genetics/natural talent...the rest of it is hard work. Having a slim frame on top of those things is almost guaranteed to yield success. But a person could have the talent and work and be overweight and still demolish a lot of leaner runners. I've got a buddy who represented the US in a 24 hour race. He does not *look* like a runner...he's big and broad shouldered. But he is fast and runs a TON of miles.

rprussell2004

Check out "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall.

He lays out a very successful (imo) argument that human beings are built to be endurance runners. Not necessarily FAST runners, but long-distance. The things that are getting between us and our running destinies are our shoes.

Anyway, I just got done with it, and having never been a successful runner in my life, I'm inspired to take on the Couch to 5K (C25K) program and start kicking some *kitten*.

As soon as my ankle heals, anyway :-/

zoom2

He lays out a very successful (imo) argument that human beings are built to be endurance runners. Not necessarily FAST runners, but long-distance.

Yes. And we didn't evolve because we're fast (we're not), but that we had the skills to wound prey, then outlast them...endurance over speed. Some peoples on the planet still survive by hunting this way. It's why we have big butt muscles...for running upright.