Does losing weight = gaining speed? (Read 649 times)

I'm a male, 5'8" and am stuck at 158 pounds. My recent best (last 4 months) was a 5k in which my pace was 6:40. Normally, my pace on longer runs is between 7:40 and 8:20 per mile. Does anyone think that if I lost 10 pounds that I could immediately improve my pace that way? Or is that too much to lose? Help!!!

Hi Alex, I think it really depends on your body composition. All other things being equal, if you lose 10 pounds of muscle and no fat you will probably get slower, and if you lose 10 pounds of fat and no muscle, you willl probably get faster. When you look in the mirror, do you see excess fat? Do you jiggle when you run? From January to now, I went from 203 to 183, and my 1600 m time went from 9:43 to 7:35. That's about 6 seconds per pound at 1600 m. Note that there is probably a serious training component to that, since I just started running in August (i.e., I am not only losing weight, I am becoming a better runner due to all of the training). I think for me this trend should continue, and expect I will be doing 6.xx minute 1600 meters, once I reach my target of 170. Stay tuned, as I collect more data... If you're interested in losing weight, consider joining us in the Jiggly Joggers group.

this website gives you a good idea of how much faster you can run if you lose some weight. http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/weighteffect.php beware though - too light and you'll start getting worse rather than better. but certainly 158lbs (or even 148lbs) doesn't sound too light for 5ft8? my recent weights and times: 10 April – 152lbs – 26.22. 2 May – 149lbs – 25.56. 13 June – 142lbs – 24.39. 14 July – 138lbs – 23.58. so the first 10lbs basically made me 1min43 faster (although some of that effect will be training too obviously)

I'm glad you confirmed it. I know if I lose weight I will run faster, I guess I just needed someone to kick me in the head and tell me about it!!! By the way, was that for a 5K?