Forums >Racing>Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2020
Oh geez, BMI. Does anyone actually pay attention to those anymore? I’m pretty muscular, but I’m not big. My BMI has always put me in the overweight category. But I always weigh about 130lbs and am pretty lean. People regularly guess that I weigh 115 (at least when I’m dressed and you can’t see my legs and arse). Because muscle weighs so much more than fat, BMI is a useless number.
Sorry. Don’t mean to be a beeotch; but I get cranky when I can’t run as much as I want.
800m: 2:20.3 (2015) | 1 Mile: 5:13 (2016) | 5K: 18:32 (2010) | 10km: 39:55 (2012) | HM: 1:28 (2013)
RIP Milkman
Kimba - in the real world, no, you're right, they're useless. "Overweight" doesn't take into account if your muscular, or actually fat. But in running, unfortunately a pound is a pound, and it has to be moved over a certain distance. There's a reason why the best distance runners in the world, at least at the marathon, are all BMI of less than 20.0.
Additionally, your ideal racing weight may not be below 20. It's exactly the problem Mary Cain ran into. But it's more of the reverse problem: the most successful people have an ideal racing weight below 20, not that everyone's ideal racing weight is below 20.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Intl. correspondent
Mark - I vote National champs. You can run that downhill race when you're 68 years old.
Jmac/Keen - yo skinny!
Brew - finally I've got company. I'm sure you will understand the struggle of lifewhen you want to trim down but Tiramisu exists.
Kimba - we know it's useless but it's fun to compare random useless numbers against other people.
My BMI is 24.3 today, which is the result of intense in fighting over the last 4 months.Healthy angel has been winning by the slimmest of margins.FYI I don't have big bones, I should be so much lighter.
On the other hand I can imitate a woman who's 5 months pregnant
Where are the mods, how come that clown is not gone yet.
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Kimba - you are right, it is a pretty flawed metric. I was close to being technically overweight when I was lifting a lot more weights than I do now and playing field hockey, despite my body fat being only around 12%.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
Let’s compare how many beers we can drink on a week night.......and explore the relationship between that, BMI, and not being able to run a lot!
Problem Child
flavio these twig bitches don't know the struggle. cake, candy, sugarfree energy drinks, ice cream, reeses, oreos (by the box), milk, pistachios, donuts, etc. I've seen JMac in person. Twig bitch describes him. I'm sure he'd have a cute little baby guy if he quit running and be moaning about how fat he is.
My PR race weight puts my BMI at 24.6. This was after cutting out alcohol for 7 months, ice cream for like 2 weeks, and almost all other sweets on top of drinking more water. To be at a BMI of 20 I'd need to be 132. When I was a junior in high school and lifted weights along with being a mediocre wrestler (I wasn't winning States, but MAYBE I could have one the high school championship) I was a BMI of 23. Oh and my cholesterol was over 200 until I cut out alcohol and now it's a prime 165ish last time I checked around "before my marathon PR" last year. I think my body fat percentage got close to single digits too. I was PUMPED when I told the wife "This is what I looked like Senior Year of high school. Back when I was in my PRIME!" Does BMI matter? fuck no. Do I find it hilarious when I think of my physical accomplishments and some math equation calls me fat? fuck yes. Work previously had some kind of stipend if you were healthy based on some measurements. I was measured the week I PRd my half marathon at a 1:40. "Hey let's go see one of those 'athletic' people do it and see how well they perform.' With my luck I'd get a twig bitch like JMac or CommanderKeen out there and they'd SMOKE me. Just to shut me up.
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Ok, let's compare body fat % haha.
To answer Kimba: zero beers as I have cut out alcohol except very rare circumstances. I used to go to the beer store and find 3 or 4 different ones to sample, I kinda miss that. I've never been one to drink through a 6-pack while watching a game for instance, I get bored if I have to drink 2 cans of the same beer. I guess I'm a neophiliac.
On a separate matter, man, growing old is like being attacked by a pack of wolves. Damn! This lower back out of place is not a fun endeavor. Thankfully it seems to be mostly over and I managed my 10 k easy this afternoon.
3 months til Masters
I'm huge compared to you guys. Jesus.
2023 Goals
Marathon Sub 2:37 (CIM) 2:41:18
10k Sub 35:00 (Victory 10k 34:19)
5k Sub 16:00 (Hot Dash 5k in March (16:48), Brian Kraft in May (16:20), Twilight 5000 in July and August (16:20/16:25 Both heat index 102-103F)
Sub 1:16 Half Marathon City of Lakes Half Marathon 1:15:47)
Sub 56:30 in 10 mile (Twin Cities 10 mile, Canceled due to weather, 56:35 as a workout)
2024 Goals
Sub 2:37 Marathon
Sub 1:15 Half
Sub 34 10k
Sub 16 5k
Kim - I have a VERY negative correlation between beer and running. The 3 weeks I took off? I drank almost every day. During marathon training? Barely touched the stuff. When I'm injured, it's especially bad. The devil finds work for idle hands.
DPS - I think your weight will keep dropping.
Flavio - that's pretty good! A lot of progress, I know it's a battle for you.
Brew - good thing you didn't see my in my shorts and singlet. You would have been even more horrified.
James - have you always been that thin? I wonder if being "underweight" leads to ideal training for you.
Drinking - I'd have a glass or two of wine most days after work, and a couple of bourbons on the weekend. I should probably cut down, but I don't feel it's ever impacted my running performance. Having said that I haven't drunk enough to have a hangover since around the middle of 2017 sometime.
Hot Weather Complainer
I disagree - don't put off bucket list items! You may never get the chance again (optimism from the leader).
5km: 18:34 11/23 │ 10km: 39:10 8/23 │ HM: 1:26:48 9/23 │ M: 3:34:49 6/23
2024 Races:
Motorway Half Marathon February 25, 2024 1:29:55
Christchurch Half-Marathon April 21, 2024 1:27:34
Selwyn Marathon June 2, 2024
Dunedin Half Marathon September 15, 2024
Even in my prime I was big compared to you guys. But I am 6 ft and was a 800m guy in track for the most part.
I'm not worried about weight, just times.
I'm just symmonds to you rupps.
I'm about 21 right now. Might be slightly less during heavy training.
James is really, really light.
PRs: 5km 18:43 (Dec 2015), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:26:16 (Sep 2016), full 3:09:28 (Jun 2015)
40+ PRs: 5km 19:31 (Oct 2020), 10km 39:59 (Sep 2020), half 1:29:39 (Jun 2018), full 3:13:55 (Sep 2022)
2023 PRs (hope to beat in 2024): 5km 20:34, 10km 41:37, half 1:32:32, full 3:21:05
2024 PRs: 5km 20:25
People regularly guess that I weigh 115 (at least when I’m dressed and you can’t see my legs and arse).
"at least when I'm dressed"? Do you have people guessing your weight when undressed?
JamesD
Pretty much. Like several relatives, I have very thin bones, though I've never broken anything except maybe a finger playing basketball once. In high school, I weighed 110 lbs at 6 feet tall (and ran in the 16s for 5K) despite eating a half-gallon box of ice cream for desert almost every night and meat for breakfast. The only time I've ever been "heavy" was as a newlywed, when I wasn't exercising & DW was cooking lots of good fattening food. Got up to 160, but I looked really skinny-fat. When she changed her cooking to watch her weight and I started running again, even just once a week, I got back below 140 pretty quickly. I've dropped a pound or two every year since I started gradually increasing my mileage in 2014.
I'm not sure whether being so light has hurt my training. I suppose having stronger quads might have helped me avoid knee injuries and allowed me to run higher mileage, but I don't enjoy lifting, and more weight would've put more strain on the knees.
Post-1987 PRs: Half 1:30:14 (2019); 10K 39:35 (2019); 5K 19:12 (2017); Mile 5:37.3 (2020)
'24 Goals: consistency, age-graded PRs, half < 1:32