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Anonymous
Hi /fit/. I'm a 18 year old XC runner, at about 5'9". When I got my last physical, the nurse told me I weighed 153 lbs, I was a bit shocked. I know at least 5 pounds of that was water and food weight, but I'd like to get down to around 135-138.
I figure weighing 10 pounds less would be a great help for my running, assuming I don't lose any muscle.
What can a healthy guy do to lose a little weight to become faster?
>> Anonymous
Just a bump before I go to sleep. Goodnight /fit/ see you in the morning.
>> Anonymous
Another bump, now that 4chan is (partly) back.
>> Anonymous
Another bump.
>> Anonymous
May I ask if the extra weight in any way effects your cross country performance? 153 pounds isn't an unhealthy or even unusual weight for your height.
>> Anonymous
Well, I have great endurance (a day ago I ran 90 straight minutes without breathing hard), but I've never been able to break 19 minutes in a 5k.
Also, I'm the heaviest white guy on our team. It's a bit weird.
>> Anonymous
>>243676
In short, it's not hurting me, but I think I'd be better off without it.
>> Anonymous
So then, the weight definitely doesn't come from running muscle?

If your legs are muscular then that could be an advantage over the skinny legged people.
>> Anonymous
>>243320
I'm 5'9'' 185-190lbs

And here you are 'shocked' that you're 153lbs.

I'd love to be 153
>> Anonymous
>>243920

Not OP, but I'm 5'9 and 156 pounds.

I used to be your size>>243920but lifted weights and ran.

Anyway, I can say that I feel a bit bulky and still want to lose more fat and be more agile. So I don't think the 150 range is still a place to shoot for.
>> Anonymous
Train hard enough and your body will adjust itself to a good weight. Even if you get your times down, your weight may stay exactly where it is. Everyones physiology is different.

To get your times down for the 5k, in general concentrate on building a good distance base. Try to average 5-7 miles a day on your normal training days 5 days a week to start, with a long run of about 15 miles one day a week. Take it easy and do a 20 minute run the day after your long run.

Once you have a good foundation of distance training in place, work in more focused speed workouts a few days a week, doing things like fartleks, 400m repeats, 800m repeats etc.

One thing that really helped me (and my training partner) is that on our long runs we would start out at an easy pace (~8 min/mile), and starting at about halfway through our run, we would continually up the pace for the remainder of the run, until we finished up the last mile at just over 5 min pace. One of the last ones we did was about 18 miles. Totally brutal, but extremely effective.

Get a training partner if you can. Someone to run with every day. It makes the training a lot easier and hell, it's a good way to build a friendship as well.

And don't worry about your weight. Train hard and eat right and your weight will be right where you need it to be.
>> Anonymous
5'8 here and 165 lbs. At 153 lbs, I would be so ripped.
>> Anonymous
>>243917
I figure a lot of it is muscle, I've got some pretty thick calves. I've got some fat to lose in my ab area though.

>>243939
Thanks for the tips. A training partner isn't necessary though. I run on my high school's team.
>> Anonymous
>>244309
True, but a training partner is helpful. Mine was just a good friend who I ran XC with. The summer before senior year, we worked up to doing close to 100 miles a week running together, and I honestly don't think either of us would have done it without training together. If only for weekend runs when you don't have a meet, it's good to have someone you can run with.
>> Anonymous
>>244350
Interesting, I'll try to hook up with someone.