🏃‍♂️ 2 Seconds per mile

Good morning!

This week: A straightforward way to run faster, an impressive teenager, and resilience.

Yesterday was Global Running Day; it is held annually on the first Wednesday of June. We hope you had a great run.

Happy running, 😁

GETTING FASTER

Does Losing Weight Make You Faster?

Does Losing Weight Make You Faster?

Writing about weight is a complicated subject. So we want to make clear that this has nothing to do with body type, body image, or what a healthy weight means. It’s about running faster.

  • You can run 2-3 seconds per mile faster by losing one pound.

This has been proven in real life and a laboratory.

First, we have this 1978 study that started the conversation. Subjects ran on average 1.4 seconds per mile slower for every extra pound they carried.

Then we have this 2017 study where subjects ran 2.4 seconds per mile faster for every pound they lost.

For real-life experiences, you can read this forum where many runners have experienced these average improvements when losing weight or running slower when adding some.

In my experience, last year, I attempted to run a 5-minute mile. On September 21, I ran it on 5:01 (so close). I’d read about those 2 seconds faster per mile, so I lost 2 pounds and attempted it again one week later on September 28.

This time I ran the mile in 4:55, which translates to 3 seconds faster per mile for each pound.

Think about it! – Have you seen an elite mile or marathon runner? They are incredibly skinny. Eliud Kipchogue weighs only 114 pounds.

Other factors. We know other factors can come into play (weather, training regime, shoes, mental strength, etc.), and it’s pretty much impossible just to isolate weight to test. 

But it makes sense. Imagine carrying a 10-pound vest in your run tomorrow. Your heart rate will shoot up, and you will feel slower.

Last thought. Losing any non-functional weight can help improve your performance. And conversely, adding non-functional weight can see times slow as a result. By non-functional weight, we mean any weight that is not necessary for health, wellbeing and the various components of fitness.

TRACK & FIELD

Meet Hobbs Kessler

Meet Hobbs Kessler

This 18-year old kid just ran a 3:34.36 in the 1,500 meters to break the 20-year-old American high school record of Olympian Alan Webb.

He accomplished the feat last weekend at the Portland Track Festival against a field of pros to finish 5th.

In the process, Kessler qualified for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials and hit the 3:35.00 Olympic standard.

To give you a little more context about this impressive time for a high schooler:

A little more about Hobbs: he started running just four years ago -say whaat?- He started doing the kids program at the climbing gyms when he was just three years old; and wants to become the first person to run a sub-four-minute mile and climb 5.15 and V15. We had no idea what 5.15 and V15 mean. This REI article explained a lot.

MENTAL HEALTH

Does Running Make you Resilient?

Does Running Make you Resilient?

Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from difficulties. It is to keep going when things don’t go our way.

Research from Intrepid Performance Consulting found that the four most common issues in life — and therefore resilience-building opportunities — are injury, performance slumps, illness, and career transitions.”

And injuries and performance slumps are part of the job description of a runner. What better way to use this to improve your life.

Here are three ways you can approach running and improve your resilience:

1.Run when you don’t want to. Taking action is an incredibly valuable part of building resilience. Even if you end up cutting your run short, you still won the mental battle by getting out the door and running, no matter how long or how far.

Run when you don’t feel like it. Run when you’re stressed and have too much to do. Run when it’s cold and rainy. Run when you’re hungry. Run earlier than you want to in the morning. Run when you feel slow. Run when you feel tired.

2.During speed sessions. It’s rare to find a runner that likes a track or speed workout, but it’s one of the best opportunities to build your resilience.

Those final seconds of an interval, when you feel you have nothing left in the tank, are the perfect time to keep going. You will thank yourself in the final meters of your next race.

3.Approach injuries with a positive attitude. How you approach recovery and set goals as you return to running can make all the difference in building resilience.

We know being injured sucks, but using that time to focus on recovery and your weaknesses — like nutrition, strength, or mobility — is a great way to stay motivated and build resilience.

Do you think running helps you improve as a person?

OTHER FAST NEWS

  • Sooner or later, you will hear about HRV, heart rate variability, and how it can improve your running. But what is it?
  • Book of the Month – Running with the Kenyans. After years of watching Kenyan athletes win the world’s biggest races, Adharanand Finn set out to discover just what it was that made them so fast – and to see if he could keep up.

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