How important is your final time to you? Racing for fun and general fitness, then no. Racing to win or KQ, then I would guess that the answer moves towards the “yes” on the spectrum of possible answers.

yep

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

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At 185 unless you’re pretty tall it’s probabaly too much to race fast.

Give or take on the run every lb is 1-3 seconds a mile. If you’re anywhere it’s hilly, it’ll help more especially on the bike. Unless you’re a super bean pole swimming won’t really be effected.

Don’t look up runners but you can search for height and weight of most of the top triathletes to get an idea of what is optimal.

run: 2 seconds per pound per mile

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

If 175 happens organically, then your real race weight is probably lower. It's quite hard to get to real race weight. Jesse Kropelnicki had a good general rule that a male triathlete should be at a BMI of around 21. So that includes losing muscle for someone who is naturally a bit on the muscly side. So yes you will usually be faster if you're lighter, but being lighter doesn't guarantee that you will be fast. I see lots of very ripped people at Ironman races who are actually pretty slow.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

If you can lose some extra pounds, go for it. If you're already low on bodyfat, don't dig yourself in a hole.

I went down to 3,9% and destroyed my hormone production. Took me over a year to recover from that.

Just be sensible about weight. Fuel your training adequatly and don't get obsessed about every gram of food you take in.

How did you know that? Thyroid test?

In a girlfriend or mistress, it's everything.

You left out some important details! How fast are you now? Do you want to be faster than that? Loosing weight could help but if you mistakenly loose all of your leg muscle it could make for a tough ride and run :-P!

Bloodtests showed my testosterone was nonexistent so my doctor sent me to an endocrinologist which ended up in more bloodtests and her telling me to go see a dietician for my 'orthorexia'

Can I jump in on this thread and ask the same question of the OP?

I'm 180cm/5'11, usually race at 75kg/165lbs, during the rest of the year I'm about 76-77kg. That requires paying attention to what I eat and how much I'm training....my body LOVES to put on weight.

Best IM finish was 9:59, usually 10:02-10:12, I race all HOT races. Run is usually 3:35; open marathon is 3:13 mainly because I'm too lazy to push myself hard for a marathon.

Would getting down to 72 really bring me 12seconds a mile? Would it be more given the heat? Is 72 too conservative? I'm plateaued a little and I'm changing some things in my training, so I'm also wondering if this is something I should address too.

Depends on your build. Heavy legs and powerful cyclist or more of a lean runner?
At 1.80m you could go down to about 65-67kg imo. Any lower will cost you power and swimspeed.

Also what specifically has plateaued in your training? Run splits? Swimsplits? Bikepower? Overall ability to push yourself in a race?

I have skinny legs. I was a competitive swimmer as a teenager who was just a smidge too slow for the really elite group and biked recreationally. I never ran in my life until I decided I would do tri 5 years ago. It's my weakest discipline both physically and mentally.


The other thing that I find weird about me is that if you look at me, you'd assume I'm a rolleur and really strong on the flats. I ride in Taiwan with a lot of skinny guys on long 15-20km hills with 900-1200m of elevation.We ride a 45km loop that has 750m of rolling elevation; I usually pull on the front, but rarely drop these guys. If they ride smart and attack on the flats, I can't match the acceleration, get dropped off the back about 30meters before I can finally start winding them back. But I can always out climb these guys who are about 10kg lighter than me. (if we are doing hills, I ride a road bike) On the trainer, I do 90% of my work in the aero position.

Swim splits (52minutes wetsuit, 57 at kona). Bike...thanks to zwift, I have raised my ftp 15 watts this past month...at 315watts last week...next race is March 17, so I should be on track to roll in with a strong bike leg. My run has regressed...3:35 is my best...jogged 3:55 in Kona and can't really figure out why I didn't have any zip in my legs to get them moving. Was not particularly hot, felt my nutrition/salt/fluids were adequate. And felt way too damn good in the finish area....all of my potential was not left out on the course.

But I had a weird build leading to Kona as from June 1-August 8, I was literally doing laps of America and made 4 roundtrip Taiwan-East Coast US flights. No bike. No swim. Just running mostly everyday 8-10km and 25-30km on weekends. Worked like crazy on the bike August-September, but perhaps just didn't have the "depth" of preparation to race strong for all 226km.

So one suggestion I have from the forum is to work on my bike position...which will require a new bike.
65-67kg....wow...I'm not sure I can get there...but sounds like 75 is downright portly. My BF% at 75 is roughly 12% and I'm 43.

This is prob a good rule of thumb, and tells me one of two things.
Either I am an outlier and my race weight BMI is around 20, or I have too little muscle and am giving up a lot on swim/bike for the run.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

I'm also in a similar dilemma. I'm 5'11" 195 lbs (88.5kg) around 10% bodyfat (relatively lean for my weight). I spent my entire life competing outside of endurance sports. I played football (American) in college . Then switched over to rugby for 12 years after. Which obviously took more overall fitness than football. I have spent 20 years building muscle. After my shoulder injury and surgery I got back in the pool (youth swimmer) for therapy and enjoyed the fitness. I decided to switch focus to a more sustainable sport of triathlon as I get older. I do want to get fast. I really like competing. However, I have a long term goal of getting to that point. I have lost about 15lbs since I started training for triathlon about 10 months ago. I'm leaner in the midsection for sure over the last year. Most of my weight has dissipated from my excess lower body fat, however I still have very big lower body muscles. I used to squat 550lbs in college. I haven't squated in years but that built considerable lower body muscles. I'm confident I can lose another 5-10 lbs before my race season this year and still be healthy but I'm nervous about wasting away too much muscle and how I will feel if I do.

My current training has cut out almost all upperbody work except some body weight stuff like push-ups, pull-ups, dips, and core strength and I only do 3 15-20 min sessions after a shorter run or trainer ride (less than 60min). What would be a reasonable race weight to push towards over a 3-4 year goal? I find if I run more than 1500 calorie deficit per week I don't really feel great for training. Should I try to shed some of my upper body bulk? If so, how? .

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/23685202

If you want to feel crap.........think about a guy like retired Phil Gaimon.......6' 1"........146lbs......or other bike pros or Tri pros. The weights and w/kg is simply mind boggling.

He's 14lbs lighter than me, and 3 inches taller.

FWIW, I'm only doing bike racing this year. I'm 5' 10" and really want 150lb. Even then, I'd still be shorter/heavier than the serious guys. And down on power.

But, at 5' 10". 155 would just be ideal "healthy" weight. Not even a racer or super athletic weight. 150 would be getting into more racy and truly athletic build.

But, for my height........I'd have to be more like that 145 lb to be in the realm of actual racers...........and THAT will NOT happen. Lol.

FWIW..........if you aren't within "race weight" range........it's your fastest gain if hills are involved versus power alone. But be careful to do it so that you don't lose power or fitness.

If I lose that next 10lb but gain no power......I go from a 3.5w/kg to a 3.75w/kg. If I only gain a bit of wattage this year....I'll hit 4.0.

Go get your thyroid levels checked (get the full panel, with Hashimoto's test), and have a quality Endocrinologist evaluate. Let us know what they say. I'm thinking this is the issue. Not a Doc, but have seen it before, like in myself. Good luck.

I found this article that gives a breakdown of elite body weight/height data. There was a Slowtwitch(?) article I think a few months ago that showed the height and weight of all the pros too...but I can't find that article.

For pro ironman, 180cm comes in at 69kg average. Lower down on the page there is a graph with a 95% ellipse...that puts my current race body (180/75kg) right at the top boundary of the ellipse. So....based on that, my knowledge of my body, and the conditions I race in...I'm thinking 72KG sounds like where I should be come race day.

Is this the one you mean?
https://www.alancouzens.com/blog/height_weight.html

Speaking from my personal experience it made the difference between my KQ and being on the bubble. It took me a lot of tries to get where I wanted to be and the biggest difference that got me there was that I focused intensely on my diet. I am 6'4.5 and previously raced between 185 and 190. Always on the bubble for kona slots. This past summer I got serious about my weight and was able to get down to 174 on race day. I am a firm believer that this made the difference and ultimately put me over the hump, particularly because it was a hilly course.

It sucks though... it sucks big time....

dieting is so much harder than the training, but based on my experience this year it made the difference in me achieving a really long time goal.

I used a nutrition outfit called StrongerU to help me track macros and the results were pretty phenomenal.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/773280
http://imroycer81.blogspot.com/
teamemj.com
everymanjack.com

I am 6'5 and try to stay at a race weight at 158 to 160. I just watch how much i eat all the time and stay at race weight all year long. Now being back at Disneyland for 4 days i except to put on about 10 lbs so full diet and exercise when i get home.

I am amazed how serious some athletes are about all aspects of training equipment etc but never fully on weight

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

6'5, 158.....thats bonkers!!!!

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/773280
http://imroycer81.blogspot.com/
teamemj.com
everymanjack.com

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Another thought is most top athletes i race weigh like 30 lbs less than me so even being this thin i still have a huge disadvantage on the run

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep