I recently went through a focus period of losing weight after the good south african winter added a few extra kilos. work stress wasnt the greatest help either, but in the end, I lost some good weight.
I put a post up yesterday on my site and the response was incredible and as a guy who never thinks about weight loss, really, is it really such an issue among us tri heads?
A mate commented that 800g weight loss equated to 10w gained on the powermeter.
is that correct or do I have the wrong info? Is that only going uphill or whats the ratio for guys like us, who lie down, get aero, and focus on saving power for the marathon?
Weight is worth approx 2sec/lb on the run, according to exercise physiologist/running coach Jack Daniel’s. As for the bike, I do not believe you gain power by losing weight but merely improve your power to weight ratio, resulting in a benefit mostly realized in climbing and accelerations. The weight loss would likely translate to a small loss of bouyancy in the swim and have a slight adverse affect. In other words, it is the run where you see a substantial benefit as long as the weight loss is unneccesary fat.
I find I hit a threshold on my running that is weight based. Once I dip below 154lb, my run times and PRE while running improve by a factor. If I go over 156, it becomes much more difficult to run and mt RPE is unpredictable and usually higher than I would expect. I don’t notice much of a difference with cycling (I don’t train with power) but my bike times in races don’t vary too much one way or another. Looking at run times though, If I am above the threshold weight I always run over 8min/mi(laughably slow). Under that weight and I am as low as 7:05/mi(slow, but enough to be a threat in my AG).
For me, it makes a huge difference. I weigh on race morning to determine how long of a day it’s going to be.
Don’t know why you are thinking about weight loss so much on the bike.
Doesn’t matter much, or at all (depends) on the bike
on the run though, it is huge.
I recently went through a focus period of losing weight after the good south african winter added a few extra kilos. work stress wasnt the greatest help either, but in the end, I lost some good weight.
I put a post up yesterday on my site and the response was incredible and as a guy who never thinks about weight loss, really, is it really such an issue among us tri heads?
A mate commented that 800g weight loss equated to 10w gained on the powermeter.
is that correct or do I have the wrong info? Is that only going uphill or whats the ratio for guys like us, who lie down, get aero, and focus on saving power for the marathon?
I thought it would be more run orientated. I am participating in the Cape Epic next year which is a 1000km mountain biking in 8 days with around 19km of vertical ascent. So weight makes a difference there I reckon.
The only time weight matters much on the bike is if you are carrying that extra fat uphill. I have noticed my bike splits actually got faster when I was heavier. That being said I am much stronger now than I was when I was lighter.
There is a big difference in lean weight vs. fat, with a lower body fat percentage and a higher muscle percentage of your weight you will be a stronger biker, however it will slow you on the swim and run if the higher muscle results in extra bulk/weight.
To put it in perspective while in College I was competing in Tri’s at 180 lbs at around 8% body fat, my swims were horrible (mostly because I didn’t know how to swim efficiently) Bike splits for a sprint were mid level or better for my age group and my runs were well above most of my age group.
Cut to 5 years later and 210 lbs and 10% body fat and my bike splits are now better however my run times are worse. I notice the most change is on hills and the longer runs.
If you go to a dietician/sports nutritionist they can tell you your optimum weight, Probably some of the more experienced coaches and folks on this forum will have good recommendations for body fat percentage as well.
I know that if I lose a few pounds I could be much better, but then again I enjoy eating whatever I want and racing in the clydesdale division.
Its huge. Not only for performance, but for injury prevention. I read somewhere in that 80% of all running related injuries are due to people carrying a+20% bodyfat. Also, here in SoCal and other areas where there is good climbing you know how important it is during those climbs.
There’s also the opposite effect, I think some people get obsesssed with it and go too low. There is a point where you’re power2weight just suffers too much. I think its somewhere between 6-8% bf.
Yes, I agree. There is a point where weight loss can create diminishing return and even negative return in the way of chronic fatigue, injury and muscle loss.
Its huge. Not only for performance, but for injury prevention. I read somewhere in that 80% of all running related injuries are due to people carrying a+20% bodyfat. Also, here in SoCal and other areas where there is good climbing you know how important it is during those climbs.
There’s also the opposite effect, I think some people get obsesssed with it and go too low. There is a point where you’re power2weight just suffers too much. I think its somewhere between 6-8% bf.
Yes … it’s pretty easy to go too low which … at least for me … has far more detrimental effects than being too high.
I lost 10 lbs over six months and my HIM run time improved by 30 seconds per mile, so the 2-3 seconds per pound equation would seem to hold in my experience. Obviously having an additional six months of training behind me helped too, but I definitely felt the difference both in terms of speed and the ability to run at a high volume injury-free.
On the bike my weight makes a big difference too - on flats and rollers I crush pretty much everyone I know, but then throw in some serious climbs and I get smoked every time. If I lost the extra 10lbs or so I’m carrying I feel like it would make a big difference.
I actually feel like weight loss on high volumes of training is extremely difficult. When you are training 15+ hours per week at high intensity, you have to be dialed in juuuuuust right - you’re margin of error is very small in terms of eating too little, maybe 200-300 calories. I find running a calorie deficit is much, much easier over the winter when I am doing just 8-10 hours a week at low-to-moderate intensity.
Yes, I agree. There is a point where weight loss can create diminishing return and even negative return in the way of chronic fatigue, injury and muscle loss.
I track mine pretty closely when I’m training… I’ve yet to reach the point where further weight loss impacts my running; so far it’s very well correlated that lighter = better, period. However, I *have *noticed a point at which it seems to be reducing my max output swimming & biking (except for steep climbs, of course). The key is to find the optimum weight that balances the running improvement while not hurting the first 2 too much.
First, most people are talking about fat loss, but losing even muscle will pay the same dividends, perhaps even more. it’s WEIGHT plain and simple.
Losing weight means you are in a calorie deficit and this will make you weaker and likely slower in the short term so it’s best to lose weight in the off season.
If gaining weight is making you faster it’s because you were undernourished, but I just said that.
The best approach is to lose the weight in the off season and eat just enough or just more than enough during the season. perhaps drop 10lbs over winter and gain back 2-3 during the race season…
Again: don’t focus on bodyfat. You can have 2% bodyfat and lose 10lbs in muscle and still be faster next year.
A mate commented that 800g weight loss equated to 10w gained on the powermeter.
Depends on pre-weight and pre-power.
If x = pre-power and y = pre weight, in order for that to be true, x:y = x+10:y = x:y-800g. Fairly simple to figure out, but not going to be true over a wide range of power outputs and weights. All things being equal, which they aren’t. Climbing going to be effected differently than descending or going on flats
For me, trying to run my normal mileage at 168 pounds is hell. My legs are all beat up and I just can’t keep up the volume. However, running it at 158 pounds is a joy. I feel like can go as long as I want as fast as I want.
I get better training in as a result. Set aside the racing for a moment. The training goes so much better that it takes care of better racing all by itself.