If you have run for any period of time, you have likely heard the phrase, "Gotta be Thin to Win."  It may sound vain to some, but there is a lot of truth to that statement.  You may not be out to win a race, but if you want to improve your race time, weight has a big impact on how fast you get from the Start Line to Finish Line.

Let's be honest, most people don't run races to win.  They run for enjoyment, for charity, for overall health, for bling, and a plethora of other reasons.   But if you are going to run anyway, it might be a good idea to drop a few pounds if needed.  It's common sense that running at a lighter weight is better than your body, especially if you are pounding the pavement over the course of 5 or 6 months to get ready for a marathon or half marathon.  

Running is one of the best ways to lose weight, but it doesn't always work out that way.  The first 4 marathons I trained for, I actually gained weight.  During training for one marathon, I gained 25 pounds over the course of 4 months!  It didn't make sense that I could run 10 miles a day and still gain weight.  I was having a big calorie deficit, yet still packing on weight.  Then I realized that I was eating the wrong foods for my body.  My body cannot process Carbohydrates effectively.  When I switched to a high fat diet (Bulletproof in my case), I found I was taking in the same amount of calories, but losing weight nearly every day!  I ended up dropping 30 pounds during 4 months of training for that race!  Not only did my body stop hurting from all the extra weight on my bones, but my times started going down... fast! 

It just makes sense.  If you were to run 5 miles at your current weight, then go out a few days later and run the same 5 miles with a 10-pound weight vest, you can see how much harder it is.  I actually bought one of those weight vests to remind me of how much harder it is to run with extra weight. I still do speed training with it on! 

So when I am training for a race, I have a little fun on the site listed below.  It predicts how fast you would run a race, depending on how much weight you lose or gain.  It helps motivate me to keep my diet in check why logging the miles.  So check it out and see if it's a good motivator for you.

https://runbundle.com/tools/weight-vs-pace-calculator