What is my ideal race weight

I would be very careful about listening to advice on a message board. Pay the money to see a Registered Dietitian who is also a runner.

The correct answer is there is NO MAGIC NUMBER. That being said, whenever you PR, you can check your weight and therefore establish an approximation of your ideal racing weight.

Keep in mind weight is a measurement of mass, not the composition of mass therefore I would use a different measurement tool.

Again, go to a Registered Dietitian and discuss with them.

BLUF: You might be a bit on the heavy side but I don't think a 16y/o female high school runner (I assume you are high school) really needs to worry about it that much. Just clean up your diet a bit and keep training.... you'll lose a couple of pounds. If you are or want to become a competitive runner see a registered dietician who has experience with endurance athletes. A competitive athlete's requirements are going to different than a 'normal' person and your ideal competition weight might be below what a 'normal' person would consider ideal.

I (male, former collegiate distance runner for a decent D1 school) had some weight struggles. My coach 'allowed' us 2lbs per inch in season. So, at 5'10" I had to weight under 140lbs (70" x 2 = 140lbs) or I would be cut. As a freshman I was a bit over weight and had to drop 8lbs to stay on the team. That really sucked because I was a 45-50mpw runner in HS and now I was suddenly doing 80mpw AND trying to cut weight. I was constantly hungry and tired. Maintained weight through my sophomore year but porked up to 155lbs before my junior year. My times were strong though so he still let me complete... I was ridiculed as the team fatty though. Suffered a non-running injury (don't skateboard drunk, folks) at the end of my junior year so I took the summer off, got a bit fatter, and quit the team before my senior year. No regrets. My heart wasn't in it any more and after 7 years of watching my weight for HS wrestling and now collegiate cross country I was sick and tired of always worrying about the scale.

I hit 190lbs in my late 20s before getting back into running. I now train and race (36:00 10k, 79:00 HM) comfortably around 155lbs in my early 30s. I don't worry about weight. Just eat a pretty clean diet, drink less, and run 70mpw.

Lighter things are easier to move. All things being equal you are going to move faster if you weight less. I think that the whole 'body image' instagram post from a few months ago is bull sh*t. Your weight and physique should have nothing to do with image... they should be side effects of making yourself the most competitive runner you can be. The key is to maintain a competitive weight while still ensuring your long term mental and physical health.

Train big, eat clean, and your body will naturally end up at its best running weight. don't over think shit like that

Don't go by sheer height and weight. The amount of muscle you have and your bone structure can make your weight vary a lot even with the same height.

Look at yourself in the mirror. If you clearly have excess fat you don't need (muffin top/love handles, very little definition), then weight loss can be something to consider for improvement. However, if you are lean enough to have lots of muscular striations, definition, and possibly abs, then you really shouldn't lose weight.

If you do have some fat to lose, then whatever you do don't 'go on a diet.' As a runner, you should have a very high metabolism and you should be able to eat a lot of food. You need to make long-term changes in your food choice in order to stay lean, aka eating healthy. 'Diets' rarely work out in the end because the people on the diet often go back to their normal eating habits, and, unsurprisingly, go back to their normal weight and how they looked before.

Do not make weight loss an obsession. Anorexia is somewhat of an epidemic among female distance runners, and being malnourished can be just as bad as being over-nourished for a runner.

Finally, please don't take everything you hear on this board 100% seriously. There was a thread a while back where a 5'4" 98lb dude wanted to get skinnier because he had thick quads, and there were people who still tried to give him advice on losing weight. This place is filled with morans.

Race weigh wrote:

I am a junior female. Currently 5'6 138. I know I'm too heavy. What should I drop to?

What are you racing? 55 meters? 3K?

1600 and 3200