I ran a 4:36 mile at 185 lbs. How fast could I run at 150lbs?

4:36 isn't that slow. Clearly, you don't have that much dead weight. I doubt you could get down to 150 and still be in good shape. You'd probably be slower than you are now. Maybe try for 160.

Winner winner wrote:

In theory a 180lb person would run faster if they took off a 30lb vest, but the body doesn't always work the way we'd think it would. Depends on body type(genes) your ideal racing weight might be more around 165 to 170lbs, going to 150lbs might negatively impact your body type more than help.

IMO I'd think you'd run faster at 170 then you would at 150, but that's just my opinion. You might increase injury risk or illness with a 30lb weight difference. Now, if you're like 30% body fat obviously you'll perform better, but if you're currently at 10 to 15% body fat then you won't do much more but likely hurt yourself trying to shave 30lbs from that. You will lose slightly more muscle than body fat amount at 180lbs with 10% body fat than 180lbs at 30% body fat.

It does not depend on genes or body type. You do not need to have such high percentage of muscle to run well.

The rule of thumb is 1-2 seconds per mile per unnecessary pound lost (doesn't matter if it is fat or muscle or anything else).

Lose 30 pounds while keeping your fitness, you should be running pretty fast.

bmiOverweight wrote:

The bottom line is that the weight-conversions you've seen are simply inaccurate. That's what a few of the posters above have already alluded to.

How are they simply inaccurate? Perhaps you just aren't using them correctly.

how fast could I be? wrote:

I was 180 lbs when I ran my PRs of 2:04 and 4:36. How fast could I run if I got my weight down to 150lbs?

one rule of thumb often quoted on LRC is that your ideal racing weight is 2lb for each inch of your height. according to that you should ideally weigh 142 lbs. this would suggest that losing weight to 150lbs is progress, but probably not optimum.

then again, there is a thing known as the Ponderal Index. this was originally developed for infants, to make sure they put on weight correctly as they grow, but it has found its way (or its weigh) into the realm of sports conditioning where, at least one study suggests that for success at sports your Ponderal Index should be 44 or more. to calculate your Ponderal Index, divide your height in cm by the cube root of your weight in kg. to save you the trouble, I have rearranged the formula and, assuming that 44 is an ideal Ponderal Index, a 5ft 11 inch male should weigh 151 lb.

however, we do not yet know how much time has elapsed since you ran those prs. if you ran them in 1976 then it seems unlikely that any amount of weight loss will make you run as fast now as you did then.

another factor is how you intend to lose this weight. if you ran those prs last summer but have since been in hospital suffering a debilitating bout of dengue fever and are now an emaciated wreck who can hardly stand up then obviously the weight loss is not an enhancement to your running aspirations.

the upshot is that we don't really know enough to be able to help, even if we could calculate the coefficient of the derivative, as user obtuse suggested. your question, like many on LRC, is unanswerable in its current form.

It depends on how tall you are. That being said post a picture of you being 185 running a 4:36 or it didn't happen and if it did happen you are likely 6'3-6'5 and won't be able to even hit 150 even if you tried.

Meh...5-11, 185 & running 4:36 is no big deal. Now if you were packing that 185 on a 5-5/5-6 frame and running 4:36 now that would be something. Height to weight ratio is more important than just raw weight.

Beached whale on the track wrote:

how fast could I be? wrote:

I was 180 lbs when I ran my PRs of 2:04 and 4:36. How fast could I run if I got my weight down to 150lbs?

You're a fat fck. All blubber.

Wow...you're a mean one! Who rattled your cage and yelled bananas? ?

I am calling BS unless this person reveals their identity. Someone at 5'11 180-185 pounds is not what most normal people would think of as fat but is still a BMI of 24 and is right into "overweight" territory. So either he has a small gut or is muscle bound. Either makes a 4:36 unrealistic unless he is a natural talent.

If the OP is for real and he had the ability to get down to 150 and still be healthy, he would be under 4:00.

how fast could I be? wrote:

I was 180 lbs when I ran my PRs of 2:04 and 4:36. How fast could I run if I got my weight down to 150lbs?

First, what age were you when you did this?

To be 180 lbs at 24, and 150 lbs at 39 are two way different animals.

The difference can only be seen if you are also at the same fitness level you were at.

It's not unrealistic, I have the exact same PRs as him over 800 and the mile while the same height and weight

That's quite impressive at your height and weight. It's hard to predict how fast you'd run when lighter, but if you intend to find out, be sure to lose the weight VERY gradually while trying to maintain as much muscle mass/muscle strength as possible.

Lip Kitten wrote:

I am calling BS unless this person reveals their identity. Someone at 5'11 180-185 pounds is not what most normal people would think of as fat but is still a BMI of 24 and is right into "overweight" territory. So either he has a small gut or is muscle bound. Either makes a 4:36 unrealistic unless he is a natural talent.

If the OP is for real and he had the ability to get down to 150 and still be healthy, he would be under 4:00.

Wrong! The relationship between amount of weight lost and seconds per mile improvement is NOT linear.

I have a good friend who ran PRs at 5'11'" and 190. at 235-250 he was running 21:30 5ks off of playing basketball 2x per week. Funny sidenote, he always wore his college singlet, no matter how fast.

He ran 9 flat for 3k and high 15s for 5ks. Rigth around 200 for 800, not sure of his mile time.

I'm sure he would have been faster under 180, but I don't think he could have gotten much lower than 165 or 170. Dude was just thick.

It's very unlikely you could drop 30 lbs. period, not even factoring in running. That's a huge amount and even if you did, it's unlikely you could keep it off. Instead of asking hypothetical questions about a radical weight loss that may be impossible, why don't you lose 10 lbs. and see if your performance changes? If you get faster, then you can keep going with the weight loss plan.

You would take a long look at a 4 minute mile!

I just ran last week 5:12 and I'm 240 pounds. what can i ran if I drop 70 pounds. I'm 5'10''

Pretty decent time for a middle weight.

My guess with 30 pound weight loss with faster speed work times etc maybe a 4:23 - 4;24

3:26

iarrr wrote:

I just ran last week 5:12 and I'm 240 pounds. what can i ran if I drop 70 pounds. I'm 5'10''

You would be competitive with Luke Maye, who "won" the UNC basketball team mile this year in 4:59 at 250 pounds. I wonder about the reverse of the question people are asking on this thread: How fast could accomplished 150 pound milers run while wearing a 100 pound weight vest? Could a 4:00 miler still get under 5 lugging the extra weight around the track?