Erin Donohue 1:59.99

house & home: I did not say anything about Donohue needing to change. I asked how any runner who has that much excess weight above the hips would trim down and get to a more reasonable weight, and if it's just a matter of just running more miles. What Donohue does is up to her and I don't care what she does. I am interested in the question for myself.

concord: It was house n home who said that Radcliffe was too heavy for a marathon. I disagree. However, Donohue is 40 pounds heavier than Radcliffe for her height.

Andrew A: None of what you said is relevant to my question.

Radcliffe is NOT anywhere heavy for the marathon. She is very light for her height.

Great time. Whatever she's doing-- it's working.

Jersey girls got balls!!!

question...... wrote:

The averages on Purdy put it at 4:01.9

mcmillan = WRONG

It s/b around 4 flat

If you ever have looked at peoples frames, they are different. Compare Steve Prefontaine vs. Lasse Viren. Grete Waitz vs. Igrid Kristianson. Big people who run look more muscular than small people, but they all need that minimum amount of muscle.If Donohue tried to lose 10 to 20 pounds she would probably lose enough weight to not be ablt to get off of the couch, not to mention run.

question about weight wrote:

The usatf site has Donohue listed at 5'7 and 143 pounds, which is quite heavy for a runner of that height. This makes her 4:03 all the more impressive.

What I wonder is how would any runner who has that much excess weight above the hips, trim down and get to a more reasonable weight? Is it a matter of just running more miles? Certainly I think that Erin should NOT be lifting any weights.

But, say if she wanted to lose 10 to 20 pounds, to be healthier and faster as a runner. How would she, or anyone, do this?

Why would anyone continue to criticize Erin or her coaching choices.

Gags has also Gotten Rob Novak to 3:40.x and 1:46 lower than his College Pr in a short time.

Erin was a really good hoops player, gave that up in fact dribbled ball around Track in sub 6:15 I believe for the mile.

I think it is almost funny that she does weigh that much, as she does not look at all heavy in person. Just solid.

question about weight wrote:

house & home: I did not say anything about Donohue needing to change. I asked how any runner who has that much excess weight above the hips would trim down and get to a more reasonable weight, and if it's just a matter of just running more miles. What Donohue does is up to her and I don't care what she does. I am interested in the question for myself.

concord: It was house n home who said that Radcliffe was too heavy for a marathon. I disagree. However, Donohue is 40 pounds heavier than Radcliffe for her height.

Andrew A: None of what you said is relevant to my question.

Which would be why I did not respond to your post. However, your premise supposes that Donohue is not already at a "reasonable weight." Might be for a different thread, then, if it is not relevant to Donohue.

Exactly. A female teammate of mine, built similarly to Erin, began experiencing symptoms of the female athlete triad (specifically, stopped getting her period) if she tried to dip below about 145 pounds. (She was 5'6.) She was easily the heaviest / most muscular woman on the team, but her body just couldn't function in a healthy manner at a lower weight.

Just saw Erin's recent races at 1500 and 800 on Flotrack.

I hope she experiments more at the 800 distance. Unlike her 1500, where she was gapped significantly in the last 100 meters, she looked great throughout the 800 race and had a strong finish.

Seems to me with her build, her strength background and her obvious speed, she just may turn into a very good 800 meter runner

Amennorhea by itself is not necessary unhealthy. It's the disordered eating and osteoporosis combined with it that is unhealthy.

Andrew A. wrote:

your premise supposes that Donohue is not already at a "reasonable weight." Might be for a different thread, then, if it is not relevant to Donohue.

Not supposes. She IS too heavy to be healthy and run her best times, especially for the 1500 than 800.

foster wrote:

If you ever have looked at peoples frames, they are different. Compare Steve Prefontaine vs. Lasse Viren. Grete Waitz vs. Igrid Kristianson. Big people who run look more muscular than small people, but they all need that minimum amount of muscle.

If Donohue tried to lose 10 to 20 pounds she would probably lose enough weight to not be ablt to get off of the couch, not to mention run.

Well I'm not trying to look like Waitz or Viren. I'm not trying to give any advice to Erin and I don't care what she does. What I'm wondering is if I had a build like her, how would I lose 10 pounds in a healthy manner to be healthier and run faster.

Andrew A. wrote:

your premise supposes that Donohue is not already at a "reasonable weight." Might be for a different thread, then, if it is not relevant to Donohue.

question about weight wrote:

Not supposes. She IS too heavy to be healthy and run her best times, especially for the 1500 than 800.

I am not even sure you or anyone else here knows her current weight -- given USATF's obvious attention to updating the bios section on their site, the figures being bandied about on this thread could be outdated by at least two years. If her performances were plateauing then I might agree, yet so long as they follow a fairly normal improvement progression then it is likely a nonissue. To wit, somehow she manages to run her best times and remain healthy in spite of your concerns. Relax, it is fine to accept what is right in front of you.

question about weight wrote:

Andrew A. wrote:

your premise supposes that Donohue is not already at a "reasonable weight." Might be for a different thread, then, if it is not relevant to Donohue.

Not supposes. She IS too heavy to be healthy and run her best times, especially for the 1500 than 800.

Which is, of course, demonstrated by her PRs the last couple of weeks at both distances.

What a nitwit.

Andrew A. wrote:

I am not even sure you or anyone else here knows her current weight -- given USATF's obvious attention to updating the bios section on their site, the figures being bandied about on this thread could be outdated by at least two years. If her performances were plateauing then I might agree, yet so long as they follow a fairly normal improvement progression then it is likely a nonissue. To wit, somehow she manages to run her best times and remain healthy in spite of your concerns. Relax, it is fine to accept what is right in front of you.

This is funny, you keep changing the subject to why Erin doesn't need to lose weight. I am not trying to get her to lose weight, and don't care what she does. You and others seem to be fixated on this, like it's an albatrose in front of you that you are not able to avoid, but it is not me saying anything about it.

Also, yeah she is running her best times for being overweight for a runner. She is not running the best times she would be capable of, for example if she was a healthier 8 or 10 pounds less than she is right now. Anyone can tell she has a lot of excess fat and muscle on her body. Even with all the excess muscle, there is little definition because of the fat.

But my question is not how she would lose weight. My question is if I looked like Erin, how would I lose weight, get to a healthier weight and run faster.

Racing weight is pretty much an unhealthy weight. Most people are healthier being 10lbs above that weight.Who knows if she needs to lose weight but I sort of doubt she is lugging around 10lbs of fat that she could lose. She could lose 10lbs but some of that will be muscle so the net gain might be very low.To bad Letsrun wasn't around in the 60s. We could have debated how much faster Snell would have been if he lost 25lbs.

what i love about erin is that she is running faster than 99% of women in the world and she's not a waif wearing bun huggers!

not everyone has to look emaciated to run fast yet its so burned into our brains that the first thing people say is "she'd be faster if she was smaller".

i bet if she tried to loose weight she'd either get hurt or run slower so just accept that she's a stud and faster than you.

She's like the bumble bee man, doesn't know she's not suppose to fly!

Big props to her, two great races.

But she does seem heavy even for her and getting more leaner/lighter would help I'm sure.

And 800 seems to be her sweet spot for her build and mechanics, but a fine 1500 runner too.

Go Erin!!

Erin's body is fine. I stood next to her at Paul Short, and she looks incredibly fit and not "big" at all. I can't believe she is over 140. No one is telling Solinsky to drop 30 so he can run 26:30.