rojo wrote:
A higher body fat percentage helps you in cold weather. In one of our post-race articles, we proposed the fact that women have a higher body fat percentage than men as a possible reason why a lower % of women dropped out of Boston than men.
They found her body fat percentage to be 19.6% - way higher than the normal 12% they find in elite women.
If it's true her bodyfat is at a totally healthy level she needs to be in the spotlight A LOT more. She could sell out her health, drop about 7% or roughly 7-8 pounds and be able to run about 4% faster, which is about 5 minutes for her in the marathon. Granted, she would lose her cold resistance and her longterm health would almost surely suffer, but for a short time she'd be running about 5 minutes faster in moderate weather races and even more than that in hotter or higher dewpoint races.
4% - can it be a coincidence Nike named their shoe this? 4% is the difference between being true to yourself and selling out for peak performance.
Bravo, Mrs. Linden!