Does running at a heavier weight eventually make you faster?

Nope, it gets you injured 😔

Thinner is faster and results in fewer injuries. Don't let anyone tell you that thin causes more injuries. It is similar to the dumbing down of society. Everyone is getting fatter so they want to shame others into gaining weight.

If you build muscle while in surplus calories, and then lose the fat without losing muscle, then yes u should be faster. I was 70kg at 19 running 13 seconds for 100m, a year later 80kg running 12.4, and so on until i ran 11.2 at 90kg. year I ran 50.4, dieted down from 100kg to 90kg after a few years of weight training exercises and ran my best ever.

eating up to build muscle will inevitably mean a need to lose some bodyfat at some stage.

Really. So if I gain 100 pounds and tehn lose 20 pounds of fat, I will be faster. I weigh 150 now so that would be 230. That is the size of a lean running back in the NFL. I really doubt they can run 14 minutes for 5k though.

obviously more relevant to shorter sprints.

Still there is one one guy at gym who is pretty fit at 99kg, and I have no doubt he would smash his best 2.4km time if he went down to under 90kg.

The ideal situation where seeking to build muscle is to minimise the increase in bodyfat.

I’m trying to do the 500 deadlift + mile in under 5 mins. So that’s why I’m asking

199lbs now at 5’11”

HS race weight was 156lbs and college was 167lbs

Hey, that is what Nick Symmonds was doing?

I am not that fit, but did run 55.6 for the 400m at 105kg once. Think I did 4x260kg deadlift at time, although technique was rough. Ah, my sad bb days.

What was your best HS mile time?

How close are you? Was gunning to be the first on this message board to hit it, we'll have to race!

Already have the lifetime PR's, but getting both simultaneously is proving to be difficult after a long break from running. Amazing how much more effort it takes me to move fast now that I'm so much stronger (and thus heavier) than back in my racing days.

There’s diminishing returns of muscle beyond a fairly modest amount for distance running unlike sprints, but the reason you might get faster is because of the training effect that’s comparable to training with a weighted vest or at altitude and then racing without those hardships, but the effect is small and over a narrow weight range, so in practice, it would be hit or miss.

No, any kind of weight gain is terrible for your running. I’m not saying starve yourself or try to lose weight, but putting on 15 pounds of muscle in my opinion will permanently make you slower

This is what Ben True did early on.

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A True Story

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Ben True is America’s top 5k road runner with a 13:22 PR and is a strong 5,000-meter Olympic candidate. Sarah True’s husband talks about sport, drug testing, and fair play.

Link:www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/A_True_St...

1) If you lose 15 lbs of excess bodyfat, you will--all other things being equal--get faster.

2) "Bulking" is stupid, with very rare exceptions, such as Sumo wrestling. You will not gain more LBM if you "bulk" and diet down to a target level of leanness than you will gain with a modest caloric surplus--and you will spend a lot of time being fat, which has obvious downsides.

3) You will not end up running more quickly if you deliberately gain--and then lose--excess bodyfat than you will if you remain lean--and you will be significantly more likely to injure yourself.

I have always thought instead of doing altitude camps, runners should do interplanetary camps. On Jupiter, a 160lb runner would weight around 400. If you got used to running at this weight and then came back to Earth, the effect would be incredible. Probable even better than training on top of Mount Everest and coming down to sea level.

You have to take it to the extreme for maximum effect. Get up to about 427 lbs and complete a marathon. Then drop about 80 lbs, and you'll be amazed at how much faster a half marathon is. Keep dropping weight and distance until you are running sub 4 miles at 215 lbs. You're welcome.

Best HS mile was 4:25, but solo and with a 61 first lap.

Deadlift I’m still locking in my form. I have a touchy lower back. At 435 right now after about 6 weeks of training. Still prob multiple months out from 500.

Running-wise I haven’t been training much. Maybe 1 run a week. But I did drop a 6:15 mile in the middle of a run recently, and wasn’t even hammering that hard. So I think ~4:55 could be in reach with serious training and a tight diet.

All in all I’m def several months out at attempting. Hbu?