It seems like at every meet I go to the fast girls are tiny. Is this what it's come to to be fast? Most of them look about 5'6 and 110 lbs. I know this has been asked before but I couldn't find the thread
It seems like at every meet I go to the fast girls are tiny. Is this what it's come to to be fast? Most of them look about 5'6 and 110 lbs. I know this has been asked before but I couldn't find the thread
5'6 110 for a runner is perfectly normal. just because a girl is skinny doesnt mean she is anorexic. granted, there are some very fast women who are anorexic, but there are also slow people who are anorexic. also, you do not need to be anorexic to be fast. some girls are just small.
Maybe they exercise a lot and have clean diets, and thus have smaller bodies which lends itself more to faster running. The faster distance guys usually have comparatively small bodies too, it's part of what makes them fast. Plus, 5'6 and 110 isn't even that light for a girl. Why are you such an idiot is the real question here.
I'm a HS freshman with a fast metabolism so I'm 5'9" and 118. I am skinny but I eat close to 3000 cal
Low body fat makes for better cooling. Less insulation around the veins, Weight and heat are huge challenges to running. High relative strength, that is, strong for ones state of leanness and good energy rock.
Thin is not anorexia. Anorexia is a self-hating self-abusive mental process . Sure, really sick anorexics are skinny, but all skinny people are not really sick anorexics.
Anorexics (women) will be faster for a short time because it causes a loss of estrogen. This is a short-lived result though, and ultimately these women face bone loss, fatigue, other illnesses, injury, etc.
Pretty easy to determine if a woman MIGHT have an eating disorder like anorexia. Look for the Lanugo, especially on arms and face.
First off, to reiterate what's already been said: skinny =/= eating disorder.
That noted, eating disorders are certainly more common amongst female distance runners than the general population.
Every season I'll see a girl or two who's lost 10 - 15 pounds in the offseason thrash all her PRs. Half the time, said kid tails off by the end of the season with stress fractures, overtraining, iron deficiencies, etc. Of the half that make it to the end of the season, a good 3/4th of them end up plagued by stress injuries for the next few years.
To a point, having less body fat will make you faster. If you don't give your body the nutrients it needs to recover and stay strong, however, you're trading off long term health.