thanks for the info and advice, i really appreciate it

i will put those tips into practice

thanks again!

- Allan.

How many race results do you need? I'd be interested to know how I rate but because I'm still improving and don't race that much all but one of my PBs is quite off my current form!...

23yr old Male,
12st 9lbs,
most recent result, 12k in 47:11.

most recent 10k was an XC where I managed 40:53, but in my recent 12k PB passed the 10k mark in 39:36, so pretty sure I'm due a new 10k PB. Also last Half Mara was 1:36:32, but i'm expecting more like 1:26:00 in April.

If you can work out my 'engine' score from the 12k event that'd be awesome

Quite astonishing... engine coming out at 4312, VO2max *around* 53/54. VERY VERY strong. Possibly the strongest I've read on here? I can't remember without going back through posts.

Anyway - congratulations!!!

If you were to *just* lose 1 stone in weight, your 12km time would tumble to 44min09secs on just the weight loss assuming you maintain your current cardio capacity!!

Luthor1

Wow, that's VERY encouraging to hear!!! Annoyingly though I've been battling and trying to shed that extra weight for quite some time now and often dream about what times I could expect if I had the same light frame as most of the runners I run with. I'm sure if I run enough it'll come eventually!

44:09 would've put me in 5th place for that race - only 2 places off getting some prize money!!

Just read this read from start to finish... what should my ideal weight be? (normal weight and 'world class athlete' weight?)

10 stone ..................... you porker !!

__________________
Premiership by the end of the 2009 :D

How tall are you Richard and I'll tell you

5'11"....... (stupid minimum 10 characters)

12st2 to 12st4 would be ideal for your height, but for improved performance you should aim for around 11st4. You could drop to 11st, 11st2 but not really unless you are a 100%pro!

Hope that helps

Oh that's not too bad, quite encouraging in fact! I was thinking I'd need to be sub 11 to ever be competitive!

Thanks for the stats Luthor!

if you dropped to 10.5 stone your VO2max would rise to 63.3 and you'd run the 12km in 40:58.

You'd run a 10k in 39:08 and a marathon in 3:00:39!

That would be *really* light though. If you're working on the weight loss do it slowly, and also consider running 2/3 times a week up hill heavy intervals with weight on your back.

Consider this: watch the pink cheeked 18stone fighters who are gasping and panicking for breath. If you want to get faster, you must run like them. WORK. You could do some serious time to be honest, but what mostly happens is people lose weight and their effort drops off. The answer? Run like an obese newbie!

I still push myself pretty hard, though have considered the possibility of getting a weighted vest.

Are you saying if I were 10.5stone on my current form I could manage a 39:08 10k? I was hoping to break the 39min barrier in my next 10k at my current weight!

I managed a 5min mile (give or take a few secs) last night, which as I understand it doesn't translate too well into my other race distances, which I think is probably a weight thing and perhaps partially psychological (nagging thoughts telling me I can't keep this pace up, it hurts too much!)

EDIT: I'm looking at the wrong figures, sorry: at 10.5st and 63.3 VO2max (current fitnexx levels, just weight loss), you'd run 40:57 for the 12km and 33:47 for the 10km and a marathon in 2:37 ish

At your current fitness level (53 VO2max) you should run 39min plus change for the 10k, so it's possible!

Andy

The 5-min-mile is a milestone, and yes it stands out like a sore thumb compared with other results! You are correct, either it's psychological not pushing hard enough for long enough, or your training has not got your wheels up to the level of the engine

What an interesting thread,
Hope you don't mind, I've only just started running so I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement but here goes.
Age 44
Height 5'9"
Weight 14st 7Lb
5K 21.30

Can you tell me how you work out the VO2 Max from that information?

Thanks