i’ll push you hard on that one FP…
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Thanks for the replies - follow up question on where my weakness is and if I should do anything specific on my training.
My PB’s are
5k 23 mins
10k 55 mins
Half 2.16
Now just from a very limited knowledge, I feel like having a 23k 5k should translate into faster 10k and Half times? Is this a right assumption?
Does this highlight that my base isn’t big enough and I can’t hold a pace or I don’t have enough muscular endurance? Or are those times very typical?
You want an honest answer - how much do you weigh? If it is > 75kg then no need to look much further.
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It took me a few attempts to go sub 4 hours at a marathon - but the one thing that did work was running my long runs at my marathon pace - rather than easy.
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Yes, well possibly, for someone that hasn’t trained for longer distances.
Could be, could also be under developed aerobic system, and or a combination of muscular endurance and aerobic system and / or low efficiently, poor technique, body composition, it all plays in an individuals pace duration curve.
No enough information to say.
What if you are 6ft 5, does your random finger in the air figure still work?
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Yep. If you are over 75kg and 6’5 you are going to be a sub-optimal marathon runner. Realistically over 5’7 and >68kg is bad, but that is more at the elite level. Anyone over 80kg of any height is going nowhere near their own optimal pace, and is certainly not going to be an elite. Doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it, but if you want to get faster at running then body composition > technique.
Cycling takes the weight thing to ridiculous levels for the climbers/GC contenders - just look how modern teams operate now with diet and portion control of their athletes.
Swimming allows for a variety of body types and weights, depending on stroke, technique and distance, but height is usually advantageous and weight is less relevant. Triathlon seems to have gone from muscular to more skeletal for most athletes at most distances, but even the very visually toned greats of the past were actually a lot lighter than they looked. Spencer Smith was probably the one of the heaviest at around 81kg and there aren’t and never have been many built like him at that level. Got told to go lean or go home when he turned pro cyclist though.
James Cracknell is interesting - he was 6’3" and dropped down to around 88kg for running but that put him at around 37min for 10K and 2.43 marathon.
Lance Armstrong was 5’10" and 72kg for around 2.45 marathon.
The other answer to be a fast optimal runner is to give up swimming and running, as excess muscle detracts from running speed due to weight and energy consumption/body heating.
Go fast at running further than 1500m = be <5’10", be close to a state of malnourishment, and run a lot (10+ sessions per week). It helps to be born with rift-valley genes too, but that is not within your control.
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Probably, yes you’re new to running iirc? Consistent training for longer distances will help you improve, with appropriate nutrition and recovery of course…
Lightest i got was 83kg (at 6ft5) and caught every illness going so not sure sub 80kg will ever be optimal for me. Found sub 90kg was about my healthiest.
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about 4 years of consistent running should be enough…
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What was Lassa fever like? I hear it’s the pits 
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no but the piles were apparently a bummer…
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Maybe I’m thinking of Ebola 
Remember one time looking at the stats for the ??? 1984 Olympics. IIRC the shot putter Geoff Capes weighed substantially more than the women’s 1500m team of 3 people. Bet he could have thrown any one of them further than they could have thrown a shot putt mind.
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Geoff Capes was a guest when we were doing Sport Aid. He wrestled with a number of Paras and held one at arms length over the canal…
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I ran a 1:20 half marathon at 87kg.
Which was a PB.
There’s a TTer who’s about that weight too, and runs 2:35 maras and 32min 10km 
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Yes you have a point for truly elite marathon runners to be <2:10. And yes many average people probably would run better by losing weight.
But to say an Individual can’t run well, or even their own best >75kg is just plucking out unhelpful statements. And especially for a triathlete wanting to venture to long distances.
Take it you’re one who thinks Blummenfelt should have lost weight? Frodeno? Joe Skipper?
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Ain-Alar Juhanson entered the chat at 6ft 5, 95kg and a 2 time Lanzarote champion.
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That guy was a monster triathlete - bit at the freak end of weight vs results. But his time at the top wasn’t that long.
Sub-100kg for me.
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Been there, done that 
ITB flared up about 3k, someone from my gym’s Mrs even got a random photo of me topless on tower bridge removing a T-shirt 
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KB weighed in at 81kg in the research papers recently published.
I just can’t get over him and Iden warming up with a 2h40 marathon the week of Kona.
But weight isn’t really the issue it’s having a high BF% like me that is.
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