This is a common question that many of my friends and clients ask me. I use the following metric to determine how tall I am and how fast I can run. I found this method to be very useful and I hope to use it again in the future.
I am a 5’6″ woman with a 32″ frame. I use the metric of a “size 16″ as I find it easier to gauge my size by measuring my hips and waist. In this case I am between 5’7″ and 5’9”. I believe I can run a 5.4 miles in under 3:12. I think 5.4 is pretty close.
I found it surprisingly easy to run a 5.4 mile in 312. I’m not sure exactly how many years I’ve been doing it, but if I remember correctly it’s been over 5 years. I think I started with a 5.8 mile in the 60’s and got to 7.5 by the time I was in college. I had to slow down a bit once I hit college because of the extra weight and I think that’s where I started hitting the 7.
I would guess that someone who is between that size and something shorter than that might have a bit more muscle than weight. As they say, “skinny legs, short arms.” I would think that someone who weighs anywhere between 50 to 60 could run a 5 mile in a quarter of a mile faster. Now, that might be totally unrealistic, but I think people in that range would probably be able to do it.
A little over a pound might be your typical weight for someone of average height. But if you are 5’3″ and weigh between 80 and 100, you would be well within the range for someone who would want to run a 5 mile in a quarter of a mile faster.
That’s why I say I’m jealous of you. Because if you are a woman of age 50 or more, you are not only in the running for a world record, you are also probably a world record athlete. With that, it is time for me to turn my attention to my running shoes.
This is a subject that often gets lost in the shuffle for women who are training for a 10K or a 5K race. The issue is that they usually get over-trained and become obese. In fact, a study published in the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology found that men who ran 3.1 miles on a treadmill would have to cut their calories by 40% to be able to maintain their current weight over a 12 week period.
Yeah, I know I’m a bit obsessive here. But there’s something that I’ve noticed about my running and fitness routine that really frustrates me. I really like the way I run. I love the way I feel when I’m running. I don’t really run for fitness. I run for the joy of running. But I can’t make myself run any faster. If I’m running at a mile and I’m breathing hard, I can’t breathe like an athlete.
Most people run for a goal of a 10:30 mile run. But its an incredibly long distance. And that 10:30 mile goal is a goal that they probably could cut back on in their training. So the biggest problem I have with running is that I dont know what my goal should be. I know Im going to run a 10 mile route, but Im not really sure that if Im running 10 miles I should be aiming for a 10:30 mile.
A goal is a goal is a goal. If you want to run a 10 mile route, you should aim for a 10 mile route. But if you want to run a 1030 mile route, you should aim for a 10 mile route (just to be clear).