Too skiny!

I've been training now regularly for the last 7 or 8 months.  Current regime is:

Mon - Rest

Tue - Speed work/intervals

Wed - Easy recovery run (up to 5 or 6)

Thur - Fartlek (7+ miles)

Fri - Rest

Sat - Parkrun

Sun - Long run (anything from 10 to 20)

The rest days are a rest from running, but I am starting to fill those in with a trip to the gym, at the moment just for a short biking session with steam room and pool after to unwind from the week etc.  Since I was about 16 I think I have pretty much weighed the same, which is around 11 stone.  Since the training though all but the essentials appears to have been stripped away, and although my weight hasnt really dropped, I think basically its just been converted to muscle...maybe...

Anyway, either way, I feel skinnier than before, everything I own is baggy, and I look gaunt!  I'm trying to improve my diet, but if anything I think maybe removing all the crap I used to eat, is probably only adding to the problem.  What I'm wondering now is should I use my gym time to try and build some bulk?  Is this possible whilst maintaining a tough running regime?  Should I look towards using some supplements maybe to help me after the tougher sessions to build some mass?  Or do I just accept that I have chosen the runners path, and that with that comes the body of a teenager!

Thanks

 

 

Comments

  • out of interest how tall are youimage

  • steedeesteedee ✭✭✭

    5'11" I think. There or there abouts anyway.

  • Ian MIan M ✭✭✭

    Depends on how hung up you are on body image I guess.
    11 stone for 5' 11" sounds pretty much normal for an endurance athlete.

  • I don't think I'd consider 11 stone to be to skinny for your height, in fact I'd say it sounds just about perfect (I'm around 6' 1" and 11 1/2 stone so similar-ish to you). Of course it depends how (and where) you carry your weight but I'd say as long as you feel fine then you probably are!

     

  • You have a  healthy BMI, and you have no doubt developed a healthy % of lean muscle mass as a result of running. As for having a teenagers body, that is in comparison to society's norm. Rather than spend on supplements, I would buy some clothes that fit image

    By the sounds of it, you haven't got to the stage yet where people ask you if you are ill!! I had that a lot after the first few months of taking up running

  • steedeesteedee ✭✭✭

    Lol, yeah good point on just buying clothes that fit!  I think you are all right in that I am not underweight to the point of unhealthy, and yeah it could just be an image thing for the most part.  I've had a horrendous couple of months out with ITB problems before Christmas, which my physio eventually diagnosed as muscle inbalance in my glutes.  The glutes werent firing for one thing, but then the right was stronger than the left, but at the same time they were both pretty weak.  I've spent weeks doing stretches and resistance exercises at home to get them firing and strengthened up now and I'm back to pain free running.  She recommended though maybe building on this with some gym work, which has sort of led me to my above question.  Runners stand out in a gym I guess with all the none cardio people.

    As a related side question then, does anyone do any supplementary gym work to improve strength for running?  At the moment I am just doing bike work in there, but wondering if some weights might improve my core strength?

  • Loads of core exercises from press ups to crunches to planks...speak to your gym assts and they'll advise. I do 1-2 core sessions a week, but that's because I enjoy food and real ale too much and am a bit heavier than youimage

  • It's difficult. I've always been a big person. I'm 5' 10 and currently 11.5st so a little bigger than you, yet compared to my personal reference of who "I" am, I look like an anorexic now, i'm boney, sitting on a hard seat is uncomfortable! I know that even now i'm only just inside healthy bmi, so i've just got to readjust my perception.

  • Lardarse wrote (see)

    i'm boney, sitting on a hard seat is uncomfortable!

    I can relate to that! Had to ask some friends for a cushion once whilst sitting on their garden bench during a barbecue! Also had the "you've lost too much weight" - I'm also around 5'10 and vary between 11st 4 and 11st 8 (depending on how soon after Christmas it is).

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Shows how things have changed when someone complains about not being fat.

    🙂

  • Peter Everitt wrote (see)
    Lardarse wrote (see)

    i'm boney, sitting on a hard seat is uncomfortable!

    I can relate to that! Had to ask some friends for a cushion once whilst sitting on their garden bench during a barbecue! Also had the "you've lost too much weight" - I'm also around 5'10 and vary between 11st 4 and 11st 8 (depending on how soon after Christmas it is).

    I haven't been 11.5st since I was 16. I feel like Alice in Wonderland! I've had the boney bum before, but now it seems to go all the way up my back, leaning against walls is uncomfortable.

  • I've also had a lot of ITB issues with similar diagnosis. I continue to do strengthening exercises for glutes/tfl, and then general core exercises, squats, lunges etc. All of these are done at home with a resistance band / dumbells. Also, for strengthening work, hill repeats are good. Strengthening work for running doesn't need to involve big weights, but the gym combined with a sensible programme can be of real benefit.

  • If you're only thinking of your running speed and race times, you're probably fine as you are. If you feel self conscious about being skinny, you could work at putting on a bit of muscle, but don't use the beefy gym boys as a benchmark for comparison! Most good long distance runners I know DO look vaguely gaunt and skinny - stripped back to the bare minimum is the phrase that comes to mind. It's what works best for their chosen sport. If you put on even half a stone of unnecessary muscle, you might notice yourself slowing down due to the extra weight.

    Work on the necessary muscle, i.e. the bits your physio has said are weak. And yeah, buy some clothes that fit! image

     

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