Weight and Outdoor Activities - A Measuring Stick

Interested in running a 5K, 10K, half marathon, a marathon or longer distances? What should your target weight be? The best guidance seems to be the Stillman height/weight formula relied on by many coaches. This formula was developed for feet and inch measurements and is best calculated on this basis. The formula is calculated as follows:

Males - first 5 feet of height allow 110 lbs/50 kg, then add 5.5 lbs/2.5 kg per inch above 5 feet;

Females - first 5 feet of height allow 100 lbs/45 kg, then add 5.0 lbs/2.25 kg per inch above 5 feet;

The formula is for non-active individuals so distance runners should target a weight 5% to 10% or more lower than these weights - nearer 5% for shorter distances and up to 15% to 20% for long distance runners. As each person is different the runner needs to experiment to identify their ideal running weight. The following table attempts to simplify the calculations.

		MEN					WOMEN
Height		Base	Less				Base	Less
Feet:inches	Metres	Non-active	5%	10%	15%		Non-active	5%	10%	15%
5:00	1.52	50.00	47.50	45.00	42.50		45.00	42.75	40.50	38.25
5:01	1.55	52.49	49.87	47.24	44.62		47.26	44.90	42.54	40.17
5:02	1.58	54.98	52.23	49.48	46.73		49.53	47.05	44.58	42.10
5:03	1.60	57.47	54.60	51.73	48.85		51.79	49.20	46.61	44.02
5:04	1.63	59.96	56.97	53.97	50.97		54.06	51.36	48.65	45.95
5:05	1.65	62.45	59.33	56.21	53.09		56.32	53.51	50.69	47.87
5:06	1.68	64.95	61.70	58.45	55.20		58.59	55.66	52.73	49.80
5:07	1.70	67.44	64.06	60.69	57.32		60.85	57.81	54.77	51.72
5:08	1.73	69.93	66.43	62.93	59.44		63.12	59.96	56.80	53.65
5:09	1.75	72.42	68.80	65.18	61.56		65.38	62.11	58.84	55.57
5:10	1.78	74.91	71.16	67.42	63.67		67.64	64.26	60.88	57.50
5:11	1.80	77.40	73.53	69.66	65.79		69.91	66.41	62.92	59.42
6:00	1.83	79.89	75.90	71.90	67.91		72.17	68.57	64.96	61.35
6:01	1.85	82.38	78.26	74.14	70.02		74.44	70.72	66.99	63.27
6:02	1.88	84.87	80.63	76.39	72.14		76.70	72.87	69.03	65.20
6:03	1.91	87.36	83.00	78.63	74.26		78.97	75.02	71.07	67.12
6:04	1.93	89.86	85.36	80.87	76.38		81.23	77.17	73.11	69.05
6:05	1.96	92.35	87.73	83.11	78.49		83.50	79.32	75.15	70.97
6:06	1.98	94.84	90.10	85.35	80.61		85.76	81.47	77.18	72.90

Others have analysed a number of world class athletes, both male and female, and the average weight of these athletes at the peak of their career is 10% less than the base weight. So all those aspiring Goats and marathoners had better start shedding some weight if they want to improve their times. All a bit challenging really, as I thought I was pretty close to my target weight, but  according to the table I still have some way to go!