On my second run for the day, a pleasant 14k trail chasing run in Kings Park, my mind wandered to why my I have been improving this year. As I mentioned in my previous post I put a lot of it down to a new training regime, the double up days but also I missed out another important factor, weight.

I am currently 69kg which ,for someone who is just shy of 6foot, is pretty ‘light’. This is 2-3kg less than my previous running weight and I feel this has been another factor in my current ‘second coming’. On my lunchtime run I started to think about the current African domination of the marathon distance and I am convinced a large part of this is weight, or in their case, lack off.

The last real marathon runner I would consider a ‘normal’ weight would have to be Robert de Costella. An Australian icon he held the World Record from December 1981 to October 1984. He also won Boston, Rotterdam and Fukouka marathons, and had a marathon PB time of 2:07:51. All this while weighing in at 65kg, on a 5ft11inch frame. In todays professional marathon running world he’d be obese.

I have been lucky enough to meet ‘Deeks’ on a number of occasions and he really is an oracle of knowledge on all things running and always willing to share his experiences and insights.

Another reason for selecting Deeks is he did suffer with injuries as he was a big advocate of the distance training and unfortunately broke down on a number of occasions. I would probably put this down to his slightly heavier frame than the average professional marathon runner and nearly 10k+ heavier than the Africans who dominate today.

In 1990, the average top-100 guy marathon runner weighed 59.6 kg (131.4 lbs); in 2011, he weighed 56.2 kg (123.9 lbs). That’s a big drop. They also got shorter, from 1.73 m (5′ 8.1″) to 1.70 m (5′ 6.9″). The drop in weight isn’t entirely explained by the drop in height, as their BMI also decreased from 19.83 to 19.42. Of course, it’s important to note that there was a wide range of values represented, with BMIs reportedly from 15.78 (a value that again makes me wonder about the accuracy of the data) to 23.05.

There is no way Deeks could compete against another professional athlete giving away 10kg.  Makes my 69kg look obscene. Must mention that to my Wife who continually complains I’m a ‘bag of bones’, perfectly formed marathon runner is how i see it.

Anyway back to my point. I’ve lost 2-3kgs, I’m training more intelligently and I’m training more; add in the improved diet with less sugar and it all adds up to PB’s. Simple really.

To prove my point I’ve attached a photo of me next to the winner of the Melbourne Marathon in 2012., Jonathan Kipchirchir Chesooi.  I look huge, I’d be probably nearly 20k heavier than Jonathan, easily accounts for the 30 minutes time difference. Maybe they should do an age adjusted and weight adjusted marathon time. I’d be world champion.