Big Guys Can Run Fast, Too
Last Saturday night I stayed up late and watched an incredible race that was broadcast over at flotrack.org. It was the 10,000 meter men’s race at the Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University. It had some of the greatest American distance runners in the race, and they (or at least one of them, Galen Rupp) were shooting for the American Record. The record, 27:13, was about 10 years old and was held by Meb Keflezhigi, the recent winner of the New York City Marathon.
Everyone was talking about Rupp, who is one of the rising stars in American distance running. He had brought pacers to the race and had been deliberating carefully (with his coach, Alberto Salazar) over whether to make his record-breaking attempt at this meet or on his home track in Eugene, Oregon. Fortunately, he went to Stanford so a great group of American runners would be on the same track. The strategy paid off for him. He broke the American record! Unfortunately for him, though, another American ran even faster.
The winner was Chris Solinsky, former NCAA champion from Wisconsin. He ran the 10,000 meter race in 26:59 and became the first non-African born athlete to run under 27:00. This was a great feat and bodes well for American distance runners in general.
I was really happy and inspired to see him win for another reason. You see, Chris Solinsky is different from most other elite runners. He is big—well, bigger than other elite runners. He is about 6′1″ tall and currently weighs 164-165 pounds. The stereotypical elite distance runner might be 5′8″ tall and weight 135 lbs. The world record holder for 10,000 meters is about 120 lbs.
Why does a person’s size matter in distance running? Well, conventional wisdom says that the more weight you have to carry around, the slower you’ll be. However, as Solinsky and his father have discussed, conventional wisdom also suggests that bumblebees should be incapable of getting off the ground and flying. But nobody told the bumblebee that. They just find a way to do it.
I’m not a huge guy, but I’m not little. And I’ve wondered if my size is a serious limiting factor for my running success. Chris Solinsky’s success tells me that bigger guys can run, too. Muscle mass can help you if you use it well. I think that your ability to run long distances is limited by your cardiovascular system’s ability to keep oxygen flowing to your brain and by the amount of strength you have to propel your body (whatever size it is) forward repeatedly. I think the rest is just details.
The following article has some interesting information about Solinsky’s size compared to other elite runners: http://www.letsrun.com/2010/heightweight0504.php
2 Responses to “Big Guys Can Run Fast, Too”
Steve, you are doing a good job with this website. Maybe some day I’ll get around to making a blog site like this.
Thanks, Dustin. It’s kind of fun to write more than just what I do in my workouts.
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