You would think that people training to run a marathon would lose weight and get skinny if they started off overweight. After all, trainees are logging 20-30+ miles a week, and more as they get closer to the big race. That has to cause some major weight loss.
I thought so too, but after watching a PBS show this week, I learned that training for a marathon is not the way to go if you want to lose weight.
I just finished watching the Nova episode "Marathon Challenge" this morning. In the show, they took 12 normal people who weren't runners, or very fit for that matter, and trained them to participate in the Boston Marathon.
The group was made up of a good mix of men & women, younger an older. Most everyone started off in horrible physical condition and overweight. One guy had had a heart attack a few years ago, another was diagnosed HIV positive 12 years earlier and one of the women had put on 70+ pounds in the last year or so.
"Team Nova" trained with Tufts University staff and Uda Pippig, a 3 time Boston Marathon winner, for 40 weeks. They had the best of everything available to them from trainers to physicians.
During training, the participants had to do daily runs on their own, and then they got together on the weekends for long runs.
Over the course of the 40 weeks everyone's fitness level improved immensely using VO2 Max measurements as the standard. All 13 participants went from poor/fair VO2 Max readings to excellent/superior (there were 1 or 2 exellent/superiors to start, the medical staff said that could be genetic).
The most interesting thing they pointed out though was that over the course of those 40 weeks, the participant's body composition did not significantly change. Those that were overweight in the beginning, were still overweight. Body fat measurements did not change noticably.
I was pretty surprised by those results. The Tufts University medical professional who was talking about body composition and running said diet is the #1 key to weight loss, not running.
She used herself as an example. A female who weighs 115 pounds, she said she would burn about 2600-3000 calories TOTAL from running a marathon. That's from running for 4-6 hours for 26 miles! That's less than 1 pound of fat she'd burn from running 26 miles!
That was a very powerful example of how steady-state cardio is not the answer for fat loss. I'm not about to run 26 miles just to lose less than 1 pound of fat. Yes, I know I'm bigger than 115 pounds, but still my numbers wouldn't be too much higher, maybe 3500-4000 calories.
Even though steady-state is not the way to go for fat loss, I have come to realize that you need to train for your goals and there is a place for steady-state cardio.
My goal for the past 4 months has been weight loss, so intervals have been the best option for me. But, I also am training to pass the Navy SEAL Fitness challenge which requires me to run 1.5 miles. Intervals won't prepare me for that, so I do have to add some steady-state running into my training routine or else I'll be gassed by the first half-mile mark.
The bottom line is this. You have to train for your goals and if your main goal is weight loss, I would look to interval training as the best way to shed the pounds fast.
