Racing Weight Book Review

Racing Weight is a book about a weight-loss system for endurance athletes, and it offers a complete solution to achieve the optimal racing weight for endurance athletes. There are two books: The first book is for those endurance athletes who are in the middle of training and want to shed weight to maximize performance. The second book is for those who are starting to get into an endurance sport, or starting a new season, or maintaining off-season fitness and want to lose weight before they get into a training cycle. The author, Matt Fitzgerald, has done good research and developed a good weight-loss system for endurance athletes. However, every weight-loss system comes with responsible diet, and I am just not interested in giving up my appetite for delicious food! Also, I have been following my own training that seems to be working just fine. So, I only skimmed and read parts that explain his inspiration for his writing and logic of his system. This book would be a very good resource if I wanted to change my training or eating habit. I recommend this book to those who are looking for a weight-loss system and who are interested in following suggested diet and training.

Having skimmed through the books, I took note of the importance of tracking my weight and body-fat mass/lean body mass. I recently bought Witherings’ Body Scale that helps me track all these metrics. According to ideal body-fat percent population profiles, my optimal racing weight could be about 160LB. This is derived by Lean body mass / optimal lean body mass percentage, which is 163*0.818/0.835. Of course, I need to verify this by running some distance at this weight and see how I feel. But in the past, my weight has been pretty consistent between 160 and 165 on race days, so 160LB sounds reasonable. I have little interest in finding out if I can run faster if I am below 160LB. I have read somewhere that you could shave off two minutes in Half Marathon if you lose five pounds. I cannot see myself trying to lose eight pounds!

There are much more in these books. For example, the decade-long debate about the best way to get leaner; ie., low- to moderate-intensity exercise vs. high-intensity exercise. The reason why keeping high mileage is a better way for runners to get leaner than calorie restriction. When to eat what. What diets the elite athletes follow. Potential eight-week low- and high-volume workout. On and on and on. I would love to hear from anyone who follows this weight-loss system.