Haile Gebrselassie lost 10% of his body weight when running his 2:04 in Berlin in 2008? Is that common?

HG wrote:

Is it common for the top elites to lose that much mass?

What did he start out and and what id he go to?

I don't know. I just read that he lost 10% of his body weight.

That's like 10-13 pounds. That seems a bit much (but what do i know), don't you think? Can you link us the source?

(no, this is not my blog and I am not promoting it).

4th paragraph:

"A particular interesting example was Haile Gebrselassie’s Berlin Marathon in 2008, where he broke 2:04. He was reported to have lost up to 10 percent of his body weight over the course of the race. "

Doesn't seem that surprising given how much water is lost even if he's "replenishing" through the race.

Last time I read about him losing body weight during the marathon was 6%. 10% now? Where did the blog cite it from?

He did refuel/rehydrate ~every 5km during a marathon race, right? Hard to believe he could still lose 10% at the end of the race.

When I used to run on really hot days, at moderate pace up for up to 2 hours, I would drop from 124-125 pounds down to 116-118 pounds.

I was not running at a professional marathon pace.

While they might be rehydrdating during the race, does anyone think they can consume and absorb 10 pounds of water while moving at that pace? Seems improbable to me. No doubt a pro marathoner will drop a bunch of weight during a race.

What would be interesting to know is if there is a study showing the improved/degraded efficiency due to the lower weight. While I am sure the 2 sec/mile/pound rule does not apply to Haile G, surely he gains some efficiency due to the lower weight at the later stages of the race. Is this offset by loss of efficiency caused by dehydration?

It seems this knowledge would have at least a slight impact on marathon strategy.

I dropped from 155 to 145 on a 9 mile run.

Lance Armstrong lost upwards of 15 pounds on an individual time trial once. So yeah, it's probably fairly common.

"Haile Gebrselassie is reported as having lost close to 10 per cent of his bodyweight during the 2008 Berlin Marathon, where he became the first to break 2:04 for the distance."

This is one spot that says 10% (or up to). Read careful though. The source above, and the blog you sited says "reported". I'm guessing this was Geb's camp that reported this? Either way that's a lot of sweat. I guess moving that fast for that long would generate a crazy sweat rate.

going 12-13mph is going to cause some solid evaporation too. so he may not look like he was soaked with sweat but i would believe 10-15lbs lost in a marathon is possible

You'll tend to lose a lot of water weight just from burning through all your glycogen, so he wasn't necessarily dehydrated at the end of the race.

from the medical professional's standpoint, i do find this mildy fascinating, as I'd never thought of it this way before. I actually had this very conversation with Bob Larsen about 2 months ago, and he brought that up, that you will never be able to replenish 100%, and that it is actually a benefit, up to a point, b/c you offset fatigue with an ever lightening "chassis" to move down the road. definitely some interesting food for thought. Love to hear Tupper's thoughts on this~cheers, dude~

I lost 8 pounds on a 7 mile run once (I was 124 before the run) but I think I had a fever or something before I started because I felt terrible. I was absurdly dehydrated and losing sweat at a ridiculous rate.

Hrothgar wrote:

You'll tend to lose a lot of water weight just from burning through all your glycogen, so he wasn't necessarily dehydrated at the end of the race.

This.

He lost 4 kilos, about 7% of his body weight.

4 kilos? That would be 9.8 lbs, which last I checked was "nearly 10 lbs". Exactly what the post was asking about. So "actually" it is spot on.

Easy Math wrote:

4 kilos? That would be 9.8 lbs, which last I checked was "nearly 10 lbs". Exactly what the post was asking about. So "actually" it is spot on.

Check your math. 4 x 2.2 = 8.8

Anyway, you were closer than the other guy...