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can muscle slow u down in distance run

kevin448 Posts: 13 Joined: 2003/10/18	2003/10/18, 11:05 PM I have a problem with this subject. Ive been a distance runner for awhile, and i am pretty good, xc and track. I run a 4:48 mile. But i always got nervous to run races. Like all of this cross country season ive ran really slow. I think its mental but im not sure. I dont know if it is or if its the weightlifting thats slowing me down. Im into musclebuilding too. I dont do toning exercises, i do musclebuilding. I run distance and i get to a point where i feel too tired to go all out, so i always slow it down. And i noticed that my sprints have gotten faster too, i wonder if all of this is from bulking up, or is it just a mental thing with me. Can bulking up really slow u down when it comes to distance running?
Ashunboy Posts: 116 Joined: 2003/05/07	2003/10/19, 08:51 PM muscles in ur legs make u run faster.......:-/
kevin448 Posts: 13 Joined: 2003/10/18	2003/10/19, 11:02 PM Yeah but what about if u have muscle in your upper body. I know toned muscle will help and not slow u down, but what about bulky upper body muscle, will that slow u down in a distance run?
Ashunboy Posts: 116 Joined: 2003/05/07	2003/10/19, 11:54 PM heard u cant have it both ways....erno..
drio Posts: 288 Joined: 2003/04/22	2003/10/20, 11:45 AM Well sure if you're carrying ALOT of weight in your upper body I suppose that might slow you down. But you'd have to be REALLY bulked up for that to be a factor I think.
bb1fit Posts: 11,105 Joined: 2001/06/30	2003/10/20, 12:30 PM More lean tissue is probably better served for sprinters than long distance runners. Muscle will give you more "explosive" power, thus what is needed for sprints. -------------- Great people never want it easier, they just want to be better! Ron
kevin448 Posts: 13 Joined: 2003/10/18	2003/10/20, 02:59 PM Yeah thats what i thought. Im only 140 pounds, when i started lifting almost two years ago, i was about 120. U said if i was carrying alot of weight like 200lbs or more or something then i would slow down. But if i bulk my self up to 160 or 170(which is exactly where i want to be), that wouldnt hurt at all, right?
DougBeMe Posts: 33 Joined: 2003/09/18	2003/10/20, 03:42 PM ya upperbody mass does slow you down in distance, I run x-country, too. And the simplest way for me to put this is: what do the guys look like that are pulling in the fastest times for distance? HUGE LEGS AND A TINY UPPER BODY. that's the way it goes. The only muscles in the upper body that derasticly help ur running is lower back and abbs as you probably know. The rest that remotely help are shoulders, upper back, and bicepts. So you have to deside wether you want a big body or a fast body, cause you can't have both, I faced the same realization.
plfitness Posts: 198 Joined: 2003/05/25	2003/10/20, 05:21 PM One thing to remember concerning sport specific training is that the body will adapt to the task at hand. For a distance runner this means that the body will attempt to maintain smaller more efficient muscles due to the fact that they require less energy to move. you may not be able to train an efficient muscle to become big, but you can train a big muscle to become more efficient. It is somewhat of a give & take relationship though as the muscle becomes bigger it loses efficiency & as it becomes efficient it loses size. Kind of a catch 22. -------------- \\\\\"Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance\\\\" Patrick L. ISSA-CFT