Miles of Smiles :)

As runners, we often hear the mantra: “smaller equals faster.” The belief is that less body mass means less gravitational pull, leading to better performance. But this simplistic notion is not just misleading; it can also be harmful. Let’s take a closer look at why this myth needs to be dismantled.

Your Strongest Self is Your Fastest Self

As runners, we know how important it is to be strong– both physically and mentally. We are disciplined and relentlessly work towards our goals. Our bodies allow us to endure so much strenuous activity on a daily basis; it is imperative to replenish our nutrient stores so that our bodies can support our goals.

Here’s the kicker: fueling well and giving our bodies what they truly need may not be conducive to being “skinny”. But it is certainly conducive to being strong.

Prioritizing proper nutrition and fueling our bodies can lead to greater strength, which in turn enhances our speed. Building muscle mass increases our power, efficiency, and coordination. This means we can push off the ground with greater force, maintain higher energy levels, and achieve better control over our movements.

When we strive to make our bodies smaller, we go into an energy deficit and often lose a considerable amount of muscle mass. Our bodies have to work so much harder to compensate for the lack of fuel which leads to poor recovery and lower energy levels. That doesn’t sound like a recipe for being faster to me!

Embrace Individuality: Comparison is Useless

Every single body is so incredibly different. Even if we all ate the same exact things and exercised the same amount, we would still have vastly different bodies. Some people are naturally bigger and some are naturally smaller. Can you imagine how boring the world would be if we all looked the same?

When we stand on the starting line of a race, we have absolutely no context for anyone’s body size or shape. The skinny girl next to you might have a faster metabolism, be naturally small, be struggling with an eating disorder, or having medical issues. You can’t tell how healthy someone is by just looking at them.

It’s time to detach body size from performance. Being small doesn’t make anyone a “better” runner. What truly matters is how strong, healthy, and confident you feel. That’s what will really help you succeed.

Is Faster Even Worth Smaller?

Let’s imagine for a moment that you heavily restricted your food, overtrained, and are now smaller. Let’s even go a step further and say you dropped a few seconds off of your personal best. You achieved your goal, you got smaller and faster. But was it worth it? You relish a few moments of pride and accomplishment, but can’t help but notice the underlying tones of guilt and grief for what you put your body through.

You don’t go out to celebrate with everyone because you’re just too tired and don’t want to be tempted by “bad” foods. You can barely walk, let alone run, for the next week because your body doesn’t have the fuel it needs to recover properly.

As you get smaller and smaller, your world gets smaller too. You look around one day and realize that you completely lost yourself in a fruitless quest. You suddenly don’t even care about being faster, all you care about is being smaller. Take it from someone who’s been there: smaller does not mean faster, and it wouldn’t be worth it even if it was true.