Holmer, don't try to lose weight during a marathon block

Brady Holmer's advice to a runner asking how to lose weight in the middle of a marathon block was simple. Don't.

The question came from @pizzapizzabike, who asked for "Any tips on losing weight while in a marathon block?" with the stated goal of maintaining carb intake, "perhaps in a cleaner way." So not a crash diet. Someone trying to be sensible about it, keeping the fuel in while trimming elsewhere.

Pizza

@pizzapizzabike

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Any tips on losing weight while in a marathon block?

Holmer did not offer a workaround. His reply was to not try to lose weight during a marathon block at all, to focus on performance instead, and to do any weight loss during base phase or the off season.

Why the timing argument matters

That is a timing answer, not a nutrition answer, and it is the part worth sitting with. A marathon block is the stretch where the sessions are longest and hardest and where the body is being asked to absorb the most work. Holmer's framing puts those two goals in different seasons rather than trying to run them at once.

The off season and base phase, by contrast, are the lower intensity stretches where the training load is not already maxed out. That is where he says to put the weight goal.

Holmer did not get into numbers, deficits, or what any individual runner should eat, and neither will we. The whole exchange was two posts long.

What it actually means

This is one well known voice answering one question on social media, not a study, and Holmer regularly posts his reading of the research on training and physiology, including his recent argument that the 80/20 rule is an artifact of high mileage. Treat it as a coach's rule of thumb. If you are eight weeks out from a goal race and wondering whether to run a deficit through your biggest weeks, Holmer's take is that the block is the wrong place for that project.

Brady Holmer

@Brady_H

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My tip is to not try to lose weight during a marathon block.