Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 67, February 2015 | Página 39

Women’s Running

Ma

Wonder

WOMEN
The longer the race, the stronger the finish… if you’re
a female endurance athlete. That’s what the scientific
research studies keep showing!
– BY LAUREN VAN DER VYVER

I

n the last stretch of the 2014 Comrades
Marathon, eventual women’s champion
Eleanor Greenwood looked like she had
strapped on an imaginary jetpack! She was
running at 3:59min/km, clocking 27 minutes and
50 seconds for the last 7km. This was not only
her fastest segment of the race, it was just about
the overall fastest time of the day for those last
7km – race winner Bongmusa Mthembu was
three seconds slower, and the only athlete to go
faster over that stretch was sixth-placed man
Mncedisi Mkhize, who clocked 26:56. What this
proved, yet again, is that female athletes can rev
their proverbial engine a bit more in the latter
stages of an endurance race.

Images: Lauren van der Vyver

NO SLOWING DOWN
In a recent study published in Medicine &
Science in Sports & Exercise, researchers at
Marquette University in Milwaukee in the US
gathered information about finishers at 14
marathon events. With over 90,000 participants’
data and finishing times, the researchers
compared each runner’s time at halfway with
one at the finish line to determine pace. The
results showed that men slowed down more than
women, covering the second half of their journey
around 16% on average slower than their first

half. Women averaged 12% slower in the second
half of their marathon. Going further into the
data, the scientists also looked specifically at
runners who slowed considerably in their second
half by 30% or more, and found that more men
(14%) fell into this category, compared to just
5% of women.

men run low on carbs, that’s when they tend to
hit the dreaded wall… and slow down markedly.
Researchers also suggest that women tend to
have a larger surface area-to-mass ratio than
men, allowing heat to leave the body more
rapidly, which can lend itself to better endurance
and a faster finish.

An earlier study published in the Journal of
Strength & Conditioning Research also looked
at how men and women who broke five hours
in the 2007 and 2009 Chicago Marathons paced
themselves, and found that more women were
able to stick to their average pace without
slowing down markedly between the 30km and
40km markers. Taking the weather conditions of
these two races into consideration, the evidence
points to the fact that women can maintain their
speed better than men, and the study concluded
that it comes down to how our bodies work,
with women burning a higher percentage of fat
the longer the run goes on, while men turn to
burning more carbohydrates for fuel. And when

MEN ARE FROM MARS…
Whether it really is how we’re built, or purely
psychological, there are clearly several factors at
play here.
While the boys can usually trump the girls with
speed – that’s just genetics – the girls can outwit
by ho