Karp - Running for Women

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Karp, Jason.

Running for women / Jason R. Karp, Carolyn S. Smith.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4504-0467-9 (soft cover)

ISBN-10: 1-4504-0467-7 (soft cover)

1. Running for women. I. Smith, Carolyn S., 1965- II. Title.

GV1061.18.W66K37 2012

796.42082--dc23

2012003780

ISBN-10: 1-4504-0467-7 (print)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4504-0467-9 (print)

Copyright 2012 by Jason R. Karp and Carolyn S. Smith

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For my father, Monroe, whose long walking strides caused me to run to keep up. And for my mother, Muriel, a great athlete herself. In her memory, I will personally donate 10 percent of my royalties on every book sold to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

- Jason Karp

In memory of my grandmother, Gertrude Gallagher Smith, the remarkable matriarch of our family who was ahead of her time and a pillar of strength and inspiration to me and women everywhere. And to my first track and cross country coaches, Ben Newson and Dick Greene, who recognized and nurtured my talent and instilled a love for the sport, for which I am forever grateful.

- Carolyn Smith

As best-selling author John Gray so decisively pointed out, men and women seem to be from different planets. In addition to the many psychological and behavioral differences, it is evident from the time we are boys and girls that there are also many anatomical, physiological, hormonal, and metabolic differences between males and females. Many of these differences influence girls and womens response to running, which raises the question: should women train differently than men?

The past few decades have seen a significant rise in the number of physically active women and the number of women competing in running races. Females now account for more than 5.4 million road race finishers nationwide and represent 53 percent of race fields compared to only 23 percent in 1989. Women now exceed the number of male participants in every race distance except the marathon. The half-marathon currently has the largest female percentage (57 percent) of any U.S. road distance, with the percent flipping to a female majority in 2005. By contrast, in 1985, less than 20 percent of half-marathon finishers were female. Of the nearly 468,000 runners who completed a marathon in the United States in 2009, 40.4 percent of them were female.

As a result of the womens running boom, womens running performances have improved at a much faster rate than those of men, who have been running competitively for a long time. Over the first 40 years of womens official competition in the marathon (1971-2011), the world record improved by 46 minutes and 17 seconds (25.5 percent). In comparison, over the first 40 years of mens official competition in the marathon (1908-1948), the world record improved by 29 minutes and 39 seconds (16.9 percent). At the other end of the distance-running spectrum, women have decreased their time in the mile (1,600 meters) from 6:13 in 1921 to the current world record of 4:12.56, an improvement of 32.3 percent, while men have decreased their time in the mile from 4:28 in 1852 to the current world record of 3:43.13, an improvement of 16.7 percent. Interestingly, women are slightly closer to their male counterparts in the marathon (9.5 percent) than in the mile (13.2 percent), differences that have remained pretty stable since the 1980s.

In response to the popularity of running among women, a great deal of scientific research has been undertaken to understand what characteristics influence the difference in running performance between the sexes, a difference that averages 10.7 percent in favor of men across all running distances, from the 100 meters to the marathon. The research starts with the heart. During puberty, mens hearts grow larger than those of women, creating a larger, more powerful pump. Men also have more oxygen-carrying hemoglobin in their blood, owing to their greater blood volume. Together, the larger heart and greater blood volume create a cardiovascular system that supplies a greater amount of oxygen to the working muscles, giving men a higher aerobic ceiling (expressed physiologically as the maximum volume of oxygen consumed per minute, or O2max). As a result, men are able to sustain a faster running pace. This cardiovascular advantage for men explains why the best female runners dont run as fast as the best male runners in distance races up to the marathon.

In ultramarathons, however, during which the race is run at a slower pace, a narrowing of race performances between the sexes occurs. Cardiovascular differences become less important, and other characteristics, such as fuel use by the muscles and the ability to dissipate heat, become more important. Ultramarathons may represent a unique opportunity for women to excel; scientific research has revealed that women have a greater capacity than men to metabolize fat and conserve their limited store of carbohydrate (glycogen), which may give them an advantage for very long endurance activities. Although men run significantly faster than women at race distances from the 5K to the marathon, they do not run significantly faster in races longer than a marathon and sometimes dont run faster at all. For example, while the womens 5K and marathon world records are 12.4 and 9.5 percent slower than the mens 5K and marathon world records, the womens 100K world record is only 5.3 percent slower than the mens world record. It seems possible that elite women could beat elite men in ultramarathons. Research is revealing that women ultramarathon runners seem to have a greater resistance to fatigue than do equally trained men whose performances are superior up to the marathon distance.