Male Marathoners Might Be Twice As Likely To ‘hit The Wall’ As Women—the Reason Why Might Surprise You

Running a marathon is difficult work; nan miles don’t get easier arsenic they tick by. Among a runner’s worst fears is simply a arena known arsenic “hitting nan wall” aliases “bonking,” which happens erstwhile nan body’s glycogen stores go depleted. This leaves nan runner emotion overwhelming fatigue, exhaustion and an inability to support pace. But caller investigation this week suggests that men whitethorn beryllium importantly much apt to bonk than women. 

In a study published connected Thursday successful Scientific Reports, scientists wanted to amended understand which marathoners whitethorn beryllium much prone to hitting nan wall and when. They looked astatine nan title times of 873,334 runners who completed nan Berlin Marathon betwixt nan years 1995 and 2025. They wished that a runner had deed nan wall if their gait slowed by astatine slightest 20 percent during nan 2nd half of nan title compared to nan first half. This is known among runners arsenic affirmative splitting, wherever nan first half of nan title is tally faster than nan 2nd half. 

Male runners were astir doubly arsenic apt arsenic female runners to deed nan wall, according to nan data. The researchers besides recovered that faster antheral runners were moreover much apt to bonk. Male runners who vanished nan marathon successful little than 3 hours—which is astir nan qualifying clip for men for nan Boston Marathon and acold little than nan qualifying clip for women—were six times much apt to deed nan wall than their accelerated female counterparts. 

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This was nan astir astonishing finding,says study co-author Aldo Seffrin, an workout physiologist astatine Nova O2 Sports Science successful São José dos Campos, Brazil. “I expected acquisition and training to flatten nan quality astatine nan top, and alternatively it widened,” he says. “That tells maine pacing nonaccomplishment is not simply a beginner's mistake.” 

The main origin of bonking is simply a depletion of glycogen, which is nan body's stored shape of glucose and its preferred substance to powerfulness muscles. Once glycogen becomes critically low, nan assemblage relies connected fat for energy. But converting fat into a usable shape of substance isn't a accelerated aliases easy process. 

Scientists are really still piecing together what leads a runner to bonk. But a bully pacing strategy plays a cardinal role. Moving astatine a steady, sustainable gait allows nan assemblage to usage power (mostly successful nan shape of glucose from glycogen stores) much efficiently, reducing nan likelihood of utilizing up each nan stored glucose earlier nan decorativeness line. Seffrin and his squad statement that their study suggests that men mightiness beryllium capable to thwart bonking by moving slower successful nan first half of a marathon and getting continually faster arsenic nan title progresses, a pacing strategy known arsenic antagonistic splitting. 

But pacing unsocial mightiness not afloat explicate why women are little apt to deed nan wall than men. “The honorable reply is that a batch of foundational workout physiology was built connected antheral subjects, truthful respective mechanisms are simply little good characterized successful women,” says Seffrin. 

Researchers do cognize that “women thin to oxidize fat astatine higher rates and tally astatine a little respiratory speech ratio during submaximal endurance exercise,” he says. In different words, women thin to pain much fat for power than men during steady, moderate-intensity endurance exercise, specified arsenic a marathon. 

Women besides person a greater comparative proportionality of what’s called type 1 musculus fibers, besides known arsenic slow-twitch musculus fibers, than men. These usage oxygen efficiently to defy fatigue, making them perfect for endurance exercise. And they besides usage nan hormone estradiol which plays a domiciled successful burning fat and conserving carbohydrates during prolonged exercise. 

All of this could besides explicate why nan capacity spread betwixt men and women successful ultramarathons is often smaller. However, much investigation connected women’s bodies is sorely needed. “Better characterization of female-specific physiology, successful datasets that really see it, is what would fto america move from ‘what’ to ‘why,’” Seffrin says. 

Going forward, Seffrin says that his squad hopes to harvester title information pinch different accusation astir each runner, including psychological factors arsenic good arsenic physiological ones. This would thief find whether differences successful pacing and hitting nan wall are chiefly owed to title strategy aliases biology. And they want to study runners who do not finish, because analyzing only finishers apt underestimates really often runners really bonk.