Do Women Have an Edge When It Comes to Running Ultradistance Events? BY LINDSAY WEIGHT, Ph.D.

The Comrades Marathon is a race of variable distance, run in alternating directions between the coastal city of Durban and inland Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. When the race starts in Pietermaritzburg, it is referred to as the Down run, and the other way around is the Up run. There are five notorious hills between these two cities, which make the Up run approximately 56 kilometers of positive gradient, compensated for slightly by the fact that the Up route is marginally shorter—about 86 kilometers compared to the 89-kilometer Down run.

The Comrades Marathon has been run 81 times, and 76,768 people from around the globe have completed it at least once in their lives. Twenty-nine (male) runners1 have completed more than 30 Comrades Marathons, and 2,567 have their green number, awarded for finishing the race 10 times. The course records for the two races are 5:25:33 (Vladimir Kotov, 2000) and 6:11:15 (Elena Nurgalieva, 2004) for men and women, respectively, in the Up run and 5:24:07 (Bruce Fordyce, 1986) and 5:54:43 (Frith van der Merwe, 1989) for the Down run.

The Comrades Marathon has grown from a modest, amateur, and intensely local event to a race with substantial prize money, sponsors, international status, a 13-hour television broadcast, four-day expo, and all the carnival that goes with a big-city marathon. Between 12,000 and 15,000 runners enter the race each year, with the highest entry being over 24,000 in 2000. Of these runners, less than 20 percent are women, and about the same proportion are novices. In 2005, the average finish time was 10 hours, 27 minutes for women and 9 hours, 55 minutes for men. However, the average finish times for both sexes have increased by an hour since 1980. The average age of competitors has also increased over the same time, from 34.0 years in 1980 to 40.2 years in 2005 (see table 1 on page 44). Medals are awarded according to finish time: the first 10 men and 10 women earn gold medals. Runners finishing under 7 hours, 30 minutes earn a silver medal;

TABLE 1: Number of Finishers and Average Times and Ages of

Comrades Marathon Competitors From 1980 to 2005 Number of women

Mean finish time (hr:min:sec)

Number of men

Mean finish time (hr:min:sec)

Age (yrs)

1980

33

09:23:51

3,946

08:57:54

34.0

1981

59

09:43:49

3,602

09:08:54

34.5

1982

99

09:42:53

4,501

09:05:26

34.6

1983

157

09:49:04

5,207

09:13:28

34.1

1984

260

09:42:07

6,843

09:09:37

33.9

1985

300

09:54:52

7,892

09:24:59

34.8

1986

431

09:45:50

9,223

09:12:51

35.0

1987

407

09:59:37

7,969

09:29:14

35.4

1988

544

09:57:00

9,819

09:23:17

35.6

1989

671

09:56:57

9,835

09:28:57

35.6

1990

647

09:56:45

9,626

09:27:53

34.8

1991

921

09:52:38

11,160

09:25:58

35.1

1992

868

09:59:01

9,827

09:30:05

35.3

1993

1,098

10:01:49

10,223

09:27:07

35.9

1994

1,078

10:01:28

9,195

09:33:07

36.2

1995

1,185

10:05:12

9,356

09:37:25

36.3

1996

1,232

09:57:24

10,035

09:28:30

36.8

1997

1,367

10:00:55

9,989

09:32:22

37.1

1998

1,285

10:05:46

9,211

09:37:13

37.3

1999

1,458

10:01:28

9,757

09:33:38

37.7

2000

3,311

10:47:12

16,729

10:13:49

38.0

2001

1,661

10:06:46

9,419

09:34:33

38.1

2002

1,186

10:05:11

7,843

09:33:49

38.6

2003

1,869

10:25:11

9,545

09:50:28

39.6

2004

1,564

10:33:45

8,558

09:57:34

39.7

2005

2,014

10:27:51

9,710

09:55:52

40.2

under 9:00 hours a silver/bronze (called the Bill Rowan medal); under 11:00 a bronze; and under 12:00 a copper medal (named the Vic Clapham medal). Bill Rowan was the winner of the first Comrades Marathon in 1921, in 8:59, and Vic Clapham was the founder of the race. The proportion of finishers in each medal category in the 2005 race is shown in table 2 on page 45.

TABLE 2: Number of Medals in Each Category According to Seeding

Position at the Start Gold

Silver

Bill Rowan

Vic Bronze Clapham

DNF

Total runners

A19

525

428

125

B1

94

914

324

18

142

1,257

35

113

1,481

C10

795

1,102

101

195

2,203

D5

234

1,945

292

293

2,769

E12

374

303

197

886

F24

1,155

593

283

2,055

G12

534

847

386

1,779

HTotal

20

3

1

146

737

580

1,467

637

2,420

5,705

2,926

2,189

13,897*

*13,897 entered, 12,938 started, and 2,189 did not finish (16.9%).

Runners have to qualify to run the Comrades Marathon by completing a standard marathon in under five hours or another ultradistance race where the cutoff time is dependent on the distance. Runners are then seeded for the start according to their qualifying times (table 3).

Competitors wear a timing chip, and there are timing mats at five points along the route. It is a gun-to-gun race in that all competitors start at the same time and their finish time is taken as being from that time and not from the moment the runner crosses the start line. It takes approximately seven minutes to clear the start, that is, for the last runner to cross the line. There are cutoff points along the route, the first one being at halfway. Any runner failing to reach this point in six hours is not allowed to proceed. Likewise, runners have to get to 70 kilometers in 10 hours and to 80 kilometers in 11 hours to continue. The cutoff times are there in part to ensure runners’ safety: by 5:30 P.M. (the 12-hour cutoff), it is dark and the race route is no longer closed to traffic. A sad and sore number of athletes make it past the 80-kilometer cutoff point in the gathering dusk but still don’t reach the finish line on time.

The use of electronic timing systems and immaculate record keeping by an information technology company contracted to the Comrades Marathon Association have generated a wealth of numbers for analysis and some research. However, little is known, other than anecdotally, about how runners prepare for the Comrades Marathon or what they do and experience during the race. In 2005, I compiled a questionnaire to establish what training and race strategies Comrades Marathon runners employ. The questionnaire was placed on the Comrades Marathon Web

3:00:00

3:20:00

3:40:00

4:00:00

AB

CD

4:20:00

4:40:00

5:00:00

FG

HE

42.2 km

Batch

5:10:00

4:45:00

4:20:00

3:55:00

52-54 km

5:30:00

5:00:00

4:35:00

4:05:00

56 km

6:05:00

5:30:00

5:00:00

4:30:00

60 km

6:40:00

6:00:00

5:30:00

5:00:00

64 km

8:30:00

7:40:00

7:00:00

6:20:00

80 km

6:00:00

5:35:00

5:10:00

6:30:00

6:05:00

5:35:00

7:00:00

6:30:00

6:00:00

7:40:00

7:10:00

6:40:00

8:20:00

7:50:00

7:15:00

10:40:00

10:00:00

9:15:00

Green Number Club (all runners who have completed 10 or more Comrades)

4:50:00

4:25:00

4:00:00

3:40:00

48-50 km

TABLE 3: Race Distance, Qualifying Time, and Seeding Batches for the Comrades Marathon

12:00:00

11:15:00

10:30:00

9:45:00

9:00:00

8:15:00

7:30:00

89km

13:30:00

12:30:00

11:45:00

11:00:00

10:15:00

9:15:00

8:15:00

100 km

site, and it was intended that runners visiting the site to check their results after the race would respond to the invitation to complete the questionnaire. This questionnaire has generated the first substantive set of data about runners’ race preparation and experience. This, together with a rigorous analysis of race splits, qualifying times, body weights, and other demographic factors, forms the basis of this report and helps to answer the following questions: • How to train for the Comrades Marathon • How to predict performance in the Comrades Marathon • How to manage the race • Why women do it better

DEMOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE RUNNERS WHO COMPLETED THE 2005 COMRADES MARATHON QUESTIONNAIRE There were 613 respondents, which is 4.4 percent of all those who registered for the 2005 race. Of these respondents, 47 provided an incorrect or no race number and 5 had missing data and were discarded from the analysis. There were 144 women runners (25.7 percent of the final sample) and 417 men runners (see table 4). There is a higher proportion of women in this sample population (25.7 percent) than entered the 2005 race (17.1 percent). Furthermore, the average time for these women is 10 hours, 18 minutes, while the average time for all women finishers in the 2005 race is 10 hours, 27 minutes. In contrast, the average time for the men who completed the questionnaire is slower than of the whole field—10 hours, 13 minutes compared with 9 hours, 55 minutes. These differences are not statistically significant. Twenty-three respondents did not complete the race, which is 4.1 percent of the sample. Of the 13,897 runners who registered for the 2005 Comrades Marathon, 15.8 percent did not finish, so the questionnaire sample underrepresents the failures. This is to be expected, in that those who complete the race are more likely to visit the Web site to check on their and other results and therefore complete the questionnaire, than those who did not finish.

The mean age of the men was 41.9 years and the women 39.4 years. The men had been running for 11.1 years and completed 5.6 Comrades Marathons with an average best time of 9:31:10, while the women had 8.8 years of running experience and 4.3 Comrades behind them with an average best time of 10:09:32. Only the average best Comrades Marathon times for each sex are significantly different, as would be expected.

Note: Only 15 women achieved silver medals in 2005, of whom 10 also won gold medals (awarded to the top 10). As this group is so small, no analysis is presented thereof, and the data for these women are included among all those who finished in under nine hours.

*

66.1 ± 7.8

*

*

*

Years running women

Body weight men (kg) n = 1,652

Body weight women (kg) n = 326

Number Comrades run men

Number comrades run women

* = No data

11.5 ± 5.8

Years running men

<07:30 n = 14

*

*

56.3 ± 4.6

69.7 ± 11.5

9.2 ± 5.5

12.1 ± 10.2

<09:00 n = 62,19

*

*

58.6 ± 5.9

72.6 ± 10.6

9.1 ± 5.7

12.0 ± 9.2

<10:00 n = 69, 32

*

*

59.7 ± 6.7

77.4 ± 12.3

9.1 ± 7.2

11.4 ± 8.5

<11:00 n = 156, 54

*

*

62.8 ± 8.8

78.2 ±16.1

7.6 ± 6.4

9.9 ± 8.4

<12:00 n = 100, 32

*

*

*

*

6.7 ± 6.4

9.2 ± 6.7

DNF n = 16, 7

4.3 ± 4.0

5.6 ± 4.9

59.7 ± 7.1

74.3 ± 11.3

8.8 ± 6.7

11.1 ± 9.0

ALL n = 417, 144

TABLE 4: Demographic Data of the Study Sample of 561 Runners Who Completed the 2005 Comrades Marathon

TRAINING Given the status and the history that the Comrades Marathon occupies among South African runners, there are as many myths and legends of training as there are reliable strategies. Everyone knows someone who has run the race and has either done extraordinary, enough, or very little training, and the tendency is to believe that these individuals’ experience is representative of all runners. There are also the folklores that are bred in running clubs, families, and work places and hybrid training programs that emerge from these collective experiences. There is an official Comrades training program designed by Don Oliver, which is endorsed by the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) and appears on its Web site and in the South African edition of Runner’s World. Bruce Fordyce has also published various programs, as have other former medalists and just about anyone with any street credibility—and also those with very little. Don Oliver’s programs are conservative, realistic, and manageable for those with some running experience and a good dose of motivation. He has different strategies for different abilities and target times, but all have the athlete completing 1,200 to 1,600 kilometers between January 1 and June 15, including two standard marathons and two ultramarathons. This has become the gold standard of sensible Comrades training, the total mileage that a runner wishing to complete the race successfully should be prepared to invest.

So what do runners actually do? The 417 men and 144 women who completed the questionnaire did an average of 1,131 and 1,191 kilometers, respectively, between January 1 and June 15, 2005. Moreover, less than 50 percent of them followed a specific training program. On average, they completed fewer than four runs of 30 to 40 kilometers, fewer than three runs of 40 to 50 kilometers, one run of 50 to 60 kilometers, and less than 30 percent went farther than 60 kilometers in a single training run. There were no differences between the men and the women in the total mileage or proportion of long runs. However 52.3 percent of the men and 37.6 percent of the women reported that they had been unable to train for more than a week because of illness, or injury, or both. This is a statistically significant difference. The correlation between total mileage and finish time for all runners is r = 0.5385 (p < 0.01), which is highly significant. It also suggests that 29 percent of the finish time can be explained by training mileage (r = 0.28999). Given that mileage does count, there is also an expected significant difference in total training mileage for each medal category, as shown in table 5 on page 50. Men who achieve a silver or Bill Rowan medal run significantly more kilometers in training than do men in all other medal groups, and the silver medalists were twice as likely as any other group to follow a specific training program. Similarly, women who finished in less than nine hours did significantly higher mileage than

*

7.1

*

3.7

*

1.9

*

0.4

*

Mileage women (km)

Runs 30-40 km men

Runs 30-40 km women

Runs 40-50 km men

Runs 40-50 km women

Runs 50-60 km men

Runs 50-60 km women

Runs >60 km men

Runs >60 km women

0.4

0.4

1.7

1.3

2.6

3.3

4.3

5.0

1,438 ± 13

1,417 ± 557

<09:00 n = 62,19

† = Mileage is expressed as mean ± standard deviation. * = No data

1,750 ± 659†

Mileage men (km)

<07:30 n = 14

0.2

0.5

1.4

1.3

2.8

3.0

4.5

4.4

1,340 ± 86

1,307 ± 506

<10:00 n = 69, 32

0.3

0.2

1.2

1.1

2.9

2.6

4.3

3.6

1,125 ± 307

1,102 ± 376

<11:00 n = 156, 54

0.2

0.2

1.1

1.1

2.5

2.8

3.5

3.0

1,036 ± 305

937 ± 398

< 12:00 n = 100, 32

0.3

0.3

0.7

1.1

1.6

2.3

3.7

3.8

929 ± 260

1,114 ± 347

DNF n = 16, 7

0.4

0.3

1.5

1.2

3.1

2.7

5.0

3.8

1,191 ± 525

1,131 ± 488

ALL n = 417, 144

TABLE 5: Training Mileage and Breakdown of the Study Sample That Completed the 2005 Comrades Marathon

all other women finishers, but they were the least likely of all groups to follow a training program. There are no differences between sexes or medal categories in the number of long training runs completed, except that the male silver medalists did more 30- to 40-kilometer runs than any other group. As this is the first comprehensive description of the training of average Comrades Marathon runners, there is little to compare it to. In 1970, 140 Comrades runners reported that they had, on average, run 1,734 kilometers from January 1 to May 30. Those with the fastest times (6 to 6.5 hours) had done 2,574 kilometers, and the 10- to 11-hour finishers had done 1,030 kilometers. This is the same as the average mileage of 561 runners in 2005! The current elite runners claim to run in excess of 3,000 to 3,500 kilometers in preparation for Comrades, which is similar to what runners were doing 20 years ago.

While the 1970 data may be incomplete and even inaccurate, they may in part explain the steady decline in Comrades Marathon finishing times (see table 1 on page 44) and the higher rates of attrition during the race since 1980. In 1984, a 91.4-kilometer Down run, 96 percent of the starters completed the race. Since that record success, the pass rate declined to 72 percent in 2002. The following year the cutoff was extended from 11 to 12 hours, which has allowed more runners to complete the race each year since. Interestingly, many of them are green numbers, which means they must have finished at least 10 races within the old limits but now take advantage of the extra hour. The combined evidence of decreasing finishing times (until recently), increasing failure rates, and increasing average age suggests the Comrades Marathon runners are getting steadily more middle aged and not doing the training volumes that runners, including perhaps themselves, did 10 and 20 years ago. There is also a pervasive attitude that you don’t have to train that much to walk to Durban (or Pietermaritzburg) in 12 hours, but at the same time, you must not undertake such an arduous journey when you are young—that is, less than 30! The result is that the Comrades Marathon has been described as “watching middle-aged men walking.”

Despite their high training load, the male silver medalists were the least likely to have spent a week off because of injury and illness (28.6 percent)—but then the corollary is that this would have allowed them to complete a higher total mileage. The majority of the men who finished in over 10 hours and over 11 hours (76 percent and 58 percent, respectively) had been unable to train because of injury or illness. Likewise, the women who finished in under nine hours had the least-compromised training (15.1 percent were unable to train for a week or more), while up to 50 percent of the women in all the other medal groups had been affected. Six of the seven women who did not finish had been ill and/or injured, and their total training mileage was lower than any other group in the study.

There were no significant differences between sexes within each medal category with regard to total mileage. The range of training mileage reported varied from 350 kilometers to 2,160 kilometers for the women and from 150 kilometers to 3,500 kilometers for the men. However, there is some doubt as to the validity of the exceptionally low mileages (less than 300 kilometers) reported by some runners. They may have interpreted the question to mean their average monthly mileage and not total mileage from January to June. Also, many runners stated their mileage to be ‘‘1,000 kilometers.’’ This probably reflects an estimation based perhaps on their average weekly mileage or what they thought was the appropriate mileage. Therefore this data may be skewed for several reasons: (1) runners misinterpreting the question, (2) runners under- or overreporting mileage because no accurate records are kept, (3) runners overreporting mileage according to what they think they ought to have done, (4) runners simply guessing their mileage in order to complete the questionnaire quickly, or (5) runners underreporting mileage because they regard doing as little as possible as admirable.

The overall conclusion from the training data is that Comrades Marathon runners train less than would be expected based on historical anecdotal evidence, prescribed training programs, and basic training principles, but that the silver and Bill Rowan medalists completed significantly more miles than the rest of the field.

PREDICTING FINISH TIMES The most accurate way to predict a finish time is from prior performances in shorter events. This relationship certainly holds for middle-distance races, even up to the marathon; but in ultradistance events, many more variables are involved, and so predictions based on any prior performances become less certain.

More than 60 percent of runners qualify for the Comrades Marathon over the standard marathon distance, with the majority of the remainder using a 50- to 52-kilometer or 56-kilometer race as their qualifier. Less than 10 percent use a race longer than 60 kilometers. The correlation between average qualifying time over three distances (42K, 50K, and 56K) and finish time for both sexes is shown in table 6.

Not surprisingly, the longer the race, the closer the match between the two events. However, what is interesting is that there is a higher correlation between performances in shorter events and the Comrades Marathon for the women than for the men. This suggests that women are able to perform more consistently over all race distances than men; that is, in very long runs, men’s performance deteriorates more relative to their marathon times than do women’s.

TABLE 6: The Correlation Between Qualifying Time and Comrades Marathon Finish Time According to Qualifying Race Distance Average qualifying time

Comrades Marathon finish time

Correlation

Men 42K

3:46:42

9:57:55

r = 0.789

Men 50K

4:39:08

9:49:46

r = 0.772

Men 56K

5:19:53

9:51:22

r = 0.851

Women 42K

4:08:51

10:29:59

r = 0.824

Women 50K

5:02:23

10:24:03

r = 0.828

Women 56K

5:49:36

10:26:53

r = 0.84

While many runners do the Comrades Marathon just to finish, others train for, speculate on, and purchase pacing schedules for specific finish times or, at least, medal color. Therefore, a formula to calculate predicted finish time has more than academic value. For many years, the value “2.42” has been touted as the magic number that, when multiplied by your qualifying marathon time, reveals a probable Comrades Marathon finish time. It is even used by the CMA to set the qualifying time standards and seeding batches. However, this number had a dubious origin in the 1980s, having been derived by dividing the best Comrades Marathon times of a small group of nine elite distance runners, including the male and female winners of the race, by their personal best marathon times. The resultant formula was therefore not reflective of the majority of the field. Looking at the 2005 data, the division of finish time by standard marathon qualifying time yields a value of 2.53 for women and 2.62 for men. However, this formula does not hold for the very fast males or for the slowest runners. For men with a sub-3:00 marathon (and therefore seeded in A), the ratio is 2.75, and for the slowest runners (batch H, both sexes) the ratio is 2.4. What skews the ratio upward for the faster runners is the high rate of attrition in this group. Less than half of the A-seeded men (43.3 percent) achieve silver medals. This perhaps illustrates just how difficult the Comrades Marathon is: a person who can run at or around four minutes per kilometer for 42 kilometers is not able to run at five minutes per kilometer for 87 kilometers. The A-seeded runners are also those who have completed the most training mileage, and yet this group is least successful at achieving its presumed medal goal. In contrast, for those runners with qualifying times slower than 4:40 (H group), the relationship between marathon and Comrades times is much closer. This is probably because (1) these runners

do all races, regardless of distance, at a similar pace; and (2) the slowest runners are likely to miss the cutoffs along the route and therefore not finish, thereby skewing the data. Another variable in predicting race outcome is the number of Comrades Marathons a runner has completed. Analysis of the race histories of 400 runners (200 of each sex) who have run 10 or more races shows that they run their best times on their fifth race, at an average age of 37. There is a strong positive correlation between age and best time and a slightly weaker negative correlation between number of races and best time. From this, we can conclude that age and experience do count!

MANAGING THE RACE After the training come the tapering, carbohydrate loading, and strategy planning. While the merits of carbohydrate loading can be debated, having a race plan for an event of such a distance over a challenging terrain is surely an advantage. Pacing charts for each medal category (except silver) are available at the Comrades Marathon expo. These have been compiled by Don Oliver, the Comrades coach, based on his own experience of 19 runs and refined annually by feedback from runners who have used them and analysis of the race results. These pacing plans are conservative and take into account the gradients of the five major hills and the fact that almost everybody slows down in the second half.

Of the 561 runners in the 2005 Comrades sample, less than half of the men and women used a pacing chart of any description. There was also no difference in chart usage between the medal groups. This apparent nonuse of pacing strategies suggests that (1) runners approach the Comrades Marathon with the attitude that they will “run how they feel” and be satisfied just to finish; (2) that they have found pacing charts to be unhelpful in the past either because the chart or they were unrealistic or they had a bad race; or (3) that they believe that somehow the race, the route, and unspecified others will take care of them and they don’t engage in any specific prerace planning or strategizing during the race. In the 2005 race, 2,189 runners did not finish, with 151 failing in the last hour. That is, they passed 80 kilometers before the 11-hour cutoff but could not complete the last eight kilometers before the 12-hour final gun. Because the race is rarely run on even splits (first and second half in the same time), all those who pass halfway in over five and a half hours face a high likelihood of failure. Forty-five percent of the men and almost 90 percent of the women who did not finish went through halfway in over 5 hours, 30 minutes. So a slow pace, which includes substantial amounts of walking, is one failure factor.

The duration of the race is such that maintaining appropriate fluid and fuel intake and delaying the onset of fatigue and pain as long as possible are crucial.

Since most runners are on the road for 10 to 12 hours, what and how much to drink and eat during that time are major challenges. Sports drinks and soft drinks with their sweet flavor and carbohydrate content are hard to ingest continuously. Decreased rates of gastric emptying and high fluid intakes also suppress the desire to consume any solid food, although plenty is supplied along the route: potatoes, biscuits, jelly sweets, chocolates, oranges, and sandwiches. Energy gels in bags are popular portable carbohydrate supplements, but it is also difficult to ingest sufficient of these because they are such a concentrated source of carbohydrate with a somewhat mucoid texture. It is also astounding that, despite widely available information and strong marketing strategies by sports nutrition companies, most athletes are not aware of their fuel needs and make significant errors both before and during the race.

For example, of the 561 athletes who completed the post-Comrades 2005 questionnaire, 77.1 percent had carbohydrate loaded before the event. The duration and composition of this carbohydrate loading is not known and may simply have been extra servings of hotel food or systematic attempts to consume one of the several brands of high-carbohydrate (10 to 15 percent) commercial sports drinks. A slightly higher percentage of the women (82.3 percent) than the men (76.1 percent) carbohydrate loaded, but the difference is not significant.

During the race, 78.8 percent of runners consumed the official Comrades sports drink and 62.7 percent used Coca-Cola, both available at every aid station; 90.9 percent also drank water. Energy gels (corn syrup) were used by 58.4 percent of runners, while only 18.2 percent used energy bars. There were no differences between the sexes. However, 63.8 percent of female runners and 54 percent of male runners consumed the food provided at the aid stations—this is a significant difference and will be discussed more later (p = 0.03). The spectator interest in this race is high, and many runners have supporters along the route, from whom 15.7 percent of runners also obtained preferred drinks or foodstuffs.

The body weights of 1,978 runners were recorded the day before and at the finish of the race as part of a study on hyponatremia by the Sport Science Institute of South Africa. The data are shown in the table 7 on page 58. If you assume the difference in body weight reflects sweat loss in liters, then the women and men in this sample remained remarkably well hydrated during such a long event in temperatures averaging 24 degrees Celsius and approximately 65 percent humidity. In fact, 29 of the women (8.9 percent) and 36 of the men (2.2 percent) remained the same or gained weight, although some of this may be contributed to the differences in attire they were wearing at the time of the two weighing sessions. That fluid loss amounted to 2.87 percent in the women and 4.65 percent in the men is highly significantly (p < 0.01). The fluid loss and percentage of body-weight loss were, however, consistent within the medal groups

TABLE 7: The Pre- and Postrace Body Weights of a Sample of Runners

Participating in the 2005 Comrades Marathon Body weight prerace (kg)

Body weight postrace (kg)

Body weight difference (kg)

Percent body weight*

All men n = 1,652

74.3 ± 11.4

70.9 ± 11.1

3.4 ± 2.26

4.59%

All women n = 326

59.7 ± 7.13

58.0 ± 8.88

1.71 ± 1.68

2.87%

* Body-weight difference as a percentage of prerace body weight.

for each sex. That is, the faster and lighter men and women remained as hydrated as the slower and heavier runners. This is important because it is widely believed that the faster runners are at greater risk of dehydration and the slower runners of overhydration. There are also significant differences in the body weights of men and women in the different medal categories (see table 4 on page 48). The women who finished in less than nine hours weighed significantly less than those finishing in over 10 hours, while the silver-medal men weighed significantly less than all other male runners. Moreover, the men who finished in the last hour were significantly heavier than all other male runners.

The Comrades Marathon is broadcast live on South African television, and during the 13 hours of coverage there are many sorry examples of limping, cramping, vomiting, and collapsing runners played out for spectacle value. However, exactly how many runners experience the characteristic tribulations of ultradistance running—cramping, nausea, fatigue, pain, dizziness, diarrhea, and vomiting—is unknown. The runners who completed the 2005 questionnaire sample reported the following incidence of each problem. In the questionnaire, “pain” was that associated with a specific site or injury (that is not just sore legs), and “fatigue” was defined as being of sufficient magnitude that the runners believed at the time that they could not continue the race (see table 8 on page 59). There was no significant difference between the percentage of men and women experiencing any of these events. However, within each sex are some telling variations. The data were analyzed according to finish time and DNFs. A higher percentage of male silver medalists experienced cramping (42.9 percent), nausea (21.4 percent), and diarrhea (7.1 percent) than any other group, but they also had the lowest reported incidence of pain and fatigue. The women who completed the race in under nine hours also cramped more than any other group (31.5 percent) but reported less nausea (10.5 percent) and vomiting (none) than the other women finishers.2

142 25.4

112 27.0

30 21.3

All n = 561 % All

Men n = 417 % Men

Women n = 144 % Women

Cramping

28 19.9

74 17.8

102 18.2

Nausea

15 10.6

28 6.7

43 7.7

Vomiting

Problems Associated With Endurance-Running Events

19 13.5

55 13.3

74 13.2

Dizziness

5 3.5

11 2.7

16 2.9

Diarrhea

29 20.6

99 23.9

128 22.9

Pain

16 11.3

60 14.5

76 13.6

Fatigue

TABLE 8: The Number of Runners in the 2005 Comrades Marathon Sample Who Experienced Characteristic

These data are interesting because they suggest that cramping is not the fate of the lesser-trained, heavier male runner, as is commonly suggested, but rather of men and women with relatively low body weights who are well trained and running at high intensity relative to ability. The silver-medalist men also had more problems with nausea and diarrhea than the top women runners, which may contribute to the differences in performance discussed later. That the relatively elite men, who run the entire race at or below five minutes per kilometer, reported considerably less pain and fatigue than any other male runners (7.1 percent compared with an average of 23.5 percent) is probably the most sterling evidence for the value of training—and good genes! Or, it could be because the 48 percent of A-seeded runners who do achieve a silver medal are those who, through training or luck, don’t get as sore and tired as those who fail.

Twenty-three runners in the sample group did not complete the race. Seven bailed before halfway (44 kilometers), and four failed to complete the race having passed the final checkpoint. The seven women were all slow runners (seeding batch H), but the men were from all seeding batches. Among this group, there was a three times greater incidence of vomiting and diarrhea, twice the incidence of dizziness, and half the incidence of severe pain than for the rest of the sample. However given the small sample size, the ratios may be exaggerated. It does suggest, though, that DNF runners mismanaged their fuel and hydration strategies, as these are the most common causes of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea during prolonged exercise.

WOMEN DO IT BETTER In a standard marathon or shorter race, you can reasonably expect to run even, or close to even, splits. The elite runners even do it backward—faster in the second half. Very few runners achieve this in an ultramarathon, especially one as long and undulating as the Comrades Marathon. In the 2005 race, the top five men and the winner of the women’s race managed the magic reverse split. Thereafter, only 33 women (1.69 percent) and 264 men (2.77 percent) ran negative splits.

Looking at table 9 on page 61, three striking features emerge: 1. The substantial difference between the first- and second-half splits in all medal groups. The slower the finish time, the greater the difference between the time taken to run the first and second halves.

2. On average, the men take nearly 51 minutes more to complete the second half of the race, whereas women take 27 minutes. 3. For every level of ability (medal category), women run the second half 10

to 15 minutes faster than the men. Moreover, because women go through halfway in a slower time than the men who finish in the same hour, the

TABLE 9: Finish Time and First and Negative Half Split Times for all

Runners Completing the 2005 Comrades Marathon (n = 10,749)

All men All women Men <7:30 Women <7:30 Men <9:00 Women <9:00 Men <10:00 Women <10:00 Men <11:00 Women <11:00 Men <12:00 Women <12:00

Finish time

First half

Second half

Additional time*

09:55:22 01:23:55 10:27:52 01:04:29 7:00:27 6:58:04 8:26:57 8:33:19 9:34:12 9:37:37 10:34:34 10:34:04 11:35:53 11:34:37

04:32:19 00:42:15 05:00:23 00:30:43 3:14:25 3:24:16 3:50:37 4:08:18 4:20:53 4:37:36 4:50:52 5:04:41 5:19:07 5:29:02

05:23:10 00:47:58 05:27:28 00:37:00 3:46:02 3:33:48 4:36:20 4:25:01 5:13:20 5:00:00 5:43:26 5:29:23 6:16:47 6:05:34

00:50:58 00:34:31 00:27:06 00:21:36 31:36 10:06 45:43 16:43 52:27 22:24 52:40 24:21 57:40 36:32

* Additional time taken to run the second half of the 2005 Comrades Marathon.

overall difference between the time that men and women take to run the second half is between 20 and 30 minutes. For example, the men who run under nine hours go through halfway in 3:50:57 but then take an extra 45

minutes to complete the second half (4:36:20). Women go through halfway 18 minutes slower (4:08:18) but then take only 16 minutes longer to do the second half (4:25:01). Thus, not only do the women run the second half

faster, there is a 30-minute discrepancy between the sexes in the second half. Similar relationships exist in all other medal groups. What does this tell us? If the ability to run an ultramarathon at an even pace and finish comfortably is regarded as a sensible strategy and worthwhile goal, then women do it better than men. The fact that women run the entire race at a more constant pace and don’t deteriorate as much as the men also explains why women run a Comrades Marathon time that more closely matches their standard marathon time and why a slow female runner (marathon greater than 4:30) has a better chance of finishing within the 12-hour cutoff than an equally slow male runner.

So what is it that gives women the edge in ultra-endurance races? There are several possibilities, none of which has been conclusively proven and all of which probably contribute to varying degrees.

1. The obvious explanation for the difference between the sexes is that the women go out slower and then have more for the second half, having conserved both their physical and mental energies. They tend to be more realistic about their finish times (relative to ability) and set their targets

based on prerace evidence, not on past history, illusions of negative splits, and training mates’ expectations and provocations. Women tend to trust their abilities less. While this may be construed as timorous, perhaps in distance races, being less confident is an advantage because you don’t take the risks in the first half that end in shuffling and tears with 20 kilometers to go.

2. Women are physically smaller, so they have to expend less fuel shifting their bodies over any given distance. This has to be an advantage when fuel becomes a potentially limiting factor, as it does in ultradistance running where it is difficult to match intake to expenditure.

3. However, it appears from this study that women manage their fuel intake better than men as well, consuming more before the race (82.3 percent carboloaded) and ingesting sports drinks, gels, energy bars, and—most

important—food during the race. The women made significantly more use of the food provided at the aid stations than did the men. Therefore, you can conclude that because women burn less carbohydrate per unit time

and also ingest more than the men, they do not become as carbohydrate depleted in the latter part of the race. This could substantially explain their ability to maintain their pace in the second half of the race.

4. Women are not as hot. Being smaller with less muscle mass, they generate less heat, and because of their greater surface-area-to-body-weight ratio, they also lose heat more efficiently. This is a critical advantage in prolonged

exercise in a warm environment where a rise in body temperature will limit exercise capacity in order to protect the body from reaching dangerously high internal temperatures. 5. Women also drink more. In the 2005 Comrades Marathon study, the aver

age body-weight difference from the day prior to the finish line was 1.71 kilograms—2.87 percent of their prerace body weight. If this represents fluid (sweat) loss, then the women remain incredibly well hydrated given

the duration and environmental conditions of the race. In contrast, the men lost 3.4 kilograms, which is 4.59 percent of their initial body weight. Staying well hydrated ensures that circulating blood volumes are maintained.

This aids with thermoregulation primarily but also ensures that there is sufficient blood flow to exercising muscles and to the gut. In conditions of low circulating volume, blood flow to the gut is limited, while the skin

and muscles compete for the remaining volume, leading to an inevitable

deterioration and even cessation of exercise capacity. Remaining hydrated means that the women runners (1) get less hot, (2) maintain blood flow to the legs, and (3) have enough blood still going to the gut to allow for adequate fuel and fluid absorption, thereby further enhancing all of the

above. In contrast, the more dehydrated you become, the less able you are to maintain hydration, fuel intake, and body temperature. So the female runners’ advantage here is a win-win situation all around! 6. Women hurt less—well, theoretically anyway. Again, because of their

smaller frame and lower mass, women may experience less repetitive impact stress than men. As this is a primary cause of muscle damage and pain during prolonged exercise, being less sore would mean that women

would be able to continue running when larger, heavier males would be reduced to a stiff-legged limp. Estrogen is thought to play a role in protecting tissue, including muscle tissue, from the damaging effects of free radicals

produced during metabolic processes. As these are accelerated during exercise, there is increased free-radical damage to all cells, so anything that contains or destroys free radicals will potentially reduce damage and

the associated pain. So while it is possible that women would experience less exercise-induced muscle damage due to their having estrogen, this

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has never been conclusively demonstrated in humans, only in rats. In this study, 23.9 percent of the men and 20.6 percent of the women reported having experienced pain associated with a specific site or injury. Fatigue “sufficient to make them think they could not continue” was endured by

14.5 percent of the men and 11.3 percent of the women. So it would seem from this evidence that estrogen doesn’t help during the race but may reduce the postrace agony and inability to descend stairs.

7. Women think differently. Ultramarathon running is intensely physically and mentally demanding, so being able to cope with this high level of stress is key to successful performance. Little research has been done on

the appraisal and coping patterns of endurance athletes, but a recent study has shown that men and women conceptualize and deal with the unique pressures of endurance racing differently. In this study on Ironman triathletes

and marathon runners, both sexes exhibited the same degree of anxiety before the race about the same factors: the environmental conditions, the course, their race strategy, and their ability. However, the difference was

that the women perceived that they had less control over these factors than did the men. Thus, during the race, men employed a coping strategy that was intended to reduce the external and internal threats, while women

tended to employ more emotion-focused coping strategies. They attempted to positively reinterpret their situation, seek social support, and dissociate from what they were experiencing. While men employed a problem-solv

ing approach, women used a more emotion-focused technique. In a race of the duration and difficulty of the Comrades Marathon, both strategies are useful and necessary, but perhaps the women are better socialized to benefit the most from the spectator support and the camaraderie of fellow runners. The Comrades Marathon is probably unique among ultra-endurance events in the extent and depth of spectator participation. It can become overwhelming at times, but there is no stretch of the long road that does not have enthusiastic and generous supporters making every runner feel like a hero for that one day. Those runners who can tap into this energy while maintaining their focus on the practicalities of the race have an advantage that is not measurable.

Thanks to the Comrades Marathon Association, Graeme Vincent of Mr. Price Group (IT), and the Sports Science Institute of South Africa for all data.

FOOTNOTES 1

Until 1975, women and black persons participated in the marathon unofficially, and their finishes were not formally acknowledged. 2 All data not shown due to the extent and complexity thereof.