Why Women Eventually Beat Men at Running

To know if there really is a better runner when it comes to gender, we probably have to define "better". Because I don't think it's as cut and dried as that....
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[@jamesdrury6627]

One thing we can all agree on is that Jasmin Paris is absolutely amazing

[@swaginfinite9165]

Who is that?😂

[@paulj6637]

So pleased to see the recognition of Courtney's achievement here. Jasmine's was just insane and got the media attention it deserved. However I have always felt that Courtney's year went largely unreported outside of our running community. To nail all 3 of those events in one year is something equally special. As ever, great content 👌 cheers. 🎉

[@johnbuchanan578]

2 things, Jasmin Paris = Legend. I was thinking of skipping todays Long Run, Now I’m putting my shoes on, thanks 😂

[@cars92dtb]

Have a lot of love for anyone who runs any distance and takes themselves out of their comfort zone to try and get better at it.

[@CatsAreTheBestPeople-mm1fo]

I agree that the question doesn't matter. 😂 I was at a trail running race event today, and I can tell you that the most enjoyable thing about the day was the positive community vibe, mutual support and encouragement between fellow runners (including complete strangers), and just participating to your own best effort. And it was a bloody great day. 👍

[@David-mc6dw]

I thought the accepted explanation was that it's mostly a selection effect that explains why the average performance for women gets closer or exceeds men over the longest distances. For example, in UTMB only about 10% of finishers are women - so it's mostly only the strongest women who are entering or finishing, whereas a lot more men who aren't necessarily right at the top compared to their gender participate. This makes the average for men look slower than if the participation balance was 50-50. If you look at the top runners/records, it's a fairly consistent difference with men being about 10% faster than women over all distances from 100m sprint to multiple day races.

[@ckhyker6259]

Where are you getting your stats? Just curious. That's totally different from what Ben is saying. Thanks!

[@easyeddie2377]

A very common lifting of spirits I give to my female friends in my running club that are frustrated with a finish, I point out an awful lot of people - included men - are incapable of running the race they just crushed.

[@kimdecker8901]

I really appreciate your courage in raising potentially controversial questions. And I appreciate that you do so with an open and respectful mind. It helps us all grow!

[@amole7344]

Similar question was discussed recently in an episode of BBC4 podcast More or Less: Ultramarathons: Are women faster than men? The conclusion was that it is like comparing apples and oranges. The comparison was based on average finishing times. The longer the distance, fewer women sign for such races, and the one who run them are well-prepared, elite athletes. On the other hand, men are overly confident, and will attempt races even though they may not be ready yet for a given distance. This may lead to an impression that man are getting slower on longer distances, which is not necessarily true. This only shows that using single metric to compare two different groups is too a simplistic approach and does not show the full picture.

[@wk633]

The specificity of the rather odd 195 miles should raise alarm bells. KZbin channel "Film My Run" reached out to the authors and got a rather vague reply with no specifics. Yes the gap narrows as distance increases. There are reasons for this beyond just mental including fat utilization. But while outliers like Courteney and Jasmin are blasting the ceiling, we're still not seeing the female results we'd expect if that study were true. Probably part of that is that female participation is still lower than male. Hopefully that will continue to grow, especially with examples like Jasmin and Courteney and Camille.

[@ArcaneSpells]

Thanks for begging the question of “what does ‘better’ actually mean?” In nearly every aspect of life women are held to the benchmark of men, in a world designed for men. It can be exhausting and demoralizing at times, so it’s nice to hear y’all support the idea that we’re ALL runners!

[@tilda3141]

I had to explain to a guy that the fittest man will always be faster than the fittest woman because of the biological differences (like you said, the bigger heart, born with more muscle mass and less fat on average etc.), as he was criticising elite women athletes for being slower than sub elite men 🤷‍♀️

[@ericwehmueller87]

I dont believe it has to do with pain tolerance, but rather, in longer distances, it is better to have more fat reserves and less muscle mass to carry around. Definitely, it's an advantage for women if they have more slow twitch muscle fibers. In the end, I really don't think it matters who's faster? It's just great that we can all run together. ❤️

[@threatened2024]

There are some women in my running crew who excel in hot weather, it's incredible to see. They actually perform better in relative heat, in long distance events.

[@michelleharnett1351]

What will also be interesting is to follow the trends as more women participate in ultras, and the amount of data we have increases.

[@ians3983]

Another great video Ben. Ive my 1st marathon in 2 weeks, at 67 its going to be tough, have missed two weeks training due to illness so im now less confident than i was before, but as you say its a mental game as well so i,ll have to dig deep. All the best to yiu and Mary when you get your 100k 👍👍

[@lee4741]

Endurance is greater in women

[@Mylifeinthreeminutes]

That difference as you get into the crazy ultras is incredible, there are some unbelievable women out there.

[@peterneefus381]

Fantastic presentation! Regarding subscribers, I’ve heard that sometimes people get unsubscribed for some reason and they don’t realize it. So you could ask people to double check as you get to 100K 🎉

[@jps5871]

For me it’s about today. 3 years ago I didn’t believe I could run a 5k. I have since run 2 half marathons. In June start training for my first marathon. Which I will be competing in at the age of 57. Male and female we all come at running with advantages and disadvantages. It about not giving up, living and running through life that’s important. Not how you compare to anyone else. I am faster then some, slower then others . At the end of the day it’s about looking in the mirror not at someone else.

[@scottcollier9178]

You're right, it really doesn't matter. We should focus on ourselves as runners and let others get on with themselves. Take inspiration from others but don't compare ourselves to them.

[@abbyschwendler1107]

That's why I love running! Inspiration, but no pressure to compare yourself to anyone but yourself!

[@FlatToRentUK]

I saw an analysis of the study you quote where the gap narrows as the mileage goes up. The discrepancy seems to be that for ultramarathons (and really long ones) the women are likely to be far more professional (you could also use the word prepared here) than the average man. Men are more likely to just decide to have a go whereas the women aren't going to attempt it until they are completely ready. This is shown in the fastest times and records for each event where men still dominate. I only say this because it's a fair analysis of the statistics. Men and women are different, there's little need to do comparisons at all.

[@InAFlash2520]

What wave are you guys in for Boston next week?

[@jotaylor1684]

One way to judge if we are a 'better' runner than 'yesterday' is to look at % age grading. So at 69 I've got slower buy I can aim at those past %s. Of course its comparing you to the best runners today, or best runners back then. So does that suggest that age grading has got a bit tougher over my last 40 years of running? Any excuses or explanations offered will be gratefully received! 😅 Love your graphs Ben. Keep rested and well both of you during your taper❤

[@DTJL12480]

Yes we are.

[@JamesMartin-gl8gg]

Interesting vlog,as I can remember watching documentary about the Olympics, and I forget the year but the Olympic committee said that women were banned from running longer distances. Then 1984 women were allowed to run the Marathon in the Olympics. Again another Program about celebrity and fitness people for doing the SAS challenge, where on year a woman won it and it.made the instructions think twice that women could really do tough challenges.

[@Nusqui]

I think the fact that we can achive such impresive goals even though we don't have everything in our side (we dont have as much muscle etc) is what makes us as worth it of praise, even if the times are overall slightly slower.

[@swaginfinite9165]

Nope men deserve more praise. Stop being arrogant and begging for praises.

[@Nusqui]

@@swaginfinite9165 Speaking of arrogance...

[@swaginfinite9165]

You don't have everything on your side? Girls metabolise fats better lol

[@janih]

I don't need to run 195 miles to know my wife is better than me. Not faster, or storger. Just a better person. But I'm the lucky one ❤

[@steveb9658]

Great video as always. See also Sally McRae. She's incredible 👌

[@Bertziethegreat]

You see this in weightlifting too. Yeah, men can lift more absolute weight in a single rep, but women are unstoppable terminators in terms of keeping going.

[@indalo1995]

Most women won't start an event if they aren't prepared and able to finish, where as a lot of men will take a punt anyway.

[@tanukidenfert]

Interesting topic. Could it be because women store more fat, and would tap into it on long distances?

[@stevestarr9769]

Sample size matters and the size of N from which that sample size comes from matters. At the shorter distances you have an ENORMOUS sample size to look at (both men's AND women's marathon times) and a huge N of times to come to a conclusion on. Ultra runners are still a very small "big picture" N to get values from...if there were several hundred male ultramarathoners with the same talent of a Yiannis Kouros and several hundred female runners with same basic talent of a Camille Herron or a Courtney Daulwater, then then a fair comparison could be made. The "big pond" vs "little pond" thing is an issue here.

[@peelman12345]

Very interesting subject. One thing I’ve noticed is that women will not even attempt doing something unless they are 100% ready and prepared. Men are more likely to just wing it. Not all obviously but I know men who’ve attempted ultras and their training hasn’t gone to plan where a woman I know got injured early on in training and pulled out because she thought she wasn’t ready.

[@realDougSheppard]

🤔 Well, "They" say "Comparison is the thief of joy". BTW, I think "They" and "The Shenanigans" are related😂

[@pinkusujit]

400th like!

[@ChairmanAntelope]

Wait, was that a hard sell at the start? ;)

[@ThisMessyHappy]

Only until we get to 100k 😉😂

[@xanthippus9079]

Pointless question. Sports are separated by sex so that women can have any participation at all. For us normal folk who run for our own health/entertainment, it's as relevant as discussing if taller people are better runners than shorter ones.

[@ThisMessyHappy]

So I’d be asking why do tall people suddenly start outperforming small people at longer distances?

[@xanthippus9079]

@@ThisMessyHappy My point is that some traits we can't change. Sure, discussions about those traits are valid, but they won't change my approach to the sport.

[@swaginfinite9165]

So men perform better from 5k to 100miles, no one cares. When women perform better than men in just the 195miles, eberyone celebrates. Gotta love the double standards.

[@iberiksoderblom]

Define "better".

[@timshields8720]

Of course they are

[@XX-is7ps]

“Faster isn’t better”. Yeeeeeeeah… about that…..

[@swaginfinite9165]

Jasmine does not deserve any more praise than any of the men that came in before her.

[@Kelly_Ben]

Anyone who accomplished a "first" deserves praise, because they push the boundaries of possibility, and encourage others to try. Whether it's race or gender, a physical challenge, political election, or career milestones, "the first" person opens doorways for all the rest.

[@JohnDoe-fv5fe]

Load of rubbish, redo your graphs and only choose the top 50 times for both genders and your graph changes dramatically, less women take part in the longer distances and the ones who do are confident they can finish, whereas there's multiple male entries who are setting themselves a huge challenge and struggling to finish

[@ThisMessyHappy]

So why is that a load of rubbish? On average women have better finisher times at those distances. It’s a fact.

[@peterjones5878]

@@ThisMessyHappy It's a misleading interpretation of the stats. It's like the thing where average parkrun times are getting slower - this doesn't mean that people are getting slower, just that more casual/beginner runners are taking part. You could say that parkrunners used to be faster, but that would be really misleading. It is similarly misleading to say that women are faster at ultramarathons if the women's field is more selective/elite.

[@vento2175]

i like the gerneal message :) The myth/saying that women are better at tolerating pain is long scientifically proven wrong. They feel more pain and resist it far less well then man. I really don't know why people still bring this wrong up after so many years :)

[@danielmiddleham9881]

Unsubscribed as I don't want to hear about 100k subscribers for the first minute or two and at the end of every video. Sorry. To me it's coming off badly especially when you have always purported to be no hard sell.

[@fitnessfevermelbourne8611]

Well, I’ve just subscribed because I find Ben & Mary enlightening in catering for all of our vast & wide running community. Keep the great work going guys.🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

[@epiconan270]

Agree, be like Mr beast and provide the value first

[@hahaha123]

This channel provides tons of good content. It will get to 100k without your support and negativity.

[@jellyabramovic2473]

Thank you for this video. It's certainly food for thought. How about non biological reasons, like how gender roles are organised in most societies? Housework and childrearing responsibilities still fall more on women than men, which makes it more difficult to train and race (time, fatigue etc.) Jasmin Paris breastfeeding and running an ultra is simply exceptional, but she also has an exceptionally supportive partner, who should be more the norm than the exception...many women with (small) children simply don't have time to run long distances. So, the domestic chore distribution between men and women needs to be more balanced for us to genuinely feel like women can compete more fairly. In the meantime, we do what we can. 🦵💪

[@ArcaneSpells]

💯 💯