![]() “There’s greater investment on the men’s side from an early age, meaning they might be doing things like training by power earlier and simply using better equipment. “In general, the difference between junior men and junior women is pretty big and part of that is simply down to equipment and support,” Irizar explains. The 43-year-old Basque is now a talent scout at Lidl-Trek and spends a great deal of time working with the likes of Elisa Longo Borghini and Lizzie Deignan on the women’s team. Irizar was one of the most beloved riders in the men’s WorldTour peloton, overcoming testicular cancer in 2002 to ride professionally for Euskaltel-Euskadi, Team RadioShack and Trek-Segafredo between 20. There also might be a resource one, according to Markel Irizar. So, there might be a physiological reason behind the age-related gender skew. The passage of time, it seems, could sharpen the top end upon a strong aerobic foundation. “It seems that the older you get, the more your body responds to this stimulus,” Sims adds. Thankfully, the female rider can slowly shift towards greater carbohydrate burning, though it takes consistent high-intensity work over many years. This protein encourages mitochondrial development, which in turn fires up the fat and spares glycogen.” Men, on the other hand, generally have lower levels of CD36 so might not be as adept on the fat metabolism side but are more proficient on the carb-burning side.įat is nectar for long, slow-to-moderate efforts but is too slow to breakdown and use for hard efforts like sprinting or repeated efforts on a mountain. “, part of this is down to having naturally high levels of a protein called CD36. “We know there are inherent sex differences from birth that allow women to use more free fatty acids for energy,” Sims explains. Sims raced for Team Tibco in the early 2000s before forging a career that’s seen her grow into a leading expert on female physiology and training. You might be thinking this is all relatively interesting under-the-bonnet stuff but what’s it got to do with this age-related discussion? That’s where Dr Stacy Sims comes in. Some research suggests female athletes adapt more to high-intensity efforts as they get older (Thomas Maheux/ASO) If you have more slow-twitch fibres (or a greater surface area of slow-twitch fibres), you’ll have more mitochondria, which metabolise fat for fuel. In turn, this leads to another physiological phenomenon: that women are more prolific fat-burners. The theory goes that as the event stretches to days if not weeks, slow-twitch fibres become ever-more advantageous. These are more fatigue-resistant than fast-twitch fibres, of which men naturally have more than women, which tire quickly but are capable of generating greater amounts of power. Why isn’t fully understood, but one theory that attracts plenty of support in physiological circles is down to women naturally having a greater percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibres than men. This notion received support by recent research out of France where a team led by Guillaume Millet, professor of exercise physiology at Jean Monnet University in Saint-Etienne, analysed over 30 years’ worth of trail running results and discovered that while men’s speed decreased by 4.02% for every 10km effort increase, it decreased by just 3.25% for the women. It’s a similar tale in running where in 2019 Jasmin Paris famously became the first woman to win the 268-mie Montane Spine Race in northern England.Īs event distance grows, the gender gap seemingly shrinks. ![]() Goldstein’s remarkable performance was arguably the standout in a series of ultra-cycling events where the women outperformed the men. The former elite commando instructor beat all the women and all the men as she conquered the 3,000-mile route in 11 days, three hours and three minutes. Those of you who keep tabs on ultra-endurance cycling will have heard of Leah Goldstein, for in 2022 the then 52-year-old became the first woman to take the overall win in the Race Across America (RAAM). ![]()
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