Males and Females Pace Differently in High School Cross-Country Races

Abstract

Deaner, RO and Lowen, A. Males and females pace differently in high school cross-country races. J Strength Cond Res 30(11): 2991-2997, 2016-Previous studies have demonstrated that men are more likely than women to slow in the marathon, but it is unknown whether the sex difference in pacing occurs for other race distances. This study addressed this question by analyzing the 5-km Virginia State Championship high school cross-country race for the years 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014, which encompassed 3,948 performances. The pacing measure was percentage change in speed from mile 1 to mile 2. Across all runners, women (9.1%) slowed significantly (p = 0.002) more than men (8.7%), although the magnitude of the difference was trivial (effect size [ES] = -0.10). However, when women and men in physiologically equated finishing time groups (e.g., <17:00 for men; <19:03 for women) were compared, men slowed significantly more (p < 0.001) in all 4 groups, and the differences were nontrivial (ESs range 0.27-0.92). Because glycogen depletion is irrelevant for 5 km performances, these results challenge the hypothesis that the sex difference in pacing is due to males' greater susceptibility to glycogen depletion. These results instead support the hypothesis that the sex difference in pacing partly reflects a sex difference in some aspect of decision making, such as overconfidence, risk perception, or willingness to tolerate discomfort. Coaches and athletes are advised to consider individual variation in these characteristics when planning training and racing.

Pacing Profiles in Age Group Cross-Country Skiers in the Vasaloppet 2012-2016

“…Sex differences in pacing in 5 km running race have been attributed to psychological aspects of decision making, e.g. over-confidence, risk perception and willingness to tolerate discomfort (9).…”

“…For instance, it has been shown that in the 5 km Virginia State Championship high school cross country running race, women slowed more than men from mile one to mile two when the whole sample was considered, but when only a part of the sample was analysed (i.e. the fastest athletes) men slowed the mostly (9). In the 'Vasaloppet', men were faster in splits 6, 7 and 8 (in total, there are eight split times), and women in splits 2, 3 and 4, but sexes had a similar overall race time (5).…”

“…The examination of more age groups would allow studying performance trends across ages. Also, the consideration of the whole number of participants might result in different findings compared to examining only a number of best athletes (9). Moreover, the men-to-women ratio in the participation to this race and performance variations across calendar years have not been previously examined.…”

Analysis of pacing strategies in 10 km open water swimming in international events

“…It is well known that pacing strategy is highly relevant to performance in most elite sports, especially those that involve competing over long distances and/or prolonged times such as cross country running (Deaner & Lowen, 2016), marathon running (Hanley, 2016), cycling (Davies, et al, 2016), and long distance swimming (Baldassarre, et al, 2017). The swimming marathon is the event at the Olympics that most closely resembles 10 km open water swimming.…”

Impact of Continuous Practice to the Performance in Cross Country Race

“…Then from this event, some students will be selected and sent to participate at the next level of cross-country race in Majlis Sukan Sekolah Daerah (MSSD). There are three categories; below 12 years old (4 kilometers), below 15 years old (6 kilometers) and below 18 years old (8 kilometers) [3,4].…”