WDC

ARE WOMEN RUNNERS DIFFERENT FROM MEN?
This depends on if you are referring to speed or does running affect women differently?  If the two are equally well-trained, the average woman is going to be slower than the average man for the following physiological reasons:

• Women have smaller hearts than men, so the heart pumps less blood with each beat.  Thus, to run at a given pace, a women's heart rate has to be higher than a man's.
• Women have lower level of hemoglobin (a protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from your lungs to your muscles) than men, so less oxygen is sent to working muscles.
• Women have a higher body fat storage than men.
• Women's have lower levels of testosterone mean that women have less muscle than men.

This sums up to women are always going to be slower than men.  Although they are not as fast as men, running has the same effect on both sexes.  Studies have consistently shown that women who train at the same level as men see the same amount of increase in their fitness level.

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