Serious question here.
Why is that so many men in the world can run a good 5k/10k/ 1/2 marathon, good xc, etc. even world class guys and yet can't put together a good 26.2 miles.
There are these women running sub 2:30's that couldn't touch guys over a 5k, 10k, xc, etc. but it's like guys can't store the energy or something and the women can.
If the marathon was a 20 mile race it would be a lot different I think.
Think about it. Never do you bonk in a marathon because you aerobically are thrashed like in a 5000m or something and can't run any faster, you just flat out run out of gas in the tank.
I think women are more effecient over long distances. For instance the women I coach on our xc team can regularly run closer to their race pace then men. If a guy runs 25:00 for 5 miles he is racing at 5:00 pace. If a women runs say 18:40 for 5k then she is racing at 6:00 pace. I've seen the ladies run 7:00-7:15 all day long day after day talking, but if guys ran 6:00 everyday it wouldn't work with recovery.
Not sure if that makes sense.
Any thoughts?