If women and men compete separately, why do so many women train with men? Most women will tell you it’s to help them ride, run or swim stronger. If they always chase after someone who is faster, it makes sense they eventually will get faster too, right? Wrong.
I learned this lesson the hard way in the winter of 2001 when my collegiate cycling team was preparing for a strong performance at the road racing championships in late spring. Our team that year consisted of 10 men and three women. At the time, I mistakenly believed that the harder I trained, the better I would get. And what better way to train hard than riding with … men.
But after only one month of training with the guys, I was tired, cranky and skipping rides because of physical and mental burnout.
Sure, I was earning praise for being able to keep up with the Y-chromosomes, but I was struggling mightily to do it.
Physiologically, riding with men every day was taking too much out of me, and psychologically, it was self-defeating. Instead of comparing my fitness to other women, I was comparing myself to men, a game all women are set up to lose.
A woman’s heart is smaller than a man’s, which means the volume of blood pumped with each heartbeat is going to be less than a man’s. Also, a woman, on average, delivers less oxygen to her muscles than a man can pump to his. Combined, these factors lead to a lower aerobic capacity, and it’s this lower aerobic power coupled with lower muscular strength and maximum power output in females that separates women from men.
Now, it’s all right to train with the guys every once and awhile. If a woman is lucky enough to have a spouse or boyfriend to train with, she should match her moderate to moderately hard workouts to his easier training days so they have the best chance of actually working out together.
I learned from my mistake in college in time to salvage my season. I started training by myself instead of with the team, and as a result of my focused effort, I earned a podium finish at nationals.
Even now, 15 years later, I rarely deviate from my training program to join the men. And I’ll tell you why. Winning races feels so much better than being able to say, “I can keep up with the guys” on a Tuesday training ride.
Ivana Bisaro of Colorado Springs is a coach for Carmichael Training Systems. For more on the latest nutrition, fitness and performance tips, go to www.trainright.com/newsletter.
