Why do men always set off too quickly in races? And why do many of us eschew company on our long runs? When it comes to running, men may have the brawn, but women certainly have the brains. Here are three lessons we can all learn from the fairer sex.

Lesson one: Pacing

A study of 1,815,091 marathon results, involving 131 marathons from 2008 to 2014, revealed that – although men’s average finish time of 4hrs 21mins 36secs is 20 minutes quicker than women’s – women are 18.61% better than men at pacing themselves. Women, on average, went through the first 13.1 miles in 10.28min/mil, before dropping to 11.87min/mil for the second half. Men, on the other hand, ran at 8.9min/miling for the first half, before dropping to 10.36min/miling over the last 13.1 miles.

This data shows that, while both sexes could improve their marathon times by simply starting out slower, women are clearly better at running at a consistent effort. The question is, how can we ego-driven blokes do the same?

Laura Fountain, UK Athletics Coach and the voice behind lazygirlrunning.com, thinks the key to women’s pacing prowess is a more considered approach to training. “Women are better at knowing when to be competitive and when to ease back,” she says. “Not every run is a race. An important part of training is going slow sometimes.”

Lesson two: Digging deep

Because when it comes to the long, grueling and, in the eyes of many, incomprehensible distances worthy of the term ultramarathon, the gap between men and women is considerably lessened. In fact, it’s the only distance over which the elite female athletes directly compete against the men. This, despite the physiological advantages that men tend to possess (larger hearts and stronger muscles) – which goes to suggest one thing: when the going gets tough, the tough tend to be female.

And none more so than the indomitable Ann Trason, the greatest female ultrarunner of all time and a woman who regularly ‘chicked’ her male competitors. “Mental toughness was extremely important to my success,” she tells MR. “What it takes to dig deep is 100% mental. For me, mental strength helped me to succeed in most of the ultras I competed in.” Trason’s pure grit is typified by her oft-repeated statement: “It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse.” Such was the spirit of the middle-aged woman doing the overtaking in the opening paragraph. On a purely physical level, I should have been running quicker than her, but mentally I had let the pain take hold – she had not.

Lesson three: Community spirit

“Women tend to run together in social groups more than men,” says Laura Fountain. “I coach a women’s running group and my runners like the camaraderie of training together, racing together and just going out for a casual run together. I know that men do the same but it seems to me that women run together more. Maybe it comes from wanting the safety of a group, or maybe there is more of a community between female runners.”

The head-clearing, meditative benefits of running alone are obvious, but it can also breed the sort of selfish, split-time obsessed qualities that make the distinctly average bloke think he’s the next Steve Ovett. There’s definitely something to be said for women’s unceasing ability to enjoy each other’s company; running in a group can help to keep you motivated. Equally, though, it can provide a healthy reality check – which might just help that pacing problem.

Fountain does, however, see a need for women to step up and utilise their sense of community spirit. “As a female coach, I’m in the minority,” she says. According to Sports Coach UK, only 30% of coaches are women. We need more women coaches because we need more coaches full stop. Running clubs depend on volunteer coaches to keep our sport alive. So if there’s one thing that women could learn from men, it’s stepping up and leading the way for other runners.”