Women’s trail running: understanding your body to perform with Justine Pierron
In this episode of the podcast, I welcomed sports coach Justine Pierron to talk about trail running for women: training for women, female physiology, taking the menstrual cycle into account... We tackled a whole range of subjects without any taboos!
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Episode summary
In the latest episode of the podcast La Sportive Outdoor, coach Justine Pierron lifts the veil on the specifics of female endurance physiology. Her message is clear: to perform, women must stop modeling their training on male models and learn to deal with their own biology.
Justine Pierron: from pharmacy to specialized coaching
A former hospital pharmacy technician, Justine Pierron chose to retrain in sport to help people achieve better health. Now a specialized trail and fitness coach, she focuses specifically on supporting women. Noting a lack of expertise in women’s physiology, she reiterates a fundamental principle: “We’re not little men”. For her, standard training plans, often based on male studies, are not adapted to women’s hormonal and structural variations.
Endurance: a woman’s secret weapon
Physiologically, women have major advantages when it comes to ultra-distance running. Although they have on average 10-15% less muscle mass than men, and a smaller lung capacity, they excel at managing long efforts. . This performance was due to :
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- Muscle fibers: These are naturally oriented towards endurance.
- The use of lipids: Women have more fat reserves, an energy source they use more efficiently than men over hours of effort.
- Strength: Justine Pierron stresses the importance of strengthening muscles from the age of 30 or 35 to compensate for natural loss of mass (sarcopenia) and protect the body.
The menstrual cycle, a performance parameter
The menstrual cycle should no longer be seen simply as a constraint, but as an indicator to be incorporated into planning. The coach points out that premenstrual syndrome (PMS) “pumps a lot of energy” as the body prepares physiologically for a possible pregnancy.
To optimize her practice, she advises athletes to analyze their own functioning over two or three cycles, using a notebook or an app. The aim is to listen to yourself and accept that “training adapts to you, it’s not up to you to adapt to training”.
Detach yourself from numbers to rediscover pleasure
Another key aspect of her approach is to stop using measurement tools such as Strava or GPS watches. She encourages her athletes to work on feel (perceived effort) rather than pure speed, which is often irrelevant in trail running. “Be proud to say you’ve succeeded in endurance running”, she asserts, denouncing the pressure of social comparison that can lead to a drop in motivation.
