Fast Running Blog

Which do you find more painful?  I ran a 5k course yesterday as a tempo run, giving about 90% effort and realized the final stretch felt far more uncomfortable than my recent marathon effort.  Yeah, the marathons are obviously more taxing on the body, but I sure do hate an all out 5k effort!

5K!!

There is nothing better than a nice, relaxing marathon, especially one with enjoyable scenery and good conversation. The one caveat is that you need to be very very fit to enjoy a marathon. However, no matter how fit you are, a 5K always hurts.

I would add the more 5 K specific fit you are, the more 5 Ks hurt.

Interesting...there was a part of me hoping that the more fit a person becomes, the more comfortable a strong 5k effort feels.  Hearing from 2 elites, my hopes seem dashed.

Very true.

Is that why as we age we tend to move up in distance?  Can't take the 5K pain anymore? 

I know of any race distance 5K to marathon, the I dread the 5K pain the most.

I actually think that 5k is the most painful of all standard distances.  In a mile race I know the first lap will be nothing, the second is spent trying to relax, the third starts to be painful and you have to gradually pull the effort up until the last lap.  The last lap is 98-99% effort for 200-300m and then 100% effort for the final sprint.  You can feel the acid all the way into your arms and you vision sometimes blurs.  But the pain is so acute and over so soon that its not too bad.  In a 5k it can be a struggle from the half mile mark till the finish.  The best pacing would make it not hurt until maybe halfway through but that is still 1.6 miles of being very uncomfortable.  8k, 10k are both pretty bad but long enough that you have to worry about muscle fatigue at the hard pace and so the pain is much more dull until the kick.  Beyond that you should generally be comfortable for 2/3rds to 3/4th of the race.  And after that it is mostly muscle fatigue which imo isn't as bad as aerobic distress.

Every time I run a 5k I ask myself why I am putting myself through such torture.  I don't ask the same question when I run a marathon.  5ks hurt--yah I'll agree with that assessment.  The only way they don't hurt is if you choose to not race it.

I think the shorter the distance (at least down to 400 m) the more intense or acute the physical pain becomes.  The marathon is always gonna hurt when you hit the wall or whatever, but I think the most intense and demoralizing physical pain I've ever experienced in a race was in an 800 m.  The mile seemed like the next most painful followed by the 2 mile and 5k's actually seemed fairly pain free comparatively when I was in high school since those were my longest races.  I must have been a masochist since I lived off the mile.  Now a 5k kicks my butt but the one marathon I've done wasn't that bad...at least until the last 3 miles or so--of course I did kind of sandbag it but still...

I think 5K's would have a higher intensity pain, but over a shorter time because running a 5K puts you very near your anaerobic threshold. This book I read said that an elite marathon runner runs at about 40% of his maximum speed, so that's going to be a longer more subtle pain I would think.

I actually think we move up in distance because the first thing you lose to age is speed. The 5k is such a tough race because it is run so close to all out speed. The older you get, the slower you become which makes the half and full marathons natural steps for those who are losing speed but still want to put in the mileage.

I've haven't ran a 5K because I'm chicken to after running hard 10Ks.  I just know that what awaits is worse and I don't want to go there.  Someday I'll build up the courage. :-\

I run ultras, and for me a hard 5K is more painful than a 50-miler.   However, there is nothing like the pain of the last ten miles of a 100-miler.