Forums >General Running>The unique pain of each distance
I have friends or acquaintances who say they are never sore or stiff after a 10K or half marathon. Well, they aren't racing it then!!!
Not that this is a bad thing, but I think many people do 10Ks and more 1/2s for the pure social aspect and just try to enjoy it.
I recall running 5Ks with my son when he was 8 or 9 years old giving his all. It was a jog and fun for me... for him, it was fun in a sick sort of way.
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I don't think I'm sore or stiff after a 10K. (I don't race HM, so I don't know.) Immediately after a full, I'm very sore and stiff. But after a 5K or a 10K, I'm just exhausted, not sore.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
not bad for mile 25
Huh, I feel soreness the day after a 5K or 10K, but not exhaustion.
MTA: And after a full, the whole gamut.
A few years back, I had done 5 races in a 10 race 5K series and after the fifth race (which I didn't PR, having PR'd 1-4), I told my AG competitors that I wouldn't be back, I just couldn't take the pain any more. I feel the same now, 10-Ks and longer (to me, excluding marathons which have destroyed me each time) involve getting in a groove for the first half with steadily increasing amounts of pain towards the end. The 5K I did this past Sunday was absolutely brutal for me from start to finish.
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I think there are races and then there are "goal races". For example, I race a 10K recently where I felt like I went all out but it was not a goal race. I did well but did not feel any real soreness the day or two after. BUT, in my 10K or half goal races, I just go to another level and usually my quads and body are fried the next day (s). Kind of hard to explain but there is a difference for me!!!
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Thanks for that. Interesting read. Personally I find 5K and under uniquely painful yet I can run an ok 5K. The Marathon is really hard and painful and I haven't figured it out. The stuff between those distances is much nicer. It must say something about the apparent lack of focus in my training.
No more marathons
I really like this quote from the article:
"Falling apart in a 5K is painful, but it's just pain," says Frey. "But falling apart in a marathon, I believe you lose a year of your life. You complete the marathon feeling utterly defeated, knowing that it got the best of you, and you go home and ask your mom if she still loves you."
In racing 5K, 10K, and even 15K I know what to expect, and I know that even if I try to overachieve, the race is short enough that the pain will only be brief. But the marathon - well, the worse you blow it, the longer and more grueling that death march is going to be. And the blow up can come regardless of your training. If you are racing on the edge, it doesn't take much for the wheels to fall off.
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
But the marathon - well, the worse you blow it, the longer and more grueling that death march is going to be. And the blow up can come regardless of your training. If you are racing on the edge, it doesn't take much for the wheels to fall off.
Granted. But there's a different between "which race distance is the toughest" and "which race distance hurts most to blow up at". For the former question, I'd assume a well-run race.
Point for you.
Given that qualifier, then the point the article makes is spot on - the toughest race is that one that we do the least and are therefore that much less comfortable (paraphrasing just a bit).
Huh, I feel soreness the day after a 5K or 10K, but not exhaustion. MTA: And after a full, the whole gamut.
Huh, I was talking about 10 minutes afterward, not the next day. But, now that I think of it, I don't have much soreness the day after short races anyway. Whereas the recovery jog the evening of, or day after, a marathon, is going to start out painful and slow and creaky, although the second and third miles will get much better than the limping beginning mile.
But that is just a discussion of soreness. For me, the pain involved in a 400, or a mile, or a 5K, is all *IN* the race - mostly all in the second half. The exhaustion wears off very rapidly with stopping.
I've had two good 5Ks where I didn't fantasize about quitting from about halfway on. One was a PR. I've had numerous other 5Ks where I was most definitely fantasizing about quitting (how to avoid the walk of shame required...). I don't know what made those two particular 5Ks different. I can't just chalk it up to competition, because I've had more competitive races in the usual "fantasize about quitting" category. Usually I'm telling myself to just keep pushing, because if I can get into mile 3, then it won't be worth quitting. Then keep pushing to half a mile to go, because anyone can manage another half mile....
I have seen a bipolar? outlook on the distances, in myself.
Just after a marathon, I really don't want to race long again, and I look forward to a 5K.
Just after racing a 5K, I don't want to race a 5K again, and would prefer something longer, where there is more time of enjoyment before the pain kicks in.