Forums >General Running>Differences Between Races Measured in Meters Versus Kilometers
I'm just curious about why there are different records for distances that should be identical. For instance, if you go to a runner's stats, you'll sometimes see their 10,000 meter time and a different 10K time. Theoretically both distances should be identical although I'm surmising the latter is run on a road rather than a track.
Assuming a race is held on an accurately measured course and that traffic is not an issue, why should there be a difference between the two settings? Is it just because of elevation variation even though the road course begins and ends at the same place as against a track that is perfectly flat?
Personal Records:
5K - 20:07 ran in September 2021 (The second half split during the 10K run listed below.)
10K - 41:10 ran in September 2021
8 miles - 56:15 ran in November 2021
Half Marathon - 1:39:06 ran in September 2020
an amazing likeness
Aren't the track times always faster due to controlled conditions like limits on wind speed and things like that? In addition to the course variations that the track doesn't have that road does.
Track is assumed to be ideal conditions and events in different locations can be compared to each other. Whereas 10K at road course x doesn't compare to 10K at road course y.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
10,000m and 5,000m events are track - 5k and 10k are road. I assume the distinction is because the track is flat and therefore the same regardless of where it is run, whereas road races can have a lot of variation (hills, corners, etc) and therefore aren’t always as comparable to each other like milktruck pointed out.
It might seem odd but a 10k and a 10,000m are actually really different races. Imagine running 25 laps of a track versus a road course with a lot of different scenery.
3,000m: 9:07.7 (Nov-21) | 5,000m: 15:39 (Dec-19) | 10,000m: 32:34 (Mar-20)
10km: 33:15 (Sep-19) | HM: 1:09:41 (May-21)* | FM: 2:41:41 (Oct-20)
* Net downhill course
Last race: Waterfront HM, 7 Apr, 1:15:48
Up next: Runway5, 4 May
"CONSISTENCY IS KING"
World athletics and other governing bodies have always considered road running as a different event from track racing, with separate records. I always figured track races are expressed in meters and road races in kilometers to convey the different levels of precision in measuring each.
They're different enough events that it has never seemed strange to me.
Runners run
Are we there, yet?
+1
Tactics, field size, awareness of where you are in the race, more frequent splits, crowd size; they all contribute to makiing them different races.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
Addendum to all the great info above....
10,000 meters on a track is 10,000 meters plus or minus just a little bit for passing and whatnot. 10k on a road implies measurement, and road race measurement is a bit of a dark art. Ok, not really, I'm being poetic. But there IS a bunch of stuff that's factored in (including an actual fudge factor) which does not come up in track stuff.
You need bhearn in here to talk about what counts for a "record" on track vs road.
Then we can talk trails where the shit is bananas.
wait, my track times are supposed to be faster?
Know thyself.
Interesting. So I'd imagine 10,000 meter track times would be faster given the flat and controlled conditions compared to 10K road times. Are there then two official records for each distance - one for track and one for road?
Yes, and in addition to different records for road and
track, there are separate records for indoor track and outdoor track.
After WWI, Sir Richard Mark Craigstuart III, Earl of the Fifth Firth of Avonsdale, found himself stranded in France. During the war, Sir Richard had developed a serious attraction to French wine and bit of drinking problem.
Post-war he remained in France to enjoy the wine, cheese and truffles and one day upon being encouraged to exit a roadside cafe due to his badly inebriated state, Sir Richard found himself staggering mid-road when the peleton of the 1932 Tour de France swept by heading up to Alp du Steepaspoop. Wine bottle in hand, Sir Richard was incensed at being passed by these smelly vagabond bike-riding ne'erdowells and preceded to chase down the lead rider, intent on bonking him over the head with the bottle in his hand.
Unbeknownst to Sir Richard, he had passed a timing station for the last 10K of the day's Tour stage, and recorded the first road running 10K while in pursuit of Benoit Wafflepedal who was pulling the peleton up Alp for the day's stage. At the finish the gobsmacked timers recorded Sir Richard's finish time of 36:54.
Heading into the Goodwill games of 1952, it was widely expected that 10,000 meter race times would be pushed into the low 35s, perhaps even 34:58. Everyone had been watching Bannister's times, and knew that the post WWII elite University athletes we benefiting from training on beaches to slow-motion music and were clawing down record times across the board.
In a desperate attempt to preserve Sir Richard's legacy, his nephew, the Third Earl of Wilshire in Essex, sued the IOC, the IATF, the League of Nations and Aston Martin claiming that track records could never be compared to road records.
This legacy lives on to present times.
Probably have a few details wrong, but that’s generally how these things happen.
I would add that the energy return from track surface is an advantage over a road. The world road versus track records for 5000m 5k and 10 000m and 10k are all faster for the track versions although with shoes like Vaporflys the gap is closing.
55+ PBs 5k 18:36 June 3rd TT
" If you don't use it you lose it, but if you use it, it wears out.
Somewhere in between is about right "
After WWI, Sir Richard Mark Craigstuart III, Earl of the Fifth Firth of Avonsdale, found himself stranded in France. During the war, Sir Richard had developed a serious attraction to French wine and bit of drinking problem. Post-war he remained in France to enjoy the wine, cheese and truffles and one day upon being encouraged to exit a roadside cafe due to his badly inebriated state, Sir Richard found himself staggering mid-road when the peleton of the 1932 Tour de France swept by heading up to Alp du Steepaspoop. Wine bottle in hand, Sir Richard was incensed at being passed by these smelly vagabond bike-riding ne'erdowells and preceded to chase down the lead rider, intent on bonking him over the head with the bottle in his hand. Unbeknownst to Sir Richard, he had passed a timing station for the last 10K of the day's Tour stage, and recorded the first road running 10K while in pursuit of Benoit Wafflepedal who was pulling the peleton up Alp for the day's stage. At the finish the gobsmacked timers recorded Sir Richard's finish time of 36:54. Heading into the Goodwill games of 1952, it was widely expected that 10,000 meter race times would be pushed into the low 35s, perhaps even 34:58. Everyone had been watching Bannister's times, and knew that the post WWII elite University athletes we benefiting from training on beaches to slow-motion music and were clawing down record times across the board. In a desperate attempt to preserve Sir Richard's legacy, his nephew, the Third Earl of Wilshire in Essex, sued the IOC, the IATF, the League of Nations and Aston Martin claiming that track records could never be compared to road records. This legacy lives on to present times. Probably have a few details wrong, but that’s generally how these things happen.
I read this on the internet, and I, for one, believe every word.
A list of my PRs in a misguided attempt to impress people that do not care.