Forums >General Running>OK Marathoners and Half Marathoners...A Question...
...do you guys still register/participate in 5K/10K runs? I'm curious as I'm new to this whole "world of running" cuz I can see benefits to it to maintain fitness and/or work on speed etc...yeah?
an amazing likeness
You're going to get about a gazillon replies...but in general, I think you'll find that most folks run a variety of the popular race distances. Focusing on one distance is less common. Many of the longer distance training plans will have runners race shorter distances as well.
Shorter answer = For all the reasons you mention, yes.
(As an example, I'm just a run of the mill aging jogger and this year my race mix was: 1x1mi, 1x5K, 1x4mi, 2x5mi, 4x10K, 1x10mi, 15x13.1mi.)
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
I sometimes even sign up for the one mile run for the little kids. Feels amazing coming in first. A win is a win.
You're going to get about a gazillon replies...but in general, I think you'll find that most folks run a variety of the popular race distances. Focusing on one distance is less common. Many of the longer distance training plans will have runners race shorter distances as well. Shorter answer = For all the reasons you mention, yes. (As an example, I'm just a run of the mill aging jogger and this year my race mix was: 1x1mi, 1x5K, 1x4mi, 2x5mi, 4x10K, 1x10mi, 15x13.1mi.)
Wow...You did 15 half marathons this last year? Much respect my friend. I'm shooting for 4 half marathons, 2 tough mudders and a few 5-10Ks next year myself. Thanks for the feedback.
**giggle** kewlness.
I'm a big fan of mixing it up and doing different distances...so far in 2012 I did 27 races; 13 of those were half marathons and the remainder split between 5K's and 10K's (two more still to come this month--a 5 miler and a 30K). I also did a couple duathlons & some road cycling events.
I don't enjoy doing a lot of speed work during my training runs, so I get my speed work in by racing the shorter distances--the fun of it being a race makes it feel better to me vs trying to go fast in my training runs.
Next year I'm training for my first full (end of June) so I may cut back a little bit on the shorter distance races but we'll see!
Check out the goals in my signature below. I plan to race everything from 800m to 26.2 miles in 2013. Racing is fun. Variety is cool. Or maybe not. Run the distances you like and enjoy.
2013 goals: 800m: 2:20 | mile: 4:59 | 5k: 18:59 | 10k: 39:59 | HM: 1:32 | Marathon: 3:20
Walk-Jogger
I'm happy to race anything that comes along, from 60 meters up to 25k and our annual 8 mile hill climb. Have never done a marathon though. I love a mix of a lot of short fast training sessions and a few nice relatively hard long runs. I don't get in enough of the long runs because I'm a weather-wimp. My 5k and 10k races are a very important ingredient of my half-marathon training.
Retired & Loving It
5ks yes, 10ks no (but I will likely do one sometime soon because I haven't run one since... yikes... 2002ish). I don't like 10ks, never have.
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 "
#artbydmcbride
I like to run a variety of distances in racing.
Runners run
Not a fan of the 10K. Regardless, if there were more of them happening, I'd do more of them. But to answer the question, I'm not really a (half) marathoner, so I guess my answer is in reverse. I intend on running lots of 5Ks (and other shorter distances), but I'm still doing two halfs in the first half of 2013.
Current PRs:
5K: 27:06 (11/10/12) | 5M: 44:03 (6/1/13) | 10K: 1:00:48 (7/4/12)
15K: 1:27:53 (3/17/13) | 10M: 1:30:25 (4/13/13) | HM: 1:59:55 (4/28/13)
Next race: Ashland 4th of July 10K
In 2012 I have run three marathons, one half, one 10k, one five-miler and one 5k.
Most marathon training plans have several tune-up races comprising of atleast a 10K and a half marathon in the ramp up. So you would end up doing some anywayz. In fact, loosely speaking, 5ks are also recommended when you are in a stage to add speed to your training.
I dont sweat. I ooze liquid awesome.