What is the most painful track event?

800 is hell if you run it right

The 800m is not two times your 400m PR and the first lap is going to feel easy. For that distance, nothing has changed and it hurt just as much 100 years ago.

Yes, all of the distances can hurt and a runner can experience “rig” (riger mortis) in any race. I ran some ran some 2-miles where I ran close to my mile PR for the first half and the last two laps were miserable. For one of them, I was in 10:00 shape, but finished in about 85. Nothing could have been more painful, both physically and psychologically, as that race.

so they offer all the normal HS stuff but not relays or hurdles, sure boss

Triple jump

800. Ok let's move on.

That only applies to people who haven't trained for the event.

Also, the training can get bad. Training for longer events, done properly, should only rarely reach a truly awful level. Short sprints is a lot of short bursts and technique. But some of the things you have to do somewhat regularly for high-level 800 (and 400) training just grinds the hell out of a person.

So for an ultramarathon you are doing it for much longer than the others but no pain whatsoever?

Nothing looks quite as painful as watching a first timer go all out on the opening lap to start off their 3200m. Personally, the 1600m always felt like I had been shot in the chest once I was done

I've run everything from the 400m to the marathon, including the steeplechase.

For me, there is nothing that compares to the pain of the last 75m of a 400m race. 800m pain feels a lot like 1500m pain, but it shorter lived. And, the steeple has the 5000m and 10000m beat. But, there is also nothing like the pain of a marathon from about the 20 mile mark on and not being able to move for days afterwards.

So, here is my ranking:

Marathon

400m

1500m

800m

Steeple

400 hurdles

10,000m

5,000m

Half-marathon

Peak pain is the 800m but it lasts 30-60 seconds. The longer the race the more pain you can feel over the race.

I agree. It’s funny how the wokesters downvoted you.

Javelin or Hammer catcher.

Javelin catching.

Depends. Do you value more free time over painful training sessions?

You'd spend more time running if you choose the 3200.

800 > 400 > 1600 in terms of pain. 800 totally depletes you and you can expect to puke after a 400 training.

Not the question you asked, but if you're planning to run indoors, definitely the 600, which manages to combine the worst of the 400 and the 800.

Oh, and you will never be even decent at the 400/800 if you are not fast. Naturally fast, I mean.

If you were not one of the fastests kids as a child, go for the 1600. If you were average, 3200.

For me personally the 800 is the hardest. I've never run the 400m hurdles but I would say all in all that's probably the most difficult event in track and field because jumping while sprinting is exhausting.

My 800 PR came from 27.xx for four 200s in a row. My fastest open 400 was like 50.xx mid to high so 54 second high 400s back to back felt like I was nearly running as hard as I could.

Mentally the most difficult was the 5k on a track because you're running right up against where you'd start blowing up but you seem to hang on lap after lap but it's like a long drawn out fatigue in my experience. The mental part is being on the gas the whole time for that many laps in a row. Never done a 10k on a track but I bet that is hard too

My 5k PR came in a race that I was getting spit out of the back of the pack running 4:28 per mile and coming through 3k faster than my "second fastest" 3k ever ran at like 8:25 or so. The mental trickery require to keep your head while being second to last coming through 2 miles sub 9 minute pace is something special.

800= the gold standard of pain. You're running as fast as possible and have to keep going while your body is flat-out quitting on you. That last 100 feels like a really bad drug-induced dream. You flail away for a few more seconds and you're Still 100 away from the line. Watching Bryce Hoppel to me epitomizes the agony of the event. Can't imagine how mind blowingly awful it was to set an American record with a 1:41 and come in freaking 4th in Paris.