Our coach used to tell us to run a 5K like this.
Run the first mile like you are cheating yourself.
Run the first half of the second mile like you think you maybe should have during the first mile.
Be prepared to begin to acquire pain during the second half of the second mile
Hang on through the third mile. And if you run the first two mile correctly....you will be able to.
parkerjohn wrote:
If we are to believe what Cheptegei is telling us then the answer is never. Ridiculous.
It depends on your life experience sir! I have lost half my family in genocide so I will never say there is pain in running! Running even racing makes me feel alive, not the other way!
"When the guy says go, you start to suffer, or you might as well not be out there. It's a small piece of your life, make it hurt." -- Aaron Cox, US Mountain Biking Championships, 1986
After 1 mile - uncomfortable
After 2 miles - I would like to quit but I it is worth sticking it out.
After 3 miles - This is torture, but I could go through any pain for another .12.
After finish - That was awesome! Where is my water and banana.
Really though it is not pain. Your body and mind can tell the difference between this feeling and pain that is harming the body. The ability to relax through it and keep good form is important in the later stages. I may not have a great 5k time, but I love the distance. It is a chance to do battle with yourself, test your limits and still have the energy to celebrate and function afterwards.
mytwocents wrote:
In a similar vein, and I'm paraphrasing, someone asked Bob Kennedy what the difference was between a 13:00 5k and a 13:05 5k and his response was it hurts at for the last 4800m rather than the last 4600m.
I saw this thread and was going to type this very thing. Kennedy also said in the same interview something along the lines of "I have it down to where 9 1/2 laps bring exceptional discomfort so I only have to train to get the other 3 laps there and I am ready."
Conventional wisdom when using energy systems durations for training/racing say what so many others have said, '1600 - 2400 meters' should be where it gets challenging for most.
a runner wondering wrote:
As I run pretty much alone, I'm interested in your opnions about which point in the race are we expected to start feeling the discomfort/pain that is characteristic to the event?
To see if I'm gauging my efforts correctly?
Second kilometer.
A well-run 5k is a suffer-fest from about the first mile marker to the finish.
HarrierStu wrote:
The 2 mile mark. After this point, If you don't change gears incrementally, you are probably slowing down.
My PB races and efforts near this, the mental games you have to play to change gears to maintain or increase your pace is very challenging. The more you experience it, the better you will get at dealing with the discomfort.
Yes yes. Dr Jack would call that “running the first two thirds with your head and the last third with your heart.”
I join the 1.5k consensus on this thread, but as I get more experienced the less this seems to matter. For me making an intelligent guess what my race pace should be and then nailing that in the first 3k occupies my mind too much to fret about pain. That said, without someone to chase I find myself slowing down from 3000-4500 — no doubt a reflection on how much it sucks right then.
I was hurting by 400-600 meters in.
For me, if the voice in my head asking me to quit comes at half way, then I'm pacing myself well. If it comes before half way, I went out too quick. If it comes after half way, I went out too slow, but at least I'll finish strong with a long kick. In my experience, this is true for all race distances.
Great thread!
It’s gratifying for me to read that others also feel pain in the 5k.
In my last effort, I think I started to feel it after about 4k. My pacing was bad, went out too fast but eased off, maybe too much. Never felt in any real distress until maybe 3.5-4k, so I was likely too slow in the middle part, judging by how you guys are saying you feel.
Unlike you guys, I picked the 5k to do because I thought it was the shortest long distance event that I could cruise. You guys make it sound instead like the longest middle-distance event, full of pain! I suppose that’s the difference between running 14:xx and 18:xx?.
Halfhopeful wrote:
I may not have a great 5k time, but I love the distance. It is a chance to do battle with yourself, test your limits and still have the energy to celebrate and function afterwards.
Amen.
Lol 18:xx, makes me sound like 18:05
Ok the difference between 14 and 19 minutes?
For me I don’t let it strain until at least a mile is done, and I usually feel pretty uncomfortable through the second mile, but still in control enough that I can push strong surges and make moves, but the 3rd mile is really when I get lactic and have to focus on form and breathing to maintain pace.
My most recent 3 mile race I ran 16:07 with about 5:20-5:30-5:15 splits and hr went 168-178-186
Sprintgeezer wrote:
Unlike you guys, I picked the 5k to do because I thought it was the shortest long distance event that I could cruise. You guys make it sound instead like the longest middle-distance event, full of pain! I suppose that’s the difference between running 14:xx and 18:xx?.
Longest middle distance event - I think this is my favorite take yet! Whenever anyone compares 5Ks and marathons, I ask I’d they’d rather be flash-fried or slow-roasted: if a 5K isn’t searingly difficult, you’re doing it wrong!
I’ll throw in with the 2K lot. Usually the first mile feels pretty good, but pretty rapidly after that it turns into work. I liked the earlier mention of incremental gear changes to stay on top of the pace. I will say that when a race is going badly, it feels more like suffering during mile 3. When it’s going well, I get into a different headspace where I am much more focused on the effort that I am putting in, rather than the effort that it is taking. It feels more like I am pushing the pace than resisting fatigue. Small mental shift, and it’s not conscious, but it definitely happens.
On a good day, I can make it through the first mile with only mild discomfort. For me, the trick is then to try to "speed up" at the 1 mile mark. Note that I'm never actually speeding up, but I find that I have to feel like I'm speeding up in order to not slow down. I try to run the second mile like there is no 3rd mile, meaning with rapidly increasing levels of discomfort. In the 3rd mile, even on a good day, I'm going to slow down. It's just about fighting like hell not to.
Great topic.
For me, the first km feels pretty good.
By half way I'm wondering why on earth did I do this... the finish line is so far away!
By 4km I'd cheerfully lay down and die if instant painless death was guaranteed.
The last km my body is trying to slow down warring with my brain relentlessly driving me on.
Afterwards once I have recovered I can't wait to do it again.
I disagree with the entire notion of "pain" during a 5000. If that happens you probably screwed up the pacing and slowed down.
What exactly "hurts" during the race? Acid? That's never gonna approach where you're at in an 800 or 1500. Same goes for being out of breath, you can't really go to that level or your race is soon over. No, it's not pain - it's fear. You think about holding an effort for 15 or 20 minutes, the prospect frightens you, and modest discomfort becomes unbearable pain in your MIND.
That's why, if you drop out of a 5000, you almost always regret it within a few seconds as you realize you're just a chicken and weren't really suffering all that much. And start frantically making up excuses that will never impress anyone because we all know this.
If I pace myself well, I start to think "ouch, this sucks" around halfway. When I used to go out too hard every race in high school, the pain started by mile one and I was hanging on for dear life by halfway. I often wonder how much faster I could have been in high school if I weren't a complete idiot.
Hello Late Runner Phil!
Welcome back
Bad Wigins wrote:
I disagree with the entire notion of "pain" during a 5000. If that happens you probably screwed up the pacing and slowed down.
What exactly "hurts" during the race? Acid? That's never gonna approach where you're at in an 800 or 1500. Same goes for being out of breath, you can't really go to that level or your race is soon over. No, it's not pain - it's fear. You think about holding an effort for 15 or 20 minutes, the prospect frightens you, and modest discomfort becomes unbearable pain in your MIND.
That's why, if you drop out of a 5000, you almost always regret it within a few seconds as you realize you're just a chicken and weren't really suffering all that much. And start frantically making up excuses that will never impress anyone because we all know this.
discomfort, a word used in the title of the thread, is certainly a better descriptor for what is felt during running. but any runner knows what you are saying when you say pain or hurt. And it just rolls off the tongue better.
but i agree that it is mental. mostly having to do with the knowing how long that feeling is going to last for, combined with the natural human instinct to make adjustments to get rid of discomfort.