While running a 5k at your limit, at which point in the race is the discomfort/pain expected to begin?

My rule of thumb is that you shouldn't be able to even hear your own breating through the first 1600m

5k is pretty quick. Anything after the half mile and you’re running in discomfort. I would say the real pain will start with a mile left and build from there.

Really, the 5k is just fast and long enough where from start to finish is uncomfortable.

I've found that the faster I've gotten, the earlier the discomfort starts. Not sure whether it's knowing my limits better or because my endurance has improved so I'm running closer to my max speed. In my most recent 5k PR which was pretty evenly split, the first mile felt smooth then it started to get tough around the 2k mark..

I would also agree on anything between the 1 mile and 2k mark it really starts kicking in and then just gradually keeps getting worse

My normal 5km TT is 2 x 2.5 km loops and I always wonder at the end of the first loop how on earth i'm going to keep this up for another loop ...

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?

If you are really racing against others of similar ability, pain isn't really an issue.

Tinman says that when he ran his fastest 5k he didn't feel pain because he was so focused on the race. I had the same experience.

If we are to believe what Cheptegei is telling us then the answer is never. Ridiculous.

I would say somewhere between 1.5 km and 2.5 km.

If these answers are correct, runners should attempt a faster pace. If they can complete 2.5k without pain, why not go out harder next time?

A mile and a half in things tend to get pretty grim.

IMO, after the first mile. I think the 5k is the most painful event when done right.

Juice Springsteen wrote:

IMO, after the first mile. I think the 5k is the most painful event when done right.

Depends.... if you are running in the ideal race and ideal conditions and you're in great shape and so psyched up that its actually fun.....

But if not then... yeah, not so much

It’s starts to get uncomfortable for me around the mile mark and grows to misery between 1.5-2 mile. After 2 miles I contemplate stopping or walking until the 3 mile mark, at which point I give everything I have for the .1 finish. Then I hate life for 5 minutes and wonder why I would ever run a 5k again. Then after 5 minutes I’m ready for my next one. Repeat.

I've never raced a 5K properly tapered. When I inserted parkruns into my schedule for 1500 and 10K (road), it felt like my lungs were on fire around one mile in, sometimes as soon as 1K. Unlike 10K and longer, there isn't any part of the race when goal pace feels easy and you have to hold yourself back.

Its not distance, its time. If you're running faster, its probably sets in faster because you're running closer to VO2 max, if you run slower its going to set in later because you're running farther from your VO2max. A 15min 5k runner might expect to really start feeling it at around 7 minutes whereas a 24min 5k runner wouldn't start to really feel it until 14-15mins or so.

I don't know because I've had different experiences with this. Usually if I'm in too much pain before the 3km mark I won't make it. If you're really puffing for air already by 1km you're fucked.

Back when I was trying to break 17 for the first time it took me 14 attempts every single Saturday one after the other. I was going 17:15, 17:07. 17:01, 17:01, 17:00

If I can get to 3km without slowing down then it becomes more painful. 3km is where I start feeling like I have to really try to not slow down.

So the day I finally broke 17 and ran 16:54 I ran with another regular guy who helped push me around until 3km. That's when he told me if I am to break 17 I need to go faster. I needed to chase the 2 guys ahead of us who were over 200m away. I started pushing faster but he caught me back up lol so I really started pushing. I remember around 3.5km felt like I was having to really push my legs around and my breathing was red lining.

Usually at 4km I would rather have a tooth extraction. This is where it's the most painful and the last 400m you just find something ontop of that pain. I usually wait until the last 400m to go anaerobic kick. This time I started kicking just a little at 4.2km and around 4.5km I caught up to 2nd place and ran right past him. This was a guy that usually always beats me. I couldn't think or breath but managed to shout "I'm gonna catch you". Last 400m I couldn't breath at all, that was just pure anaerobic. Blitz past the leader at 4.8km at 2:30/km lol and hit the finish line so hard I couldn't turn and had to jump over the funnel.

I've also gone 16:42 but I was much fitter a year later and I went out slow with my friend for the first 3km. He ran 16:57 but the last 3km I just jetted away from him and the pace got faster and faster without slowing down. Last 400m I was just sprinting like crazy and I didn't feel much pain at all, more like a nice painful feeling where it just feels like you're burning energy on a runners high. If I had gone out faster then I could of ran a much quicker time but it would of been like the race I just described earlier.

Rockz wrote:

I would also agree on anything between the 1 mile and 2k mark it really starts kicking in and then just gradually keeps getting worse

My normal 5km TT is 2 x 2.5 km loops and I always wonder at the end of the first loop how on earth i'm going to keep this up for another loop ...

golden!

First mile was pretty easy just because I was used to running 5k pace mile reps in training but never went longer than that. I started hurting with 7 laps to go (after 2.2km) so pretty early, but stayed focus on hitting the right pace per lap through the middle - I find it's more mental than physical at that point. Worst part of the race is with 1 mile to go as you're really hurting physically but there's still a substantial amount of racing left. I don't even remember the last 800m because I was racing the other guys.

The 5k is a pretty tough race overall - I find the 1500m/mile and 10km much less painful.

it's one long crescendo of pain.

You need to start from the end and work backwards. At the end you need to be in pure physical agony. Anticipate what is the flat/even pace that will result in you being 100% miserable at the finish line. For me, I start to taste blood in the back of my throat and wince in paid within the first 200 meters, but the next 8 minutes aren't too insufferable. The final 6 minutes is so bad that I have mental trauma just thinking about what it was like.

If I do anything less, I beat myself up mentally for not trying hard enough.

Ran a 5k and lined up opposite the elites. Took the first 800 out with them for some stupid reason. By the mile I was toast.