It seems like all anyone cares about is running and training for a full marathon. Why is the 10k not a more revered distance? Simply because there are more marathon races to enter? Or that it's harder to continue to do true speedwork with a 9-5? discuss.
Most people did not run a marathon prior to college graduation, so it presents a new challenge.
It really is a challenge. Whether to finish at all, to break a time barrier, to set a personal best, there are self-defined challenges for all the participants.
Dragging yourself to the track to do structured intervals and to endure that kind of pain loses its luster, so setting bests in the 5k and 10k could be difficult.
Running intervals alone takes a certain kind of person. Hard intervals are almost a right of passage, done with teammates and under the supervision of a coach. Running them alone can be very lonely.
(And yes, I know that fast marathon runners do intervals, but a lot of marathon runners don't).
You get more "likes" on social media for finishing a marathon than for a 5k or 10k.
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
i assume this would upset most people.
Yup. I’ve met some extremely impressive all round athletes at my local gyms over the years who are round strong, fast, have great endurance etc. But there’s no real way to quantify it to your grandma and aunts at the family BBQ. Whereas ‘I’m running a marathon’ is something the average Joe finds impressive.
There also is little US structure for post-collegiate or other sub-elite (or sub sub-elite). In England there are a lot of options in terms of track leagues (National at the higher level, regional at lower level) and regional championships in summer and x-country leagues in winter (as well as a lot of shorter road races).
When I moved to the US in my later 30s, I had still been competing regularly on the track (ran fastest 3000m s/c at 36).
I did a marathon at 38 to get it out the way, and then in the US concentrated mostly on 5k road races, since I prefer shorter races.
I agree about doing interval training alone - I've been training solo for that least 15 years aiming mostly for Master's track competition (now 66 years old) - and miss the days with a big group on Tuesday and Thursday nights in England.
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
i assume this would upset most people.
I am one of those people. This is why despite being a middle-distance runner, I immediately ran a marathon and qualified for Boston as soon as I graduated college. Even as a college runner I would always get the typical "Do you think you'll ever run a marathon?" question. No matter how many times you explain how different middle distance running is from marathon running people still do not get it.
Post-collegiate guy: Trying to break 29 minutes 10K this weekend.
Hobby jogger: You should run a marathon. I used the Runner's World training for my first marathon. I have done 5 marathons last year. I will be doing 7 this year.
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
i assume this would upset most people.
I think training with weights, plyos, and track work, targeting a good 800m and still having a credible 5k is a nice balance. IDGAF how many Oprah types slog through a marathon. You have functional athleticism to run, jump, sprint down the street, and in a pinch fight someone if necessary. I'd keep that going as long as possible.
It seems like all anyone cares about is running and training for a full marathon. Why is the 10k not a more revered distance? Simply because there are more marathon races to enter? Or that it's harder to continue to do true speedwork with a 9-5? discuss.
I started chasing longer distances for several reasons, none of which had to do with accolades from others (though I imagine that carries some weight with a lot of people): many more racing opportunities for the marathon etc. than cross country or track; new challenge; inability to keep chasing and improving my collegiate times (the march of time, you know). Everyone does ask if you've done a marathon (and/or Boston; I haven't), so if that matters to someone, it could be a big driver. (Personally, I always pooh poohed Boston when I was fast enough to do it, and now that it's hard for me to qualify, I wish I hadn't been so dismissive about the whole thing.)
most people crave respect and attention from other people
i'm 30, train for mid distance and run roughly 2:00/4:30/17:00
my gf literally only runs when the weather is nice, and averages under 10mpw as a result. BUT she has finished several 4+ hour marathons and time-based ultras.
in casual conversation with others, it is generally assumed that she is a serious athlete and i'm just keeping fit.
i assume this would upset most people.
I think training with weights, plyos, and track work, targeting a good 800m and still having a credible 5k is a nice balance. IDGAF how many Oprah types slog through a marathon. You have functional athleticism to run, jump, sprint down the street, and in a pinch fight someone if necessary. I'd keep that going as long as possible.
I ran six marathons in high school and college, became a 800/1500 guy in my 40s, and now am training sprints and hurdles in my 60s. Each phase has been great fun but sprinting is far healthier than marathons.
As someone above mentioned, it’s a new challenge. Once you finish college running, you’re realistically never going to PR in your main event again if you aren’t going pro. There’s just no way I’m going to run a fast 1500 again now that my life no longer completely revolves around the spot.
Running a half decent marathon is a goal I can set for myself that is realistically achievable within the constraints of adult life.
As someone above mentioned, it’s a new challenge. Once you finish college running, you’re realistically never going to PR in your main event again if you aren’t going pro. There’s just no way I’m going to run a fast 1500 again now that my life no longer completely revolves around the spot.
Running a half decent marathon is a goal I can set for myself that is realistically achievable within the constraints of adult life.
Age. Generally as one gets older into adult life they "move up in distance."
Any one who ran a decent 5k or 10km at the college level is also set up to do really well at a marathon because of their training and racing background.
Your Vo2max pretty much is going to start dropping in your 20s....the longer distances rely more on Running Economy and pace slower than Lactate Threshold (which can still be improved). So it can be really rewarding (even if you can't PR in the 1500m-5km anymore).
Super frustrating. I love middle distance running (400m and 800m are my sweet spot), but races are hard to come by, and I’m relegated to either driving long distances to run on asphalt tracks, or running around the local college’s practice times to use their facility (which I’m very thankful for; other colleges won’t even consider letting the public use their facilities).
I was recently kicked off a track at a private school for trespassing. Every HS track is under lock and key except during school hours.
Racing wise, I have 6 weeks this summer where there are meets that I can enter. The competition level isn’t that high, and the meets aren’t FAT. You either time yourself, or have a volunteer hand time you.
There aren’t any adults in my area training mid distance that I’m aware of, so all training is done solo.
The rest of the year I spend training for this small six week window. And yet, despite all of this, I still love it. I’ve been hooked on it since I joined track on a whim in high school about 16 years ago. There’s just something so exhilarating and addicting about running fast that I can’t replicate with other forms of exercise.
Do what brings satisfaction, meaning and purpose to your life.
I never really mentioned much about running to my coworkers/grandma/friends. They all knew that I did it, but if I talked about it they didn't understand.
In high school/college running there’s always a big, cathartic, end-of-season meet to train for and have as a goal. In your average US running community, there might be a couple decently competitive 5k-half marathon races, but the odds are that the one day that the most people in your running community will have in common as a goal on their calendar is your city’s (or, if you’re in a smaller city, your state/region’s) marathon. Because so much of the running community is focused on it (beginning g months in advance when training g programs kick off), it’s the one day of the year that adult age-group running feels like the state meet/NCAAs. It’s even like those scholastic events in that the local marathon a big enough deal that even non-runners are aware of it and pay attention to it. Basically, the marathon is the one running event that, in almost every local running community, feels like a big enough deal that being a part of it gives you sense of purpose, shared community, and (after completion) catharsis that being a part of a team training for “the big meet” in HS XC or NCAA Track & Field did. And that’s why everyone ends up focusing on it. All of the physical stuff and access to training/physio resources matter, but we would all overcome that if we got the same social and emotional benefits from training for the big local mile or 5k as we do from training for the marathon.
U.S. Marathon OTQ. Competitive Runners like to go after standards. It gives you that badge of approval, honor, pride, or whatever you want to call it. If you couldn’t make the US Trials in track as a college athlete, very few will do it as an adult. There’s nothing in between.
In the 1970s and 1980s there was a more active pro running scene at shorter distances. Back then 10K races were much more common than 5K and there was sort of a circuit of prominent races at the former distance. These were great for the lean, hungry mediocre post-collegiate runners of the day who didn't move on to marathons.
By the end of the 1980s 5K had become the most common road race distance and it's hard to have a pro road race circuit at the shorter distance. People who good at 5K were more likely to be track guys and kept competing there. The endurance-based post-collegiate mediocre pros could move up to the marathon or get a real job and it has been that way ever since. The 'real job' route seems to be the best bet among the current generation of potential pro marathoners.