5K pain vs 1500/800 pain

me too...but i\\\'m sure it all depends on what you train for. i trained for 5k all year and dropped down to 1500 and felt good. 800 would feel like cake, but i wouldn\\\'t be droppin no 1:50s either.

1500/800 is far far worse in my opinion...

If you race correctly, it should never hurt. Ask the Penguin. You are supposed to enjoy the experience and the camaraderie, and finish in last place.

I trained for the 5K this season, too, and when I dropped down to run a few mile races, it hurt like crap. I can handle the pain of a 5K pretty well; I guess I'm used to it. But the real pain of the mile was that deep burning in your lungs. You just don't get that with a 5K. (At least I don't.)

So I say for me, personally, the 15/mile is worse than the 5 during the race, but the 5 and 10 pain lingers on well after the race is over.

I'd take the fatigue of laps 8 - 11 of the 5k over the horrendous locking up of my (slow-as-heck) quadriceps in the homestretch of the 800 any day.

All three races will leave you gasping for air if you raced them to your FULL capabilities; however, the 800m will leave you tired and with greater lactic acid from taxing your speed and endurance almost equally! The hardest race physically to me is the 800m.

Vipam

Physically the 800 pain is worse. You certainly get the bear on your back much more than in the 5000. But mentally the 800 is easier than the 5000 because you know it's going to be over so much sooner. By the time I'm really hurting in an 800, it's half over. And by the time the last 200 hits, there's no need to decide how much energy to devote to the effort -- it's all or nothing.

In a 5000 the pain you is complicated by the problem of having to decide how much to put into the next half mile or so. Will pushing hard the next couple of minutes leave you with nothing left in the last mile? How hard is too hard? You have a long time to agonize over those decisions. I think that uncertainty makes the pain feel worse