Is marathon pain a different kind of pain than 5k/10k

If you're bonking very much so. I've never been more miserable in my life than when bonking (73/90). I don't know that I would describe it as pain though.

Totally different. Assuming your running the 5k/10k all out, you're pain is mainly due to lactate build up and possibly O2 debt. In a marathon the pain is due to running out of energy stores and your legs shutting down. It has nothing to do with being out of breath.

Brev wrote:

Totally different. Assuming your running the 5k/10k all out, you're pain is mainly due to lactate build up and possibly O2 debt. In a marathon the pain is due to running out of energy stores and your legs shutting down. It has nothing to do with being out of breath.

Agreed, very different type of pain. In my opinion bonking in the marathon is way worse than the pain I've felt in the 5K/10K ... and I've died very badly at all three distances.

The 5K/10K you can keep trying to force it and push through and hopefully you made it fairly close to the end and don't have to suffer that long. Plus, even me "dying" in a 10K I'm still running under 80-seconds a lap, so I'm not running super slow. When I bonked in my last marathon, it was like my legs just couldn't do anything anymore. There was no "pushing through", they were just done. And you're not running fast at all, so it's even worse. For me, a 7:30 mile has never felt so hard.

Really at no point during a marathon am I breathing very hard, but at some point you run out of energy and/or your legs are beat the hell up from 20 miles of pounding.

I was running a sub 3:30 marathon for about 19-21 miles. Stopped to go pee at a water station (had been holding it since the start) and my body shut down as soon as I stopped. Finished in 4:05 ... ._. what a waste of $100

In a fast (for me) 5K my lungs feel like they're going to burst for the last mile or so. In a marathon when your legs go there is nothing you can do but shuffle (or sometimes walk).

So yes...there is a huge difference.

For me the 5k/10k is more painful. They always hurt. I've had some bad patches in marathons, but wouldn't call it "pain." It's more of a dull ache from cramping up or bonking.

It depends how hard you run them. If you run them based on the online calculators, at your all-out conversion, the marathon will hurt way more. If you give yourself a buffer, the marathon is easier.

In a similar vein, to break 3:00, you need to be in 2:55 shape from what they tell you online. Otherwise the pain is too much.

I prefer the pain of 5k/10ks. Over faster and feel refreshed after. Half and full marathons full out trash you.

I'm surprised half marathons are so popular because they are the worst pain IMO. Same pain as a 10k, but sustained for longer. I guess just cause they are longer, it is more acceptable to jog them?

It's the difference between being slowly roasted to death over coals for hours and being roasted under high heat for 15 minutes.

The thing is, while you can get used to 5/10k pain through workouts, you can't really experience marathon pain except in a race, so until you get experience at the distance it's unfamiliar and usually more unpleasant.

Painn wrote:

Is marathon pain a different kind of pain than 5k/10k

Hell Yes!!

luke39 wrote:

I was running a sub 3:30 marathon for about 19-21 miles. Stopped to go pee at a water station (had been holding it since the start) and my body shut down as soon as I stopped. Finished in 4:05 ... ._. what a waste of $100

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In several races, I was holding it together fairly well in the last few miles, slowed down to take water and could not get my legs going again - complete melt down.

I now avoid water stops completely in the last few miles.

I agree with most of the responses so far. For me the real pain comes in the days following a marathon. Even if I go all out in a 5k, I can always go for an easy run the next day. After a marathon, I'm lucky if I can get down a flight of stairs the next day without taking the elevator.

marathon pain is way worse for me. it can last for miles and i then feel like crap the rest of the day and sometimes the day after.

a 5/10k hurt, but a few minutes afterward i feel great, better than before the race usually.

This is no surprise to me. I feel like the last quarter of any race should be very painful otherwise you left too much on the track/road.

That makes the 400/800 a cupcake. Yeah it hurts like hell for the last straightaway or 200, but come on, anyone can suck it up for 30 seconds or less. 8k it feels like a goddamn death march that never ends. I've never raced further than that and I'm not interested.

I respect all of your marathoners very much.

middle distance guy wrote:

This is no surprise to me. I feel like the last quarter of any race should be very painful otherwise you left too much on the track/road.

That makes the 400/800 a cupcake. Yeah it hurts like hell for the last straightaway or 200, but come on, anyone can suck it up for 30 seconds or less. 8k it feels like a goddamn death march that never ends. I've never raced further than that and I'm not interested.

I respect all of your marathoners very much.

This shows that people's bodies are built for different races. I can't think of anything (running-wise) more painful than an 800m race.

A Drayton quote: “To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who’s never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind”Jerome Drayton quote... Canadian marathon record holder

Painn wrote:

Is marathon pain a different kind of pain than 5k/10k

Brev wrote:

Totally different. Assuming your running the 5k/10k all out, you're pain is mainly due to lactate build up and possibly O2 debt. In a marathon the pain is due to running out of energy stores and your legs shutting down. It has nothing to do with being out of breath.

I do not completely agree. As your glycogen stores deplete I found that it was like I went from running on a level course to a .5% incline to a 1.0% incline, .... It got harder to do a given speed and that starts to feel like you are running short of breath (also, if that did not have anything to do with it why does altitude kill a marathon more than it kills any shorter distance.. ? [I am interested in any answer on that that you might have insight on].

In general, I found that the marathon does not particularly hurt for the first 20 miles - you are not feeling a burning sort of hurt. However, bit by bit everything gets harder. And, if anything like soreness in the quads starts to set in, it just gets progressively worse and it can be a long time to the end. Conversely, in a 10,000 the end is usually not that far away when things start to go bad. By comparison, in a 10,000 it felt I was working pretty hard from the start in a way that was not comfortable.

I'm surprised half marathons are so popular because they are the worst pain IMO. Same pain as a 10k, but sustained for longer. I guess just cause they are longer, it is more acceptable to jog them?

Weird. For me, the half marathon is the least painful distance.

5k hurts, but it's so short that it's not that bad.

Bonking in a marathon is really, really awful. Hurts way worse than a hard 5k, and sometimes for 40-60 minutes depending on how badly you bonk and how fast (slow?) you're running.

Here's a pain chart based on my opinion... also bearing in mind that my current HM pr (88:12) is my "best" pr according to conversion charts, so it's not like I'm jogging it relative to other distances.

Marathon (bonk)

800 meters

5k

10k

3000 or 3200

mile

400

Half marathon

With a 5k, you plan on and know you're going to be miserable for the last mile+. But, if you're well-trained for a marathon and if you're not bonking, there shouldn't be real specific pain. Now, if you've got a weakness like my hamstrings were weak in my last marathon so that hurt a bit from mile 22 on and form suffered. Maybe running Boston, you'll get sore quads, etc.

When it goes wrong in a marathon, it's complete torture and not just physically. Some weird thoughts and feelings come with it too as glycogen fuels your brain too. I've seen guys stop 100m before the line and just can't sum up the energy to walk/run those last few metres.

I bonked big time about 2 years ago in a marathon and the pain was excruciating. My quads felt like they were ripping off the bone every stride I took while my hamstrings were cramping, I could hardly bend my legs and could barely drive my arms and my back was like a plank. Every muscle in body felt like it was shearing. I've never felt pain like that before and I still had 5 miles to go in which felt like an eternity. Your brain is screaming at you to put a stop to it.

It took a week before I could walk properly again.