Every single event longer than the 800 is harder if one is going for time. The last 800 of any longer race is still an all out 800, it just has a lot more pain before you start it.
Every single event longer than the 800 is harder if one is going for time. The last 800 of any longer race is still an all out 800, it just has a lot more pain before you start it.
It totally depends on how you like your pain served to you. Do you prefer to burn in a delirious inferno of seizing muscles for a little under 2 minutes or around 4 drawn out minutes of lung bleeding hyperventilation of the mile? Whereas the 5k is like slowly pulling out fingernails, pretty comfortable through a mile and then your lungs start really hurting. But even in a great 5k performance where you're all out, you can still mentally lock in and focus further on kicking and tactics at the end.
I'd say in a max effort 800, you make your choice at the bell and the last point where you actually have a say in what happens is around 250 to go. At that point you just hope you made a good move, pump the arms, and hold on for dear life. Kinda like rolling dice. The 400 feels similar, but the scale of the pain is not much worse than the 800, so the short duration is a much easier pill to swallow.