Stop saying the 800 isn’t the hardest race. Mile wins that award in all of running

this is true - however, when you are training for the 400m hurdles and have raced it often enough, the pain kinda goes away because you are expecting the hurt

Apparently no-one here has run a hard 5000.

As a guy who ran over a hundred races at 800 and 1500/mile, I give teh mile the pain trophy, followed closely by the 5000. I did have a couple of two mile PRs that were not agonizing for some reason.

I have strong arms and back, so in the 400/800 I just go to the arms and the pain changes position, which is some relief as I pass the guys who are weaker.

brass A wrote:

Apparently no-one here has run a hard 5000.

That's how I feel. I guess no one has got heat stroke during a race 5k and above, because that trumps any pain that could be dealt in the 800m. Instead of feeling like dying, you are actually dying.

For the 800, there isn't much to think about after 500. At the top level, guys try to pick and choose when to give a 30-50 meter burst of "sprinting" but in reality everyone is just trying to slow down the least. It hurts like a SOB but you know it's coming so it's not that bad if you run fast/ win.

In the 400, you feel like a Greek god for the first 230 meters, things get a little heavy and stingy for the next hundred and then at 60-70 meters to go

A) things get REALLY heavy and slow down but you get to the line without anyone laughing at you

B) something suddenly slaps your skull at the same time your lane turns to quicksand, everybody and their grandmother passes you, people do laugh at you, but you don't care because you can't think

C) you catch a flyer, keep your form and float it out to the line and THEN it feels your legs are dipped in acid

In the mile, the pain is about fear and anticipation more than the physical sensation. A sub four minute miler passing through 600 at 1:30 won't normally feel that bad but he is definitely working. More importantly, he knows he has to run the next 600 in 1:30 and THEN go 59.x to break 4. That is a long time to be almost sprinting. I think most runners get a mental sense of relief once there is less than 400 to go even though their body might "hurt" the most over the last 200.

sky wrote:

How about the steeplechase?

The 800m steeplechase was banned for being too hard. People were dying.

I wasn't a good runner at all (coach believed in low mileage; this was the 90s) however I felt the 800 was my favorite event to race. The mile was more painful than the 800 but the 400 was even worse.

For me, 20 years ago as a HSer, I ran:

200- 24.9

400- 56

800- 2:06

1600- 4:57

I feel like my 400 is the worst time out of those.

The mile is hard only in a motivational sense, where the first lap is hard enough that you realize the whole thing was a bad idea and you don't really want to run the next three.

I bet you are a 400m trained 800m runner

brass A wrote:

Apparently no-one here has run a hard 5000.

You are correct. Us typecast milers barely survive CC and reluctantly tolerate a sadistic coach's request to aimlessly orbit a track 12.5 times with a bunch of guys that couldn't crack 55 for a 400 if their lives depended on it.

Need me for the 4x400? No prob. Need some points in the 800? Can do. A 12.5 lap exercise in boredom? No thanks.

Ca$hclay wrote:

brass A wrote:

Apparently no-one here has run a hard 5000.

You are correct. Us typecast milers barely survive CC and reluctantly tolerate a sadistic coach's request to aimlessly orbit a track 12.5 times with a bunch of guys that couldn't crack 55 for a 400 if their lives depended on it.

Need me for the 4x400? No prob. Need some points in the 800? Can do. A 12.5 lap exercise in boredom? No thanks.

800m doesn't compare to the 5000m.

Catching the Javelin is clearly more difficult/and indeed painful