What constitutes ‘Long Distance’?

[TailChaser]

Plodding along the streets the other day, it occurred to me - is there an official ‘long distance’ distance or is it just a personal thing? I always thought of 5k as a long distance, and 5,000 metres sounds a lot more than 5k for some reason. It definitely used to feel like a long distance but now I’m getting into 10k, is that just my ‘long distance’? I keep hearing about ultra runners, now that is long distance, but surely a standard marathon is a pretty huge distance.

I’d be interested to know what my fellow VRBs think?

[IannodaTruffe Graduate10]

Middle distance running normally encompasses 800m to 3000m, so anything in excess of that is considered long distance.

Ultras are anything in excess of a conventional marathon.

It is all a matter of perspective, I suppose. If sat permanently on the couch, then 5k seems like an impossible distance.

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks for that Ian. That’s what I was thinking. I can’t believe how many people seem to do ultras these days.

[Dexy5 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

You seem to have received the answers you wanted. Just wanted to say great photo for your post. 👏

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to Dexy5]

Thanks Dexy, seemed sort of appropriate! 😁

[Deals1 Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

Like the pic too!

[UnfitNoMore Graduate10]

3000m was debated for a long time as pace is similar to 5k, but it’s run just above aerobic capacity. That last bit makes it “middle distance” and I think 2 miles is too.

Marathon has no standard as such, but the majority are 26.2 miles... my local marathon is 40 miles and doesn’t have the prefix “ultra” attached to it. The Olympic distance wasn’t defined for a very long time.

From my perspective in a sprint 400m is long distance!

My friend stopped running marathons to do ultras as they’re easier apparently 😱😂

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Getting up on a Saturday morning, just walking to Parkrun is a long distance, so I know exactly where you’re coming from 😂. ‘Middle distance’ seems such a tiddly bit when you consider how little more is considered ‘long distance’.

Your friend is...excuse me...bonkers 😂😂

[UnfitNoMore Graduate10 in reply to TailChaser]

He has a point... I’ve seen his Strava from his marathons and ultras... last marathon I saw he ran 8 minute miles, ultra was 14s

[TailChaser Graduate10 in reply to UnfitNoMore]

Yeah but they’re such a huge distance, even if your muscles can cope, don’t your feet start to fall apart after a while?