Events index

Racing distances treated as units: the energy-system demands, the dominant physiological limiter, and the training approach each event rewards. The distance-specific training page is the cross-cutting overview, and race pacing covers how to spread effort on the day.

Events run from the middle-distance track, where anaerobic capacity still decides finishes, to the road, where threshold, economy and fuel take over. The shared base is the same at every distance; what changes is the sharp end.

The physiological labels below, the 5k as a VO₂max event or the half as a threshold effort, describe the runner who races the distance fast. A slower runner covers every distance at a lower relative intensity, because sustainable intensity is set by how long the effort lasts rather than by the distance itself; see distance-specific training for why the pace labels depend on the finish time.

Track

• The 800 m — the most anaerobic event still called distance running; speed reserve and lactate tolerance over a near-even two laps
• The 1500 m and the mile — aerobic-dominant but won on VO₂max and a closing kick
• The 3000 m — between middle distance and long; VO₂max-dominant with a real anaerobic tail

Road and long track

• The 5k — the classic VO₂max event; holding close to maximal aerobic effort for the full distance
• The 10k — VO₂max leaning toward threshold; the longest race still run near the aerobic ceiling
• The half marathon — a threshold event; goal pace sits at the lactate threshold
• The marathon — decided by threshold, economy, durability and fuel; the event where running out of carbohydrate ends races

Ultras and technical trail sit one rung further out, where top-end speed is irrelevant and time on feet, fuelling tolerance and terrain dominate; they keep their own page under ultramarathon and trail training.