Race in Armour

[hoplite14gr]

8 stadia are 1500 meters. No you do not force troops to run this distance if you want to engage hand to hand in the end.
Formed troops can have serious problems with skirmishers (Sfacteria).
So Greeks used combined arms tactics -hevy troops with light troops.
Ekdromoi hoplites used "peltastic" tactics.
Falanx would try to approach as close as possible and then be unleased like a gigantic hammer. When fighting Persians the critical distance would be 400 meters infront of the Persian formation. The hoplites would fast pace or light jog the first 200 meters and charge the rest 200.
Simple hoplitodromy was 200 meters and only Spartans did 2 stadia training.
The issue for the Greek generals was to to get as close as possible andthen hammer their opponents.
Kind regards