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Running has been an integral part of my life since I started college in 2015. I would put on my running clothes, go to Smouha Club, put on my headphones, and just start running. Sometimes, I ran until I got bored or tired, other times I ran along audio-guided runs on Nike Run Club app on my phone but, mostly, I would run for 5 kilometers. Running has always helped me diffuse negative energy, keep my weight in check and, overall, made me more mentally strong as I always had to push myself to run farther or faster. Running this way lacked structure as I was not training for any particular goal. This is completely fine on its own, but I just felt the need to challenge myself a little bit more and funnel my efforts to achieve a specific running milestone.

Goal

I made up my mind to start training for a sub 20 5K (running 5 kilometers in 20 minutes or less). At the fitness level I was in, it was not an easy goal yet I felt like it was totally reachable. I just had to do my research, devise a running plan and a timeline, and just start executing. This was a little bit after my graduation from pharmacy school and coincided with me getting my first job as a community pharmacist, so all of my training was at night after my shifts.

Training

I wrote a Reddit post about my training journey. Anyway, Prior to setting my mind on this particular running goal, I was normally running 15-20 kilometers or so per week along with some HIIT (high-intensity interval training) sessions. I cut my HIIT sessions, started increasing my mileage by 5 kilometers each week till I was doing 35-40 kilometers per week and stayed there. I would do 4 runs per week as follows:

• 2 long runs (I didn't care about the pace, just focused on finishing the distance without stopping. Those were my adjustable runs. I initially did 7 kms/run in my first week till I was doing 13 kms/run in my last.)

• 1 speed workout (I did 5 intervals of 1 km with the desired race pace or less (3'50" - 3'58"). I would initially give myself 2 minutes of rest between intervals cutting it down gradually to just 10 seconds in my last training session. In the early weeks, I did 600m x 8 and 800m x 6.

• 1 tempo run (Ran 5 kms giving an effort of 7-8/10 which was "comfortably hard".)

Before any of my runs, I would do a 1-km warm up run with super easy pace and then do dynamic stretches for 3 minutes. During my last week, I did 2 speed workouts, 2 long runs and ditched the tempo one. Regarding my body weight, I decided to lose a couple of kilograms to ease my running where I went from 62 kilograms to 60 kilograms.

Race Day

I set a date to attempt breaking the milestone, stopped training 4 days before that date and invited my 3 closest people at the time to come and offer me their support. The 5K run itself was pretty brutal. I might even consider it the most physically challenging thing I have ever attempted. When I had only 1.25 kilometers left, I was seriously thinking that I might not make it, which is not like me. Lactic acid was steadily accumulating in my legs making them feel on fire and my breathing was pretty heavy. I had to physically and mentally push my boundaries to reach the finish line. Thankfully, I did.

Conclusion

Aside from being able to brag that I ran a sub 20 5K (most people don't know what that is and don't care), personally I think the greatest benefit for me was once more being able to prove to myself that I can set a personal goal, hold myself accountable (training alone and motivating myself when no one did), and be able to push my boundaries mentally and physically to avoid coming short of the success mark. That being said, you should never push beyond a certain point where it becomes physically unsafe. Of course, this is not the end. I plan to attempt a sub-40 10K one day, possibly marathons and triathlons as well, just not at the moment.

Anyway, thank you guys for reading my journey.