Consistency beats short sprints over a long run

Towards the end of February 2026, I was on instagram and came across an advertisement by Cancer Research UK asking people to take up a challenge for the month of March where we would have to run 5k for ten days over the month to spread awareness and if possible raise donations. Now I was not sure if I could raise donations for them but something told me I should take up this challenge. So I made a donation myself, they sent over a T-Shirt for me and I decided to use March as the month to improve my running and stamina. I play football once a week at work but I am no longer as fast or as active as I used be when I was 21. So time to change that!

On the first attempt, I said to myself: “Let me try to be as quick as I can to set a baseline pace and will try to get faster over time”. So I put on my smartwatch and began my run. I live very close to the Thames River and it is beautiful when the sun is out! I felt I was quick over the first 1 km. “Not bad!” I thought. By the time I reached 2km, my legs were burning -_-. And it was terrible from there. I had to stop running and walk after every half a kilometer. I couldn’t keep my initial pace and hated the whole experience. Felt horrible.

I went back home and was angry at my physical state. I thought I was better than this. Surely my stamina couldn’t be this bad?! I must be doing something wrong.

So I did some reading and as usual, the internet overwhelmed me with information. For a beginner, suggestions relating to the running form, stride etc seem like too much detail. But amongst all that information, I remember reading somewhere: Slow is fast!

And then it clicked. I had exhausted myself trying to be as fast as I can in the first kilometer!

The next time I went out for a run, I ran at about 80% of my fastest pace. There is this beautiful riverside path where I run and I had set a landmark at about 3km from my home, to reach without stopping. And guess what? I did it! I was exhausted but I reached without stopping. But I couldn’t carry on running beyond that. I decided to take a minute’s rest, walk for a bit and then run the rest of the 5km. Even with the small resting period, I shaved off a minute or two compared to the first run! Crazy!

And that become my strategy. Steady pace for as long as I can until I reach the 3km landmark. But there was another thing that was bugging me. Because I was aiming for the landmark, I was getting frustrated just before I reach it, constantly checking my pace and the distance I covered. I had to run a couple of days to stop myself my worrying about that. And after a couple of sessions, I don’t look my watch often anymore. I just run.

And the result: I shaved off 6 minutes in about 10 sessions!

Lesson to the future self: Be consistent and enjoy competing with yourself