Each session should have a goal

1. Chase fitness, touch hard pace — build strength and speed by flirting with the edge, not living there.
2. Focus on specificity — train for purpose, not exhaustion;
3. Loss of motivation is a signal

🧠 5K Race Pace vs Threshold — Finding the Compromise

I’ve been looking for a balance between my 5K goal and my Hyrox goal in interval training.

For the 5K, I’ve been experimenting with running intervals at threshold pace instead of race pace. In last week’s race, I still struggled to hold the pace and exploded too early — but I also noticed progress. Running those same paces now feels easier. Fitness improved; pacing is still catching up.

For Hyrox, everything revolves around threshold work. (Highly recommended to checkout Rich Ryan's Running Guide https://www.rmr.training/running-for-hyrox-guide)

So, I’m trying to bridge the two worlds. In my interval workouts, I progressively increase speed within each set — adding 0.1–0.2 km/h every minute, then starting the next set slightly faster. In the final two sets, I stay at my sub-19 5K goal pace. The session feels hard but controlled. No explosion, just steady effort inside that “controlled hard” zone.

🎯 Focus on Specificity

After the run, it was dreadful even thinking about my planned evening EMOM with burpees. I prefer steady, mid-to-heavy kettlebell work — clean and jerk–style movements that feel productive, not chaotic.

I debated pushing through the EMOM or adjusting the workout. In the end, I replaced it with a heavier kettlebell clean and press session. The reason: specificity. The goal of the PM session is to build strength, not to prove I can suffer. The EMOM would’ve been more about chasing fatigue than building anything meaningful.

Looking back at the week, I already have two compromised running sessions that train that “suffer” element. I don’t need a third.

Consistency > everything. This was my body sending a signal — adjust, don’t overreach.

For everyday athletes, overtraining is the real killer of progress — not laziness. It shows up as injuries, burnout, or loss of motivation. Sometimes the hardest thing is to trust the process, overcome the insecurity, and remember the goal of each session.