*This is embarrassing but I actually ran the 5k in 25min 13sec lol. Not 20 min. No wonder I was wondering why it's possible. Miscalculated...paiseh..
but still a 1 min improvement is not bad.
If I can improve 1 min every week it'd be awesome but I'm a realist, it'll be crazy difficult.

Seemed like we have a discussion about
feeding here. The thing is, if U use a product other than it's designed for, U won't get the benefits & if U go around telling ppl in doesn't work, then it's worse la. Powergels I believe, is designed to REFUEL, not to recover. That's why it's in gel form, to enable Ur body to absorb it faster. Powerbar has other products designed for recovery. In recent years, becoz of the variety of products that they have, Powerbar has classify their products into 3 categories : Energize, Refuel & Recovery. I bought some Powergels when I was collecting my racepack for Mizuno, the salesperson promoted one of the bars from the Energize category. She said that U dun need to eat breakfast, just eat the bar & it can last for 8 hrs. I just laughed in my heart la. I dun think ANY food can last U 8 hours. Maybe can if U just eat it & go to sleep.
Powerbar was one of the 1st sports-specific energy bars around, it's been around when I was cycling back in 1991-2000 (state & national). Back then, becoz I got no money to buy & Powerbars are not available as widely & as easily as recent times, I used
Cloud 9 chocolate bars as my feeding. In cycling (& also in running I believe), the general rule is to feed every one hour. Heck, I even used Cloud 9s during races. The trick is to use stuff that works for U & tastes good, so that U will eat enuff of it. For cycling it was easy to feed & U can still consume solid food. But for running, U need something like a gel la. For swimming, I dunno if U can feed during swimming, I've never seen Ironman swimmers feed during the swimming leg of a race.
Another cheap solution U can try is
Choki-choki. It may sound funny, but I relied on those to get me thru 7-8 hours of trekking in thick forest. It's cheap (30 sen each I think), it can last an hour (at least for me), & it's packed in small tubes & U can carry a lot of it. It's in paste form, so U can absorb it quickly & it tastes good.