It's a question of spreading the available energy, aerobic and anaerobic, evenly over four minutes. If you run one part too fast, you pay a price. If you run another part more slowly your overall time is slower.
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.
When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.