So gutted that I need to take a break...

[casdix]

Last Saturday I completed Week 5 run 3. I felt on top of the world!! It was -6 degrees and I ran, non stop, for 20 minutes!

On Sunday I was putting dishes away when I felt my back go. Monday I could hardly walk let alone run, Tuesday I decided to "keep moving" and go to work - big mistake - driving was agony. Yesterday I was worse, so saw my osteopath and today I'm moving much more easily but am still in quite abit of pain.

I was really looking forward to starting week 6 and am worried that it I leave it too long I'll have to go back a few weeks.

Fingers crossed I'll be fit again by the weekend and won't have lost my mojo too much by then.

I was completely unfit before starting this and am so thrilled to have got this far.

Carol

[mirandababes]

If you take a week off, you wont lose that much fitness.You've run for 20mins non-stop, thats amazing and you'll easily do it again in a week or so (unless you hit the chippy every night!).

Your back health is far more important than your runs, although I know how disheartening it is to think you need to stop for a while.

Hope your back feels better soon.

[shelleymcb Graduate]

hi. congratulations on getting this far & running for 20 minutes. lifechanging! I have just been reading about this. in my book it said that for every day off training you have it will take you 2 days training to get back to your former fitness so dont be disheartened. luckily for you the backache has come when you go back to intervals in the plan so I cant see any reason why you shouldnt be able to restart on week 6 after a week off which is where you are in the program anyway. I agree that your back health is much more important so listen to how your back feels & repeat week 5 perhaps if you feel that you would be happier doing so. good luck. youve run for 20 minutes in one go now so hold onto that thought!

[Greg_M Graduate]

you will be surprised how easy it is to get back to it. It doesn't slip away nearly as fast as you think it might.

[Scaly]

Loads of sympathy from me - I'm just in from my first run in 10 days after my knee started to cause me problems. It really distressed me to think that having found something I enjoy so much I had to stop due to injury. I'm sitting here with an ice pack on it, hoping desperately that it'll be OK in the morning.

On the plus side, I had got as far as week7run2 when I stopped, and I managed 20 minutes comfortably tonight. The fitness won't disappear that quickly

[Dora_the_explorer]

Please don't worry. When I started work meant that sometimes I was having to take 5-10 days off between runs. Sometimes I found my first run back after a week was the best!

Finished the 9 weeks a month ago. Then the cold weather and a job move meant I didn't run for a month, went back to week 6 and am finding it ok going, if anything, going back has allowed me to pick up my pace dramatically.

Don't worry, a week or two will NOT ruin it forever. But make sure you only go back when you feel up to it. Jumping back it when you're still experiencing pain will mean you won't enjoy it and you'll lose your motivation.

[casdix Graduate]

Thanks everyone for your comments and reassurance. I saw the osteopath on Weds and am feeling much more mobile - am contemplating trying a run tomorrow, but will stop if it starts hurting at all.

And I'm not going out if it's raining or sleeting :0).