Missing a few weeks D:

[Renbow]

A series of unfortunate events, including bad work scheduling, drunk strangers breaking my garage door (so I couldn't get to the treadmill inside), and a gang of homophobic children who have taken a dislike to me and my partner hanging out at the end of my driveway, meant that my ability to run has been on and off for a few weeks. I'd just finished week 5, then accidentally took a week off, then I did the first two runs of week 6, failed the third because of pain and stiffness from an injection I'd got in my butt the day before, then accidentally took another two weeks off!

I got started again this morning and foresaw being less fit now, so I went back to the beginning of week 5. It was still really tough, but I don't know if that's due to being less fit, or just the fact that I'm feeling disheartened and am so convinced I'm less fit. I don't mind having to go back a bit and build up again, but I'm wondering what the advice is for after missing some weeks? How far back should I go? How can I keep my motivation up if I end up failing runs?

Thanks in advance for any advice - I really appreciate it

[Oldgirlruns Graduate]

That all sounds horrible Renbow, I hope those children soon find something more useful to do. If you’ve only had a couple of weeks break you probably won’t have lost much fitness. I had a 6 week break from the end of week 6 when I was doing the plan and decided to pick up again from week 4. I think really the best thing is to pick a week and see how you get on - it may work, or you might decide to go back another week. Each run will be doing you good and building up your running legs so it’s not failing at all! Good luck!

[Renbow in reply to Oldgirlruns]

Thanks so much for this! From your response I'm feeling a lot more confident that most of my "lost fitness" is actually just lost confidence. Feeling a lot more optimistic today, so I'm going to go ahead with week 5 run 2 tomorrow and see how I get on