I felt a bit demoralised yesterday morning when I tried the 5K+ Stamina podcast for the first time since returning to running after my 6-weeks lay-off due to injury. Previously all I'd attempted in the past two weeks had been easy runs and one intervals session, and they went ok. But I couldn't complete the tempo session. I pushed on for 25 mins, then when I met a guy walking along the country road, I was glad of the 'excuse' to stop running and chat to him as we walked along. When he turned off at the junction, I restarted my mp3 player with my own music and when Springsteen started Dancing in the Dark, I found my second wind and I managed another 5 minutes (1km) running.
Looking at my Garmin stats I'm not so despondent, as I see my average pace for this run was about 30 seconds/min faster than any I'd run previously in October last year. Now, I just need to be able to maintain this pace for 5, 6, 7 km...
My sports physio has recommend I stick to running about 30-40 mins (no more 60 mins runs like last week) for now. So, although tempo runs are my least favourite, I'll have a chance to work on improving my pace at 5-6km distance for the next wee while.
Winterwatch (nature blog): I arrived home from my run yesterday morning to spot one of our regular visiting red squirrels caching hazelnuts. As I walked down our driveway he was running across the driveway back to the nut box. Earlier I'd added about 10 hazelnuts to the peanuts in the box and he obviously didn't wish to risk any being taken by any of the other squirrels and grabbed and hid each one.
Hi Swanscot - great to see you back running after so long! Don't be too demoralised about having problems with Stamina. I know that you generally do longer distances but many people here have found Stamina tough going, even without a break. Personally, Stamina is the best I have ever done (I think I've completed it only once, and have been close (30mins +) a couple of times).
I've been back to Stepping Stones as a very slow re-introduction to running after much shorter layoffs. I think I could do Speed as well. Someone else here said they'd done Speed twice in a session too - and even at its fastest Speed is no faster than Stamina - but much shorter bursts.
I'm certain you'll sort it out and be getting back to your best as the weather (hopefully) improves.
Hi Swanscot, I found Stamina a total killer (I've only done it once, and that was before my 6 week layoff with shin splints). Although in theory I'm back to where I was before, I haven't attempted it again yet - and as it's now 12 days since my last run, due to ice / slipperiness / snow etc I have probably backslid again with the running, boo hoo. Never mind, the weather will soon be better although it's hard to believe when I look out of the window and see the amount of unforecast snow we've had today - it wasn't supposed to start till 5 p.m.!
Loved looking at your photos on Flickr - those red squirrels are fab!
Best of luck with the running, I'm sure you'll soon be back to where you were - and onwards!
It's hard work, even without a layoff. You know better than anyone there is no such thing as a bad run. In perspective, how many bad runs have you had, vs good runs? Probably an insignificant number of bad runs. Our brains are wired to accept negatives, not positive, but only if we let them.
Enjoy your next run, make it a good one and be gentle on yourself, you are still recovering for goodness sake!
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W10CR1 - easy / short consolidation run 
My sainted aunt, that was hard work.
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