Oh hey, blog. I’d forgotten about you.

Well, not exactly… The truth is, I’ve not had anything to say about running other than ‘I’m shite at it’.

I started the year the same way as I always do with RED January. It usually kicks off my year so I can get my head down and crack on with my races for the year.

I got through it, I completed it but I can’t say I felt like it helped my running. I didn’t feel great either.

This is something that then carried on for months and months, trying ‘everything’ to make progress with my running but not getting anywhere.

Now, I might not have had bad points the whole time. There has been some good too. I hit 100 Parkruns, and been on some lovely runs with friends. Enjoyed running the Windmill 6 race. But it was shadowed the whole time with ‘I’m not where I know I should be’.

A few months ago I started to experience pain in my IT band. To tackle this, I had a few days off. I started again once it went, but it came back a week later. It went on like this for a while to the point where I began to despise running even more. It was painful and I was miserable.

I have two big races booked later this year and here I was, in pain and hating having to go out for a run.

Finally (hooray!), I realised I needed a break. Not just cutting down or having a week off, but a full break. Looking back, I haven’t had a full break since 2020. No wonder I’ve been so exhausted.

I thought I’d miss it, but I didn’t really. I missed the social side of it, but the actual running and the disappointment as I struggled to run well was something I was glad to be free of.

I made the most of my Les Mills on-demand subscription, doing BodyPump, Attack and Core classes and actually making a bit of progress out of it.

I went on long walks, including a 9 mile hike getting lost in a field.

I volunteered at Parkrun and Lindley 10k.

I relaxed.

It was actually really lovely and I do recommend you all have a break from running now and again (a proper one!). It can break bad habits (the need to go out x days, to have to run x pace) and remind you about why we run.

I’ve started to return to running in these past few weeks. It hasn’t been easy, this hot weather hasn’t helped (I much prefer to run in the cold). Next week I plan to start half marathon training. Am I race fit? No – this is why we train. These first weeks will be tough and I might not meet these target paces.

I would still really love a sub 2hr half marathon (I’ve been trying since 2019!) but I need to be realistic and that is just unlikely for me. Instead, I need to focus on trying my best. I’d love a PB (current PB is 2hr 6) so I’ll be thrilled with that.

I promise to keep this blog a bit more active now I’m about to back on plan. I’m going on holiday whilst training so that’ll be fun! I’m in Tenerife so perfect for some hill intervals…

Have you ever had a break from running? What did you learn from it?