Well after last week, I was hoping to be able to come back this week with an upbeat post announcing that we’ve had a great week and I’m finally back into my stride with this whole running business after my trip, but I’m afraid its not been a fairytale week..

Weather in Bournemouth this week has been all over the place, and Tuesday was especially horrible, so Dad and I decided that instead of skipping out on a run, or getting soaked to the skin in the rain, we would head down to the gym and do our regular 45 minute training run on the treadmills instead. In theory, it was a great idea; no rain or wind to hold us back, the ability to maintain and control consistent speeds.. The reality though is that it was practically tropical there, surrounded by loads of hot, sweaty people, and for us as road-runners, running on a treadmill is painfully dull, and also a completely different running experience.

Not too far into this run, we decided to cut it from 45 minutes to a 5k distance, which essentially cut it down to 30 minutes. Running on a treadmill is hard work when you’re used to roads, the impact is totally different and you have less control over yourself, and all of that combined really takes it out of you. There’s also no moving air to cool you down, and we felt it! Thinking nothing of it, the week carried on..

The plan for the weekend was another mini-rebel challenge, to prepare us for the real deal in January. With work schedules as they were, we made the decision to skip the second training run of the week, and do our consecutive runs on Friday and Saturday, 5 miles and 9 miles, but following Tuesday’s treadmill run, Wednesday came with bad news for me: the pain in my back that I had suffered a little in Europe had returned.

Still in pain Thursday and Friday, we decided to call off the 5 miles, and compromise with a 10k early Saturday morning, as Dad was heading up to the Rugby World Cup final. I felt fine, and we set off fine, but it wasn’t too long (about 3k, in fact) before the pain set back in, and we were forced to turn home. Doing so meant that we did about 6k in around 45 minutes, which in all fairness isn’t too bad in any case, but I just felt rubbish; I still haven’t got back to my usual standard and now I’m injured, and just feeling further and further from where I was before I went away.

And that’s really all I’ve got for this week. I’ve got a chiropractor appointment booked for tomorrow morning, but right now I just feel a bit pants, and all I want to do it getting running again..