Scunnered.
That just about sums up how I feel about my training over the past week. After months and months of running and training well, I had a PB in my sights for this Sunday’s Rock n Roll runs in Liverpool. Alas, that seems like it’s not to be for me. 
My sciatica is back- with a vengeance. You’ll know that last weekend was great, with a good run at the Taynish 5k and a brilliant day marshalling at the Inveraray Jail Break, but I’d been slightly sidelined by a post-holiday cold in the early part of last week. Well, the cold has just about gone (I kindly shared it with The Welsh Wookie so he’s suffering now) but my right leg began to go slightly numb on Tuesday.
Undeterred, I headed out for a run, remembering the docs advice from last year to keep running if I could. It got worse.
On Wednesday I had a lovely, social three miler with the Jog Scotland crew. It got worse.
On Thursday, PiYo and VeraFlow were cancelled so I thought I’d get one last decent run in before Liverpool and so I ran a steady 10k. It got worse.
I woke up on Friday morning with my right side- lower back, butt, leg, right down to the sole of my foot numb, tingling and in turn burning and ice cold. To make matters worse, that was joined by the same sensation in my right arm, particularly through my underarm, hand and fingers.
I decided that I should listen to my body, ‘taper’ and hold back from running, but I managed a weird, ugly attempt at salsa on Friday evening. I’m glad I went along, but my balance was shocking.
The pain has remained bad over the weekend, I’m not sure if it got worse last night or if it just seemed like that after a busy weekend but here I am, with 5 days until Liverpool, feeling decidedly sorry for myself.
Since it flared up last Tuesday I’ve been foam rolling, pulse point massaging and stretching with no relief yet. I’ve made an appointment to have it checked out but I can’t be seen until 19th June.
So where does that leave my runs this weekend? I’m still determined to take part if I possibly can. The doctor’s advice from last time should still hold true I reckon, but I’ll need to readjust my targets. My target now is to finish both runs, no more. If that means walk/running, or more walking than running, so be it. I might be very frustrated but I’m not down and out yet!
My plan now is for lots of R and R this week, hoping that I can RnR in Liverpool this weekend. I’ll keep you posted.
Have a good week!
I can’t quite believe that I’ve been back to my routine for a week, with my holiday not yet fading. And yes, the post-holiday lurgy has just caught up with me. Boo! I’m hoping that it will lift quickly, so that I can keep my training on track. Last week was OK- looking back I now know that this was working on me, which affected my performance at times.
Monday- I was back at WAR, which had new tracks. They were tough, but since I’d forgotten my sports bra I couldn’t work as hard as I’d like. At least I eased back in gently.
Tuesday- I ran 4 miles, and found it pretty tough. My NRC app was playing up, and I think I probably ran further but the GPS didn’t track correctly. I was glad to get it done.
Wednesday- the Jog Scotland run last week was around Stonefield and Barmore Island. It was great, with beautiful scenery even if it was a reasonably short 1.75 mile run.
Thursday- I had PiYo and VeraFlow, and I was a little concerned I’d have fallen behind. But I was able to keep up with most of the tracks. It’s definitely my favourite classes, in terms of fitness classes.
Friday- we were back at salsa- yay! We had two new steps to learn, which were very different 😀 Our wee routine is beginning to come along nicely!
Saturday- I ran the Taynish 5k with some of the JogScotland ladies and I loved it! 
It was a tough out and back route, with the first kilometre a surprising uphill trek. But it was all worth it for the fabulous home baking we had in aid of Macmillan Nurses afterwards! I’ll post a race review, I was very happy with my sub 30 minute run. 
I was pleased to see my first ever decent race picture too: 
We then had another amazing afternoon at the Fèis, this time I had a guitar session and my first ever fiddle lesson: I even managed to get a tune (of sorts) out of it!
Sunday- I had a rest day, but we did marshal at the Inveraray Jail Break once again. I love supporting this race, and I’ve written about how amazing it is before. In the afternoon we visited the Loch Fyne Food Fayre and stuffed ourselves on amazing local produce including venison, hog roast and seafood:
Today I’m skipping class for an early night, and I hope to shift this bug quickly.
I’ll be back to it asap! 
So I’ve been AWOL over the past couple of weeks. Did you notice? Anyone miss me? I took a short break while The Welsh Wookie and I were on holiday in Tenerife. We relaxed, ate, drank beer and had a great time.
We weren’t completely idle, though. The weekend before we went we took part in the Great Edinburgh Run, a ten mile race around the city. I’ll post my race report separately (I’ve yet to write it) but I had a great run, with a pace of 9.50 per mile, faster than I had predicted over a hilly, hot course.
The day of the run was also the final day of my 5×50 Challenge so it was great to finish on such a high note.
We then jetted off to the sunshine for ten days. We did lots of walking, getting in an average of 15,000 steps per day and I also managed a couple of hot, sweaty dreadmill 5ks but it was good to dial down the intensity a little and have some down time to relax and repair.
But my focus is now on the next challenge: the Rock n Roll Liverpool half marathon in a couple of weeks. I managed a hot, hilly 11 miles yesterday but I found it tough going. I went with my body, though, and walked a couple of times when I had to. But the mileage is there and the training has been good until now.
Tonight it felt amazing to be back at WAR. I kept the intensity down a notch. I had no choice, I’d forgotten to pack a sports bra…. oops! But I took part, omitting the more aerobic moves for a change! The new core section was a tough one, it was challenging across my whole body, but I’m looking forward to giving it another go, when I’m properly attired!
Whether you’ve also taken a break from your routine or you’ve been skipping your training altogether, I hope this helps getting you back on track: 
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