Progress is never linear. Something I’ve learned over the past 5 years and often it’s important to accept that taking a step backwards is actually a good thing.

I worked my skinny little arse off over 19 weeks to run a 10k personal best this summer. I took 7 days off and was then convinced I could pick up where I left off and have a crack at a 5K PB.

Nothing has gone to plan since. My first mistake was thinking maintaining that level of training for another 12 weeks was a good idea. These distance races are tough, training can be a grind at times and I quickly realised the motivation wasn’t there.

I pushed too hard and in the short space of 8 days I did Eastbourne park run, Kings Head Canter 5k, Battle 10K and 2 long runs (120 mins). In the past two weeks I’ve also struggled with pain in my left hip and now I’ve picked up a small virus which has stopped me running this week. Safe to say it’s not been going great.

What these past 14 days have reminded me is it’s good to take a step backwards. Coming off a big training block like that, it’s important to ease off. Yes my fitness is likely to suffer, but not by much.

I think it’s also important to make sure the next challenge offers variety. That’s another mistake I believe I made. My last training plan was my 13th. I’ve been doing these for 5 years now and I’m super proud that I continue to improve.

So what next? Well rest up until I feel better. Learn from the mistakes in the past few weeks and choose another goal. Focus on what I enjoy. That being the higher mileage at a lower intensity level. Don’t get me wrong, that will still involve speed work and tempo runs, but just more aligned with the 80/20 approach which saw my fitness improve so dramatically in the first place.

I need to focus on my strength as that’s let me down in the past when doing longer runs (Simon, let down my his lack of strength? You’re surprised right?). So training plan 14 is going to be ripped up and rewritten.

It’s likely come the end of the next 3 month block I’ll be slower over the shorter distances than when I started, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve regressed. My focus is to lay down new foundations, become stronger than I’ve ever been, so in the next few years I can continue to improve and run further, rather than faster.

Don’t be afraid to take a step backwards and whilst your times over certain distances may get slower, it’s an opportunity to improve in other areas and achieve new exciting goals.