I’ve been fortunate to avoid major injuries since I began taking running seriously again a few years after finishing high school, so my recent setback – laying me low for a week, felt like an eternity.

It doesn’t sound like much, yet as a daily runner for years, the feet begin to itch after more than a day. Some quick Strava research unearthed that the last time I had an extended layoff was for a fortnight in September 2016.

That spell preceded my running reaching the next level, with the long elusive sub three hour marathon falling in short order, so perhaps it says something for respecting the break.

This time around, I was felled by a glute/back and hip ailment, which I suspect resulted from a fall – the area in question having absorbed the brunt of the impact, in the early stages of a long run earlier this month.

I ground out the session despite the pain, and managed to run fairly unrestricted – albeit in discomfort, for the next few days, though it soon became apparent that something more sinister was afoot.

A couple of days gingerly circulating the block as the pain increased confirmed my fears, so I reluctantly committed to a couple of days’ convalescence.

Work kept me occupied over the weekend, and I felt, or convinced myself, that the soreness was subsiding, but my optimistic attempt to run on the Monday morning – lasting 20 seconds before the pain became too severe, confirmed that I faced some long days ahead with an undetermined return date.

More work over the following days kept me active, though the physical components of the role probably didn’t do me any favours. This became clear after I ‘enjoyed’ a few very tedious, yet necessary complete rest days later in the week, resulting in marked improvement.

Come Friday, I’d gone from 240 kilometres in ten days to five km in the subsequent nine, go figure!

It’s probably in these forced down times that you gain a greater appreciation of your mileage which comes so organically when you’re on song, almost as if you’re on auto pilot, coupled with the envy at connections continuing to log kilometres by the score. I’m certain other runners can empathise!

In a sign of how far the glute and back – which had been prone to increased soreness in the evenings, came in those few days, I was confident enough to have another attempt at a gallop on Saturday.

Unlike Monday’s instant abortion, localised restriction and tightness rather than acute pain was a pleasing development, thus managing 6.5 km at a lick over 30 minutes – with the trouble area notably improving within the session, was a reassuring breakthrough.

Another 24 hours delivered further progress, enabling 14 km in an hour and change on Sunday, and even enough confidence to complete a short double in the afternoon, with the tightness almost negligible.

Fast forward to Tuesday and a ten mile effort in 75 minutes, it’s a far cry from seven days earlier, as though I’ve outrun the injury – save for the common culprit quads and calves, which for my own good are keeping me from getting too ambitious too soon.

The turnaround illustrates the swings and roundabouts of a runner’s life, everything is great until it isn’t and vice versa, in this case following only a week off my feet.

A quick shout out to Mark Berry who checked in on my progress daily which meant a lot, and to Cameron Hall on a sub three hour outing on his comeback to the marathon scene at Wangaratta on the weekend. Finally, good luck to Dion Finocchiaro and those joining him on the global stage in Japan for the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday. The hard work is out of the way, now to execute on race day!

Welcome to Negative Split, I hope to detail my weekly progress in the countdown to Great Ocean Road #6 which is back on track.