Training or lack of in my case

My training started great then I suffered a back injury which got me off my feet. I lost a lot of valuable training time. I think in terms of effort though I probably did the same as I done for the Belfast Marathon and I was able to complete it.

This marathon is going to be on a whole different level though. The terrain, and the series of steep climbs, steps, beaches etc. The route is very exposed and having no shelter from the elements will prove to be an extra battle of mental and physical strength.

My main training runs were around belvoir forest, lagan valley, tow path, Mary Peters areas. All the trails I would have biked before. I also visited cavehill to get good steep runs. The thing with cavehill is it kills me to be there without a bike.

This time I had planned to train properly starting slow and building on it. All was going well and although I wasnt following a training plan I was getting the miles in. I was running off road as much as possible and using the hills as sprints. Taking a breather on the decents and slowing up so I was ready for the next hill. Is it a good method? I have no idea!

I tried to mix my training with a few evenings a week on the road bike or the XC bike. I also completed Lap the Lough 142km road cycle around lough neagh. I was thinking all running may have been a bad thing and even if only for my sanity the biking was a welcome. This is when my injury got worse 5+ hours in a tuc posistion on a road bike. I went to the physio and she done a great job in a short period of time. Was I ready to start training again? Only one way to find out. Drove to the National Trust Car Park on divis mountain and headed out up the mountain road. It wasnt a long run but it was a hill and a steep one at times. The back was fine the next day so training was back on. Only problem I was running out of time. I didnt push it and tried to ease back into the miles. With lazy weekends and other things happening I wasted more time. Three weeks from the event and a Holiday to Barcelona. I didnt lay around tho and done some good training runs in the mountains some mornings and evenings. Tough going in the heat but great to get running in such beautiful hills around the great city. Two weeks left and I do my last "big" run a half marathon on both roads and off road which took in Cavehill. Thats it then less than a week and I am resting.

Am I ready for what is going to be a great event??? Not as ready as I could be but then I never seem to stick to my plans. My new years resolution has come early I think.