The Virgin Money London Marathon is now ONLY 7 weeks away! A lot of people will be wondering about where they should realistically be with their training at this stage.

A lot of people will also read this and FREAK OUT about their training, if you are slightly behind, DON'T PANIC and suddenly up your mileage, otherwise you risk injury. Maybe consider one of my marathon training plans, together we can get you to the start line feeling ready, confident and focused. Don't leave it much longer though, time is running out. 

Here are a few thoughts about where you should be with your preparation at this stage...

• You should have done a long run of 13-15 miles
• You should be doing 3-5 runs a week, with a mix of hills, speed work and your long run
• You should be planning your longest pre race run for early April, looking to cover 20-22 miles
• You should be training with the nutrition available on the course, or the nutrition to intend to carry on race day
• You should have decided what kit you will wear on the day, and used it in training
• You should be settled on the trainers you will be using on race day and using those exact trainers on your long runs

It's not as bad as it sounds, with a bit of planning and focus, you can make sure you are on track for an epic day, and maybe even a PB!?

I'll be there on the day, I don't generally do road marathons but you don't turn down the chance to run London do you!?

See you there.

If you read my blog, follow me online or ever actually speak to me, you will know that I am training for the Berghaus Dragon's Back Race in May. 

Part of my prep for this epic race is to recce as much of the route as I can, the race involves self navigating so doing recces isn't just good training, but is a great way to learn the route, minimising the risk of messing up and running in the wrong direction during the race. Something you don't really want to do in a race that already involves 300km and 16,000m of ascent over 5 days. 

This past weekend saw me and my running buddy Ash, joined by fellow Dragon's Back hopefuls Eoan and Lisa, as we took on day 5 of the race, the final day.

We struck lucky, as the weather was incredible! The mountains were snow covered but the sun was breaking through the clouds, warming our smiles as we enjoyed some epic running. The recce was a success and we didn't get lost once, which is certainly an improvement on our last recce. Thankfully, the route is a bit easier going than other days on the race, although we still have to cover 34 miles and 2313m of ascent, not for the faint hearted!

Below, you can see some pics from the weekend, and watch a little video. 

Now what are you waiting for...go hit those mountains.