I don't recall doing any preparation for the Connemara walk, apart from singing the great Dubliners classic "The Travelling People" twice a day. I had this weird idea that I would stand in a pub sometime on our Connemara trip and perform this marvellous song. But it didn't happen.
Apart from that, nothing. In
my race report I refer to standing at the start of the half marathon walk and reflecting on "no exercise for 2 months..." as well as having had 8 pints of Guinness the night before and a mountainous fry-up an hour before the race.
Admittedly you have an uphill task compared with mine but still, if you're planning on walking I don't think you need to fret too much. That said, it would seem sensible to want to do the race as comfortably as possible, so why not put together a training plan?
Here's an example.
You have 10 weeks and 2 days to the race.
Forget miles. Think time.
Why not put together a plan that has you walking briskly every other day, starting really modestly, e.g. 30 minutes every other day during the week, with an hour at the weekend?
In week 3 and 4 move to 45 minutes every other day, with 90 minutes
at the weekend. Then gradually extend the weekend walk so that your final one, a week before the race, is 3 hours?
The big thing you have to add in, particularly in the longer weekend walks, is hills. You need a long steep hill. Walk up it and jog down it for at least two thirds of your long weekend walk.
You can do this even on your romantic weekend and golf trip. Just get some miles through those legs. Cycling would be good prep too.
P2P preperation begins in Ernest
