Time to shake off the Christmas excess and start your training!

We are back. Yes it’s that time of year again when everyone has enjoyed Christmas with over indulging in both food and drink and of course relaxing and getting very little exercise.

So what better than to pick an event in the new year to complete. And there’s no better event in County Wexford than our now yearly Hope and Dream 10.

This event consists of both a 10k and a 10 mile and it’s a fantastic event to both be part of and to take part in. Anyone who has taken part have said it’s a day they will never forget.

Even if you’ve never been for a walk or run before you should get yourself and some friends together after Christmas and pick up your weekly newspaper and follow our leaders’ exercise plans. The plans this year are solely for someone starting out from nothing and will lead you to both a healthier lifestyle and of course completing the Hope and Dream 10 k walk/run.

I’m really looking forward to working with our team leaders over the coming months as all of them have no experience of running or taking part in training programs, so watching how they develop over the coming months will be interesting.

Of course it won’t be easy because to get where we need to get, there needs to be a large amount of effort and will power and the mind, body and spirit of each person has to be challenged to achieve that.

But don’t be put off by this as every week on hand alongside my training program we have our nutrition tips from Martina, we have our two chartered physiotherapists Brian and Julie looking after any niggles and injuries and Nolan Health and Fitness providing fantastic facilities and advice to everyone.

This team works fantastic together each year to allow the

leaders and our readers get the maximum benefits from the training.

To all of the team I give a big Thank You and let’s get ready for this year’s event. The best of luck to all, so get yourself together and get entered on Hope and Dream 2019 and get started on the program below.

Please remember that before starting any type of training program, make sure you have a clean bill of health. It’s never any harm to have a doctor’s medical check done to be sure there’s no underlying issues. Also ensure you have a couple of good pairs of runners as you’re gonna be putting in plenty of miles in the coming months.

You can have your gait analysis checked out at My Sport in Enniscorthy or at various other locations throughout the county. This can be important in order to prevent trouble down the line with ankles, knees, hips and so on.

The reason I’ve said this is because everyone lands on their feet differently and therefore correcting any out of line areas at an early stage in training has huge benefits in the future. For any further information about this please just contact our physios or email Hope and Dream and we will gladly help. Weeks 1, 2 and 3

Monday: Rest Fully Tuesday: three miles walk/run Wednesday: 30 min cross training.

Thursday: three miles walk/ run

Friday: Rest with some stretching, flexibility and foam rolling.

Saturday: 30 min cross training

Sunday: four miles walk/run

Cross training can be swimming, cycling, rowing, etc.

Walk/run can be all walking, all running or a mixture of both depending on your ability.