HI again, well it looks like my groin strain has subsided and the muscles may have even toughened up a bit. I've been doing some new hip stretches too which may have helped - or perhaps the bowen therapy worked!

however, not been running so much and dived intoa 15k snowshoe race...which my 2 runner friends assured me I'd be fine in - Iknew wihtout trianing it would be murder, but I went for it anyway. this race was around a crosscountry ski course and then up and back down a 2k mountain. I completed it in 3hr47mins - terrible! But not so bad after no training?!

After the race my muscles weren't as tired as I thought they would be - I still had running energy left in my legs at the finish too - my problem was energy! Stamina! This is what I really need to build on.

Marathon is the 20th april.....still got time....may try and incorporate swimming into my training. as it is cold and snowy here.

Any ideas what I should average a week in running/swimming etc? I hear that circuit training can be just as good for runners too?

Hmm be careful mate, don't bite off more than you can chew after an injury.

any decent cardio workout will compliment your running pretty well, and if it's non weight bearing (e.g. cycling/swimming) then even better as it'll reduce the risk of injury. As for quantities? Who knows! I recently read a book on the FIRST 3 plus 2 training method which implements 3 hard runs a week with cross training sessions to help improve fitness without risking injury. May be worth a read? I'm sure you could find a cut down version of it if you googled it?