Planning on doing the cara 10 mile run in March but I haven't done much running since I completed my first half marathon in ballina last year i completed it in 2:02 just looking for advice on the time frame i have to get back on form after Christmas is 8.5 weeks plenty of time to get sufficient training in? BTW I'm a novice runner not experienced by any means
There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to have a comfortable 10 mile race in March. Build things back up slowly - 3 or 4 runs a week with a long run at the weekend, going ever closer to 10 miles (and ideally longer - but slower than you want to run the race). The main thing is to watch out for any niggles or injuries and ease off as you increase the milage. Boringly enough, the more miles you do (at any pace, pretty much), the faster you'll run the 10 mile but you need to balance the milage increase with injuries, tiredness etc. If the increase in milage goes well, then you could incorporate some strides or race paced intervals into your training, but keeping things simple is probably the best plan.