This weekly message keeps active members informed of the Dashing Whippets training activities for the next seven days.

Dashing Whippets Training Plan for the Week

This is the final week of a training plan for the Boston marathon, week 16 of a plan for the New Jersey marathon, and week 3 of a training plan for the Brooklyn Half Marathon.

Please click on the links below to RSVP if you are planning to come out to one of these training events!

Note: Almost all training paces, such as 5K, 10K, half marathon, should be your estimated pace if you ran the race today — not your goal or PR pace. (Exception: Marathon pace is your goal pace or best guess of your well-trained marathon speed.) You can use the Daniels VDOT calculator to estimate your pace from a recent result.

Monday 4/10: Easy day

• Spring marathoners and Brooklyn Half competitors should run easy as little as 40 minutes (Boston), or as many as 70 (New Jersey), or somewhere in between (Brooklyn), followed by 5 100m strides
• Everyone else should run 30-40 minutes easy, or optionally rest
• Monday Evening Downtown group run: RSVP

Tuesday 4/11: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• Boston marathoners and Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork, or are bouncing back after a hard race): After warming up, add 40 minutes of running, mostly easy, but do the final 2 miles at marathon pace. No cooldown.
• New Jersey marathoners: 80 minutes at marathon pace, followed by 2 easy miles to cool down.
• Brooklyn Half competitors and Short distance (5K-15K) specialists with a solid base: 55 minutes at marathon pace, followed by a 2-mile cooldown.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: RSVP

Wednesday 4/12: Recovery day

• Everyone (including Boston marathoners) should do 30-40 minutes of aerobic cross-training or easy jogging, with form drills and strides
• Wednesday morning run in Central Park: RSVP

Thursday, 4/13: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• Brooklyn Half competitors and Short distance (5K-15K) specialists: 5 repeats of 1200m at 10K pace, with a 400m jog between them. Finish with 15 minutes of easy jogging to cool down.
• New Jersey marathoners: 3 miles at marathon pace, then 3:00 easy jog. Then 2 miles at half marathon pace, then 2:00 jog. Then 1 mile at 10K pace, followed by a 15-minute cooldown.
• Boston marathoners and Runners who are building a base: After warming up, add 20-35 more minutes of easy jogging, followed by 4 repeats of 100m strides. No cooldown.
• Lower Manhattan group workout in East River Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Upper Manhattan group workout in Riverbank State Park at 7pm: RSVP

Friday 4/14: Very easy day

• Most runners should rest, or do the Monday or Wednesday workout today if you missed it
• Optionally, advanced marathoners and half marathoners may add up to 40 minutes of easy jogging or cross-training

Saturday and Sunday, 4/15-16:

• Boston marathoners should take it easy this weekend, rest or do short 15-minute shakeout runs. Have a great time at the race on Monday!
• Everyone else: On one day, do 40-55 minutes of easy running followed by 4-6 repeats of 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run…
• New Jersey marathoners: 2:30-2:45 of running at progression pace
• Brooklyn Half competitors: 2:00-2:10 of running at long run pace
• Shorter-distance specialists with a solid base, and Runners who are building a base: 1:15-1:30 of running at easy or long run pace
• Long run pace is 45-60 seconds per mile slower than marathon pace — a little faster than easy pace, but still not challenging. Progression run pace starts at long run pace for the first half — but the second half gradually accelerates to half marathon pace (or marathon pace for marathoners) — and do the last 10 minutes at an easy pace.
• There are weekend team long runs in Manhattan and Brooklyn. To see all options for weekend training runs with the Whippets, please view the calendar: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/

Training Calendars

• Boston marathon training plan: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Boston_Marathon_Plan_2017.pdf
• New Jersey marathon training plan:  http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NewJersey_Marathon_Plan_2017.pdf
• Brooklyn Half training plan: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-Brooklyn-Half-Marathon-Plan.pdf