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

Best of luck to everyone who will be representing the Dashing Whippets at this weekend’s NYRR Team Championships race. It’s a great event to run in, or even just to come out and cheer, since there are separate sections for men and women. See the Meetup calendar entry for more details: https://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/239470273/

Looking ahead, we are reaching a fork in the road for many runners who are following our team training programs. If you are committed to a fall marathon, stick with the recommended marathoner workouts, which are tailored to those on a timetable for the NYC or Chicago races. But if you are targeting shorter races, starting next week you’ll need to choose between focusing on the 15K to half marathon distance, focusing on the Bronx 10-Miler and Staten Island Half, or the mile to 5K distance, peaking at the Percy Sutton 5K and Fifth Avenue Mile events.

Regardless of which plan you follow, we hope you’ll continue to come out to our regularly scheduled workout. It’s your own teammates who keep you motivated and on pace to meet your goals. Join us as we get faster together!

Dashing Whippets Training Plan for the Week

This is week 12 of a summer-long short distance training program, and week 5 of an 18-week plan for the NYC Marathon and a 14-week plan for the Chicago 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 7/31: Easy day

• Fall marathoners should run 45-60 minutes easy
• Everyone else should run 30-45 minutes easy, or optionally rest
• Monday Evening Downtown group run: RSVP

Tuesday 8/01: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• After warming up, Everyone should start with short uphill sprints: 2 sprints of 75m uphill, 1-2 sprints of 100m uphill at 90% effort. Walk back down after each, and don’t go crazy — the purpose is to “wake up” the nervous system and do basic strength work. Note: This is the final set of hill sprints in this summer’s training program.
• Fall marathoners and Short distance (5K-15K) specialists with a solid base (frequent recent speedwork): 4 mile tempo run: Do first and last mile at 15K pace, but the middle 2 miles at half marathon pace. Finish with at least 2 easy miles to cool down.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork, or coming back after time off): 3 miles at half marathon pace, followed by 1 easy mile to cool down.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: RSVP

Wednesday 8/02: Recovery day

• Fall marathoners should do 45-60 minutes of easy running, or optionally rest
• Everyone else can take today off, especially if you will be peaking at the weekend’s Team Championships, or optionally do an easy run of at most 30 minutes
• Wednesday morning run in Central Park: RSVP

Thursday, 8/03: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• If you are racing this weekend, or are building a base: After warming up, add 30-40 minutes of easy running. Marathoners should do the first 67-75% of this at at marathon pace, and finish with 5-10 minutes of easy running. Non-Marathoners should do a 100m stride every 5 minutes or so. No cooldown is required.
• If you are not racing this weekend AND have a solid base: 6K of Canova Ks. Canova Ks are a continuous run alternating every 1000m between half marathon pace and marathon pace, with no rest between pace changes. Finish with 15 minutes of easy jogging to cool down.
• 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 8/04: Very easy day

• Most runners should rest, or do the Monday or Wednesday workout today if you missed it
• Optionally, advanced marathoners may do 30-50 minutes of jogging, strides and/or drills

Saturday and Sunday, 8/05-06:

• Good luck, Team Championships competitors! Remember to do a generous warmup and cooldown before and after your race.  On Sunday, rest or do an easy run of 40-60 minutes.
• If you are not racing this weekend: On one day, do 40-55 minutes of easy running followed by 3-4 repeats of 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run of maximum duration up to 2:15(for marathoners) or 1:30 (for non-marathoners).

NEXT Monday 8/07: Easy day

• Same workout as most Mondays: Marathoners run 50-60 minutes easy; Everyone else runs 30-45 minutes easy, or optionally rest

Training Calendars

• New York City Marathon training plan, 18 weeks: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-NYC-Marathon-Plan.pdf
• Chicago Marathon training plan, 14 weeks: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2017-Chicago-Marathon-Plan.pdf
• Bronx 10-Miler and Staten Island Half training plan: STARTS NEXT WEEK (details to come)
• Summer short distance training plan: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dwrt_trainingplan_summer2017_shortdistance.pdf