Happy New Year!
Welcome to this week’s edition of our weekly news and events roundup of all things Whippet-related.
– Rose, Matt and Simon
- We now have all four of our plans out for the first few months of 2015. Check our training page for the Boston Marathon, NJ Marathon, NYC Half, and Washington Heights 5k/Scotland Run 10k plans: http://www.dashingwhippets.
org/training/ - If you have any questions about the team plans or training in general, our coaches have volunteered to do a Q&A. Please ask questions here and we will post their answers! https://docs.google.com/forms/
d/1RgkRenQxQXnYsRd6YhW- GG8L6rTj4lQW7XO1ugmtZvo/ viewform - We will be running to the Coney Island Polar Bear plunge again on New Year’s Day. RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-
whippets/events/219304659/ - Would anyone want to volunteer to help us compile all of our race results statistics? We’d love to have a volunteer that is into running stats, Excel, and has some time every week to enter results into a Google Doc. Let me know if you are interested!
- We’re raising money for the sneaker drive again this year. Please see info here on how to donate! http://www.dashingwhippets.
org/2014/12/24/sneaker-drive/ - We are starting a new Thursday morning workout in Central Park on January 8th. This will follow the same Thursday workout plan as the track workout. Please RSVP here for the first one: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-
whippets/events/219340611/ - Register for the Washington Heights 5k – what will probably be the first points race of 2015 here: http://www.nyrr.org/races-and-
events/2015/nyrr-washington- heights-salsa-blues-and- shamrocks-5k
Results – Fill out this survey to submit any non-NYRR results: https://docs.google.com/forms/
- Read about Chris Forti’s results from the Boston University Mini Meet last weekend on our results page: http://www.dashingwhippets.
org/results/
Get to Know a Whippet: Andrew Palaschenko
1. Does anyone else in your family run?
My son steals my daughters toys and runs them into their bedroom to throw and hide them under their bunk beds. While he runs out of necessity, my wife also runs, but for leisure and to stay in shape. She runs a lot more often than I do and I believe she even contributes to the WAG.
2. Do you lift weights or have any good strength exercises you want to share?
I lift more often than I run, though the size of my biceps would suggest otherwise. Bruce Lee proved that you can be small and powerful, so I build myself in his image.
Good exercises for runners concentrate on lower body strength such as deadlifts, box jumps and squat variations, like the squat and press or the overhead squat, which is probably the most difficult squat. Most people lift less than half the weight on an overhead squat than they could on a normal squat. And while I’m not one to follow trends, the kettle bell is a very useful tool, but can be dangerous if not used properly. It’s effective because it provides cardio and strength training in one.
3. How did your last race go?
Poorly because I had a mole removed in an area that compromised my mobility. I basically did no training and was even slower than my last race when I had the flu. Being fully healthy for a race is something my body tries to prevent from happening.
4. What is your favorite race?
That’s a loaded question and implies that I’m a racist, but since you asked, I guess it’s a tie between Whites and Asians, because my kids are half of each.
5. Your favorite race that you ran in.
OK, I ran in the Empire State Run Up in February 2014. I liked that because it wasn’t just a flat race, but a run up 86 flights of stairs. While the scenery was pretty boring, it was short and there were some employees cheering on various floors. I finished in 17:03 and from what I understand, most people were under 20 minutes, with some of the elites doing it in less than 11. Also, it’s a feather in my cap because less than 600 people do it ever year and now they are capping the participant pool at less than 300 per year.
Press Digest:
- 7 Cold Runs and Polar Plunges: http://www.runnersworld.com/
photos/7-cold-runs-and-polar- plunges - Running Elites Look Forward to 2015: http://www.runnersworld.com/
photos/running-elites-look- forward-to-2015
