Dashing Whippets Training Plan, April 20 – 26, 2015

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 New Jersey marathoners, and week 5 of a training plan for the Brooklyn Half. If you are training for shorter races like 5K-15K, or are looking ahead to a fall marathon, join us for modified workouts that will help you build and maintain fitness.

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 4/20: Easy day

• Best of luck, Boston marathoners! Take the rest of this week off, or if you must run, limit yourself to easy running for no more than 30 minutes.
• NJ marathoners should do 30 minutes easy, optionally followed by 4-6 strides of 150m each
• Brooklyn half marathoners should run 45-60 minutes easy, optionally followed by 4 strides of 100m each
• Everyone else should rest or run 30 minutes easy
• Monday Morning Mileage (Central Park) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221521031/

Tuesday 4/21: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1-1.5 easy mile, then…

• NJ marathoners: 30-40 minutes of running at a minute per mile slower than marathon pace. No cooldown is required.
• Brooklyn Half competitors and short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base of speedwork): 8-10 repeats of 400m uphill at faster than 10K pace. Jog back downhill to recover after each, and finish by jogging 1-1.5 miles to cool down.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 6 repeats of 400m uphill at 10K pace. Jog back after each, and finish with a 1-1.5-mile cooldown.
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm:  http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221405108/
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221356022/

Wednesday 4/22: Recovery day

• NJ and Boston marathoners should rest
• Half marathoners and shorter distance specialists should do 25-50 minutes of easy running or aerobic system cross training
• Morning group run, Central Park: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221407645/

Thursday, 4/23: Short speedwork day: 15-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• NJ marathoners: 30 minutes of easy running, followed by 5x100m strides. No cooldown is required.
• Brooklyn Half competitors (with a solid base of speedwork): 10-14K worth of Canova Ks. These are alternations of 1000m at half marathon pace, then 1000m at marathon pace, repeated back and forth with no rest between pace changes. Finish with 15 minutes of easy jogging to cool down.
• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with solid base of speedwork) and runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 4-8 repeats of 400m at 5K pace with 200m recovery after each.
• Boston marathoners should rest.
• Morning group workout in Central Park: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221421419/
• Evening Manhattan group workout in East River Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/220029474/
• Evening Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/221606174/

Friday 4/24: Very easy day

• Optionally, advanced Brooklyn half marathoners may do 30-35 minutes of easy running, followed by 4 x 100m strides
• NJ marathoners should rest and get extra sleep tonight
• Everyone else should rest, or do the Monday or Wednesday workout today if you missed it

Saturday and Sunday, 4/25-26:

• NJ marathoners: On Saturday, rest or do a 10-minute easy shakeout run. Best of luck on Sunday!
• Boston marathoners: Rest on Saturday.  On Sunday, rest or optionally do an easy run of 20-30 minutes.
• Everyone else: On one day, do 40-55 minutes of easy running plus 4 x 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run…
• Brooklyn Half competitors: 2:10-2:20 of running at long run pace
• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists, and Runners who are building a base: 1:00-1:30 of running at 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.
• There are weekly team long runs around the city. To see all options for weekend training runs with the Whippets, please view the calendar: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/

Training Calendars

• Training plan for Brooklyn Half (7-8 weeks): http://files.meetup.com/1454408/Brooklyn_Half_Training_2015.pdf
• Training plan for New Jersey Marathon (17 weeks): http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT%202015%20NJ%20Marathon%20Plan.pdf