Dashing Whippets Training Plan, February 1 – 7, 2016

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

Schedule note: As of now, our Thursday Manhattan workouts are planned to be held on the running tracks — however, this may change! Our Lower Manhattan and Upper Manhattan run leaders will check conditions early in the week and we may move them to a different location if the tracks are snow-covered. Please keep your eye on Thursday’s Meetup calendar entries (see below for links).

Dashing Whippets Training Plan for the Week

This week 6 of a training plan for Boston and New Jersey marathoners, and week 5 of training plans for competitors in the NYC Half or Washington Heights 5K.

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 2/01: Easy day

• Spring marathoners and half marathoners should run 50-70 minutes easy, followed by 5 x 100m strides
• Everyone else should run 30-40 minutes easy, or optionally rest
• Monday Morning Mileage (Central Park) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228030112/
• Monday Evening Easy (East Village) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/227915394/

Tuesday 2/02: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• Spring marathoners and NYC Half competitors (with a solid base of speedwork): 3 segments of 15 minutes run at marathon pace on a hilly course, with 2:00 jog recovery between them. Finish with 1-2 miles of jogging to cool down.
• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base of speedwork) and Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 8-16 repeats of 200m uphill at 5K pace — jog back downhill to recover. If you are building a base, stop at 8; if you are well-trained, aim for 12-16. Finish with a 1+ mile cooldown jog.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/227401286/
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228333919/

Wednesday 2/03: Recovery day

• Spring marathoners and half marathoners should run 40-55 minutes easy with 4 x 100m strides, or optionally rest
• Everyone else should do 20-30 minutes of easy running or aerobic system cross training
• Morning group run, Central Park: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228082318/

Thursday, 2/04: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base of speedwork): 4-6 repeats of 1000m at 5K pace, with a 200m slow jog recovery between them. Optionally, add 2-4 repeats 200m at mile pace (jog-walk 200m to recover). Finish with at least 20 minutes of jogging to cool down.
• Spring marathoners and NYC Half competitors: 6-10K of Canova Ks. Canova Ks are a continuous run alternating every 1000m between half marathon pace and marathon pace with rest between pace changes. Finish with a 15-20-minute cooldown jog.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 6K of Canova Ks, as described above. Finish with a 15+ minute cooldown.
• Lower Manhattan group workout in East River Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228105865/
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228131015/
• Upper Manhattan group workout in Riverbank State Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228176809/

Friday 2/05: Very easy day

• Most runners should rest, or do the Monday or Wednesday workout today if you missed it
• Optionally, advanced marathoners may run 40 minutes easy, followed by 4 x 100m strides

Saturday and Sunday, 2/06-07: On one day, do 35-55 minutes of easy running followed by 4 repeats of 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run…

• Boston marathoners and New Jersey marathoners: 2:20-2:30 of running at long run pace
• NYC Half competitors: 2:00 of running at long run pace
• Short distance specialists (5K-15K) with a solid base: We recommend you schedule a race this weekend between 5K and 5 miles in distance; add an extra-long warmup and cooldown to feed your aerobic base.
• Indoor track specialists with a solid base and Runners who are building a base: 1:00-1:20 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.
• 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

• Boston Marathon training plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/2016%20Boston%20marathon%20training%20plan.pdf
• New Jersey Marathon training plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/2016_NJ_Marathon_Plan.pdf
• NYC Half training plan (11 weeks): http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT_TrainingPlan_Winter2016_NYCHalf.pdf
• Washington Heights 5K (9 weeks): http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT_TrainingPlan_Winter2016_5K10K.pdf