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 week 8 of a training plan for Boston and New Jersey marathoners, and week 7 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 2/15: 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/228369813/
• Monday Evening Easy (East Village) option: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228539091/

Tuesday 2/16: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• Spring marathoners, NYC Half competitors, Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base of speedwork): 4-6 miles at half marathon pace. Finish with 1.5-2 easy miles to cool down.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 3-4 miles at half marathon pace, followed by a 1+mile cooldown.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228597855/
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/ddlxrhyvdbvb/

Wednesday 2/17: Recovery day

• Spring marathoners and half marathoners should run 50-70 minutes easy with 4 x 100m strides, or optionally rest
• Everyone else should do 25-40 minutes of easy running or aerobic system cross training
• Morning group run, Central Park: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/227944404/

Thursday, 2/18: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base of speedwork): 3-4 repeats of 1600m at 10K pace, with 2:00 recovery jog after each. Finish with 2-4 repeats of 200m @ mile pace (200m walk-jog recovery). Do a 20-minute cooldown jog.
• Spring marathoners and NYC Half competitors: 8-12K 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. Do a 20-minute cooldown jog.
• Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): Do 6-8K of Canova Ks (described above). Finish with a 15-20-minute cooldown.
• Alternative for indoor track specialists (who have done speedwork regularly): Do an extra long warmup. Then do 4-6 repeats of 300m at estimated 800m pace, with 300m jog between them. Finish with a 15-20-minute cooldown.
• Lower Manhattan group workout in East River Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/qhczmlyvdbxb/
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/qqwwglyvdbxb/
• Upper Manhattan group workout in Riverbank State Park at 7pm: http://www.meetup.com/dashing-whippets/events/228581355/

Friday 2/19: 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, 2/20-21: 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: 2:15-2:30 at long run pace
• NYC Half competitors: 2:00-2:15 at long run pace
• Short distance specialists (5K-15K) with a solid base: 1:40-1:50 at long run pace
• Runners who are building a base: 1:15-1:30 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