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 week 4 of training plans for the Boston and New Jersey marathons, week 4 of a plan for the NYC Half, and week 3 of a plan for spring 5K/10K races.

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 1/16: Easy day

• Spring marathoners should run 40-55 minutes easy, followed by 3-5 100m strides
• Everyone else should run 30-45 minutes easy, or optionally rest
• Monday Evening Downtown group run: RSVP

Tuesday 1/17: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• All runners (Spring marathoners, NYC Half specialists, Short distance (5K-15K) specialists with a solid base, and Runners who are building a base): 2-3 repeats of 2 miles at half marathon pace, with 3:00 jog recovery between them. Finish with at least 1.5 miles of easy jogging to cool down.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: RSVP

Wednesday 1/18: Recovery day

• Spring marathoners and half marathoners should do 20-40 minutes of aerobic cross-training or easy jogging, with form drills and strides
• Everyone else should do 20-40 minutes of easy running or aerobic system cross training, or optionally rest
• Wednesday morning run in Central Park: RSVP

Thursday, 1/19: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• All runners (Short distance (5K-15K) specialists, NYC Half competitors, Spring marathoners, and Runners who are building a base): 4-8 repeats of 800m @ 5K pace. Jog 400m between repeats, and finish with at least 15 minutes of jogging to cool down. Well-trained runners should aim for 6-8; those new to speedwork or building a base should stop at 4-5. Short distance specialists should tack on 2x200m @ mile pace (with 200m recovery) at the end of this workout.
• 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 1/20: Very easy day

• Most runners should rest, or do the Monday or Wednesday workout today if you missed it
• Optionally, advanced marathoners and half marathoners may add up to 40 minutes of easy jogging or cross-training

Saturday and Sunday, 1/21-22: On one day, do 40-55 minutes of easy running followed by 4-6 repeats of 100m strides. On the other day, do a long run…

• Boston and New Jersey marathoners, and NYC Half competitors: Option 1: Run the Fred Lebow Half this weekend (preceded by a 2-3-mile warmup), but do it at a steady marathon pace rather than half marathon speed. Option 2: If you didn’t get into the Lebow Half, do between 1:50 and 2:20 of running at long run pace.
• Shorter-distance specialists with a solid base, and Runners who are building a base: As little as 1:10, or as much as 1:40, 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 weekend team long runs in Manhattan and Brooklyn. 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/Boston_Marathon_Plan_2017.pdf
• New Jersey marathon training plan: COMING VERY SOON
• Winter 5K/10K training plan: http://files.meetup.com/1454408/DWRT_TrainingPlan_Winter2017_5K10K.pdf
• NYC Half training plan: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/DWRT_TrainingPlan_NYCHalf2017_v1.pdf