Dashing Whippets Training Plan, January 30 – February 5, 2017

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

A Personal Note of Thanks

Thank you to everyone who came out to this past weekend’s Dashing Whippets Annual Party, and congratulations to all the runners who received special recognition. I would like to express extra gratitude to the team for the gifts that you gave to Chris Hsieh, Matt Wong, Chris Forti and me. It was unexpected and very generous!

Dashing Whippets Training Plan for the Week

This is week 6 of training plans for the Boston and New Jersey marathons, week 6 of a plan for the NYC Half, and week 5 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 1/30: Easy day

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

Tuesday 1/31: Long speedwork day: Warm up 1.5-2 miles. Then…

• Spring marathoners and NYC Half specialists: 3 repeats of 15 minutes at marathon pace on a hilly course. Jog 2 minutes easy between the repeats, and finish with a 2-mile cooldown jog.
• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists with a solid base (frequent recent speedwork), and Runners who are building a base (not much recent speedwork): 8-16 repeats of 200m uphill at 5K pace; jog back downhill after each to recover. Those who are new to training should stop at 8-10; those who are well trained should aim for 14-16. Finish with a 1-2-mile cooldown.
• Manhattan group workout in Central Park at 7pm: RSVP
• Brooklyn group workout in Prospect Park at 7pm: RSVP

Wednesday 2/01: 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, 2/02: Short speedwork day: 20-minute warmup, including jogging/drills/strides, then…

• Short distance (5K-15K) specialists (with a solid base): 4-6 repeats 1000m at 5K pace, with just 2:30 of jogging recovery between them. Optionally, add 2-4 repeats of 200m at mile pace at the end (200m recovery between them). Finish with a cooldown jog of at least 15 minutes.
• Spring marathoners and NYC Half specialists: 8-10K of Canova Ks. Canova Ks are a continuous run alternating every 1000m between half marathon and marathon pace, with no rest between pace changes. Finish with 15+ minutes of easy jogging to cool down.
• Runners who are building a base: Do 4-6K of Canova Ks, described above, and finish with a 15-minute cooldown.
• 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 2/03: 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 30 minutes of easy jogging or cross-training

Saturday and Sunday, 2/04-05: 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: 2:20-2:30 at long run pace
• NYC Half specialists: 14 miles at progression run pace (described below)
• Shorter-distance specialists with a solid base: Recommended race: Gridiron 4-miler on Sunday Feb 5, with a generous (30+min) warmup and cooldown. Alternative if you can’t do the race: 1:45 of running at long run pace.
• Runners who are building a base: 1:10-1:30 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. Progression run pace starts at long run pace for the first half — but the second half gradually accelerates to half marathon pace (or marathon pace for marathoners) — and do the last 10 minutes at an easy pace.
• 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 (UPDATED Jan 20): http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Boston_Marathon_Plan_2017.pdf
• New Jersey marathon training plan: http://dwrt.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/NewJersey_Marathon_Plan_2017.pdf
• 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