Clear Answer wrote:
This sounds interesting. Not using doubles to increase mileage, but to get ready for the next run. What has you're long term experience been like with these short run of doubles? If anyone has tried 3 or less miles for one of the runs, how did it help you? disgraceful_admin you are correct that if I don't try doubling I will never know if I could make the jump or not. If anything it would be very short runs like you said for the first run, and not every day of the week. I would really like some feedback from you or anyone on what their experience of this was, especially if you were running lower mileage (40-45MPW) like I am.
I had a background of running up to 60 mpw, averaging more like 40 in season.
Not sure if then-PRs are relevant but I can include if you wish.
I decided to do a proper base phase following about a month of zero running due to a non-running injury.
First week was probably 20 mpw. No doubles, sore just running, felt terrible.
Over next few weeks got up to probably around 40 mpw but highly irregular, taking 2-3 rest days on occasion.
Started adding doubles on the 3rd week probably, in the mornings since I could never run good workouts in the morning.
Super super easy. I started out walking for a few sec then added just enough bounce in the stride to call it a jog. Probably 10 min/ mile pace, and I could probably run 4:30/mile a couple months earlier so it was indeed slow.
The emphasis was total effortlessness. I thought to myself - I should be capable of running without getting heavy legs at all, hardly breathing more than when walking, hardly elevating my heart rate. It felt a little strange and I realized that I was bad at running slowly. 8-10 minute pace didn't feel all that much easier than the 6:30 pace I would normally hold for my typical 8 mile "easy" run. That's when I realized I had a problem.
So I kept at those ridiculously easy morning runs. Actually, they were more than 5 minutes, but definitely less than 20. No more than 2 miles for the first month of them. I wasn't trying to go slow, I was trying to find the easiest possible pace where I was still "running". If I saw some fat jogger - great - I'd try to run slower than them until it felt like too much.
And I'd keep my regular runs and workouts in the afternoon. Actually, I'd start those super slow too, using the new-found "recovery stride" I'd been learning for the first 800m/mile. Then I'd progress into my normal pace, anywhere from 7:30 min/mile base miles to 5min cruise intervals.
I found that my "recovery stride" had me try to stand really tall, almost keeping my legs straight, and emphasizing bounce and springiness while feeling every muscle in my body contribute. I had a really really flat stride before this, so maybe I was addressing a critical weakness in my form that won't apply to you. This new stride carried over little by little into my normal pace making me much more efficient.
Eventually that recovery pace got faster, and within a month I was probably running about 7 min pace using that same completely effortless form. I didn't time it, no point. The 2 miles turned into 3-5 most days. Probably got up to 5 doubles a week, skipping on long run day and one other.
When I say effortless form I mean I might as well have been sitting on the couch or taking a stroll that's how easy it felt.
I will emphasize that some days I wasn't capable of running effortlessly, too tired from previous days' workouts.
It was obvious when this was the case. The day after a hard 18 miler for instance, my legs would be trashed and even the slowest movement got my breathing, heart rate, and a pressure in my head up. On those days I might turn back after 3 blocks and just walk-run. Sometimes later that day I'd feel good enough to run 10 miles at a decent pace. Other times it'd just be 3-5 miles of the same recovery jog, and again the next morning before feeling amazing for that afteroon's workout.
It's hard to "prove" whether a given 5-20 min double effort will help with recovery or just put you further into the hole. More often than not I felt better the day after a very hard workout doing that double in the morning. Sometimes I felt like I was better off taking the entire day off to eat ice-cream. You'll get a feeling for it if you're patient and willing to avoid pushing it all the time.
Following 4 months of this I made the largest improvements of my preceding 6 years of "serious" training.
Not sure if this will help, but I hope it does.