All this talk about running Doubles?

Here is Alberto Salazar's training log from the summer of 1978:

http://www.dyestat.com/training/salazar1.htm

Malmo's translation (from the poor handwriting) and summary are here:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2472389&page=2

Conventional wisdom would tell us that with Salazar averaging 99 miles per week over 10 weeks, including a high of 110, we'd see some pretty long runs in there. Not so, only 8 runs (out of 130) are 12 miles or more.

I know I'm just repeating malmo's words here, but you guys are really overrating these longer runs. Unless we're talking about a marathon - which we're not - first work on running twice a day every day.

And remember, if we're assuming Salazar is running most of his mileage at 6:00/mile, he's actually not spending that much TIME on his feet.

All those 6 and 7 mile AM runs? That's 35-40 min for Salazar. Totally achievable.

So why can't you guys go out and run 4 miles every morning?

I've doubled on long run days before, meaning going 14+4 rather than 16. I suspect there's some kind of benefit, not sure what though.

it would be preferable to run doubles every day, meaning 14 runs a week. i don't really know the science behind it, but i have some ideas.

you pretty much get the most amount of miles you can with the least amount of stress. less stress means you aren't as likely to get injured, and you can run faster on your runs.

most importantly in my opinion, you are forced to become a creature of good habits in order to run 14 times a week. you have to be disciplined, get plenty of rest, eat healthily, etc. can't really "party all night" on a schedule like this and expect to get your runs in. i can see you getting away with it doing singles.

just my thoughts. now i have no clue about long runs. you shouldn't really do long runs though unless you are training for a marathon. please don't kill me for saying that but i feel like it's true.

You don't really need to do long runs with the marathon either. At least extremely long runs in comparison to your weekly mileage. I'm talking about people that run 60 mpw doing 20 - 24 mile long runs. I have learned, through experience, that it isn't necessary. Maximize mileage by running doubles and keep your long run under 20% of wkly mileage. You will feell much better for it and run faster.

Bear of Bad News wrote:

tom waits wrote:

Doubles just work - simple as that. And there's no minimum mileage either - if you're doing 60 mpw in singles, then you could be doing 70 mpw with doubles.

Exactly. The choice is not between running 60mpw in singles or in doubles. The choice is between being able to run 60mpw in singles or more in doubles.

Then what is the starting point for doubles? 60? I ran doubles 2-3 times a week in high school and college, 60-80 mpw usually. It's been a few years and a few injuries since then and I'm now training on my own. I'm finally getting to 50ish range without injury (knock on wood) all in singles. There are some days (like today) when a 7-mile easy run is hard to motivate myself for even though I ran a mile repeat workout yesterday that totaled 7-8 miles. Maybe it's a mental thing, since running slower is boring and takes longer.

the starting mileage is zero miles. allow me to explain.

okay, so you took some time off from the track and field season and you are ready to put in some base work for xc. day 1: run twice that day. day 2: run twice that day...so on and so forth. run 1/1, or 2/1, or 7/7, or 20/10...idk what mileage you need to run, but run twice a day. it's very simple. do it now. like, right now. or tomorrow. but start SOON. don't waste your time!

Forget the doubles at 60/week but if you want to run more tack on a few 4-5 runs on three days to make it 72-75. Don't fret about it. Too many variable to say anything for sure in the fitness world. I would run 14, 5, 8, 7, 10, 6, 10 if I wre doing 60 but your plan is super! Hit the road, Jack, and getrdun! Nuff time chatting and not enough running the big bad 60.