Running doubles every day is really working!

Amazing how few people do afternoon/evening doubles. I do them once in a while. It's a pain to always wake up early. But it's not such a pain to run after work, eat a snack, wait an hour or two, and then run again around 9pm. I think the full-time runners who double usually do them about 3 hours apart, so the before and after work/school isn't even the most prescribed one. I think Bill Rodgers used to run during lunch and this meant his doubles were closer together, too.

I have done doubles a few times and they really work! One summer, a Nebraska distance runner was home and worked with me at an outdoor adventure camp. We ran doubles four or five days a week, the longer one in the morning and the shorter 4-6 miler, in the heat of the afternoon. We ran one long run on Sunday. That fall he was all american cross D1 at nebraska and was third in the NCAA steeplechase finals the following spring. That was his junior year of college. Senior year, he hid out from me over the summer and was not as good that fall.

But, the doubles I did with him made me tough. I was in my mid 30's and was rippin and snortin at every race. Ran 2:33 thon that fall, 1:12 half, and lots of 15:30-16:00 range 5k's Doubles made me tuff!!

I am 56 now and tinkering around the edges with slight injuries so doubt if I jump back into doubles unless I get to feeling really frisky!

racer99 wrote:

has anyone done their main run/workout in the morning and their shorter/easier run in the evening?

If by "morning" you mean late morning, after breakfast and letting it go down, it's great when you can do it. I'm lucky that I can do this once or twice a week, and I can do my quality sessions on grass all year round. It is MUCH easier to do consistent high-quality sessions at noon than at 8pm after what can often be a tough working day.

Julian Goater, who won the English National by the largest margin ever, used to do this back in the 80s. He worked for the air force and was free to train at noon, then again after work. He said that he tried early mornings, but was in way better shape a few hours later, and preferred the extra sleep too. Wise man. Sadly many runners don't have the option.

When I was a high school teacher our day started around 7:00. Not being a morning person, I had an awful time doing a pre-work run. But we done by 2:30, so I'd run at 3:00-3:30, come home, have a sandwich, a nap, and go out again around 8:00.

What about doing doubles 2-4 times a week instead of every day?

confused- wrote:

What about doing doubles 2-4 times a week instead of every day?

Why not?

confused- wrote:

What about doing doubles 2-4 times a week instead of every day?

I mean why not every day?

Lexmark wrote:

Congrats on your improvement, but seriously a half mile? I dont know if I'd even count that as a double. For me I wouldnt bother changing clothes and such unless I was doing 3-4 miles.

I like this idea a lot. A lot of times I have not been excited to run another 3 or 4 miles, most often yes but sometimes not. However just getting out there and running a 1/4 would have been easy, then at that point seeing how I felt. The hard part had been doing, the getting out there and doing that 1st 1/4 mile.

This is an awesome idea. Thanks

i do that

Thanks for that! Just out of interest, did you run mostly steady in the evenings on non workout days. Or more specifically, did you have a day or two when you just ran very easy?

Hm. I would say no, I didn't really ever take a couple days to just run very easy. Looking back, however, this may be something I would change.

To answer in a little more detail, morning runs were often as slow as 7:30. But afternoon runs on non-workout days were probably 6:45 typically, almost never slower than 7:00. So it's not like I was hammering them, and I wouldn't feel drained after, but they were probably a little faster than 'pure recovery'.

Now, though, I definitely take some days very easy, running 7:30 or even 7:45 (in extreme cases) for both of my runs. I find that I just get much less worn down over the months this way.

There are reports that some Kenyan runners train 3 times a day.

Does this principle apply to weight lifting sessions as well? When I was in college we always used to lift after our workouts. Drink a little gatorade, and then role with it. We would be exhausted, but, hey, we were 19. Ten years later I'm just wiped after a run and don't feel like I get a quality workout in the weight room. I hate having to shower twice, but lately I've been doing much more quality weight lifting workouts when they are spaced apart from the running. Are there physiological benefits to this as well?

any update? Anyone have success with 0.5 mile runs?

I think 2miles is the minimum personally to make things worth it. That's 14miles a week extra, which is a lot.

But I'm willing to try 0.5 mile runs if it works. Obviously, this strategy is for busy people that have to take whatever chance they get to run and can't always schedule in a run.

Old thread, but yeah, running doubles is awesome. It's a very special ideal of training which not only brings performance and fitness to another level but also emotions and aesthetic appreciation and a momentum consciousness. I could philosophize on and on about it, but the major problem, of course, is increasing susceptibility to training injuries. So if you want this golden privilege of the exalted doubles training, make sure you cover your bases with biomechanical balancing strength training, including consulting a professional (pT through health insurance), and make sure you have your life in order! so you can support that training and capture in a wide net all the wonderful joys and products of it.

J.R. wrote:

Lexmark wrote:

Congrats on your improvement, but seriously a half mile? I dont know if I'd even count that as a double. For me I wouldnt bother changing clothes and such unless I was doing 3-4 miles.

I like this idea a lot. A lot of times I have not been excited to run another 3 or 4 miles, most often yes but sometimes not. However just getting out there and running a 1/4 would have been easy, then at that point seeing how I felt. The hard part had been doing, the getting out there and doing that 1st 1/4 mile.

This is an awesome idea. Thanks

If your getting out the door, you should at least give it 10 mins to see how you feel. Going out and calling it a day after 3 mins is a waste. You need to at least give your body a chance to warm up.

I'm a college student who is used to doubles. I've been running 75 miles a week, doubling three times a week. The easy double runs are almost always 4 miles at 7:30 pace. Then the main run is 8-9 miles, or a workout day (tempo/intervals). Long run has been 15 miles at 6:30-6:50 avg pace. It's easy to run this type of schedule with college but I'm starting a full time job soon.

I'm going to be working probably 8am to 6pm. And it's probably a 30-45min commute to work. I'm not looking forward to this because I still want to train at a high level but with the cold winter coming up (I live in the Midwest) it's just gonna be tough overall.

Does anybody have any recommendations on how to structure training. Honestly, I'd love to run a 14:40-15:00 5k on the track in a meet sometime next March/April. I'd love to hear how some of you working professionals are training if you have to work 50-60 hours a week. Especially if you're still running ~15:00 for the 5k.

I am thinking I could wake up at 6:15am and do an easy 4 miles. Then I would get home from work at do the 8-9 mile run at 7:00pm. But I would finish this run around 8:15pm and would need to get in bed around 9:30-10pm to recover and get enough sleep. Especially if I am going to wake up at 6am almost everyday to double. Just thinking about this I feel like I'm going to be exhausted.

On top of that, the winter is gonna suck with the cold weather. I can force myself to get out the door but it will be hard. And if there's snow and ice on the ground that screws up my runs. I can find a gym but that cuts into commute time too and I am under the impression it's not ideal to run too much mileage on the treadmill.

I really want to make all this work and I'm gonna give it my best shot but I'm just wondering how to go about it and when I should run around my work schedule considering my long hours and the upcoming winter weather. Plus, I'll probably have no time for social life if I do this. That's another thing. I know I'll be happy if I can run my goal time in the spring, but am I putting too much into training and not expanding the rest of my life? How do you guys balance it when you work 8-6pm everyday. Or are you guys just not trying to run as fast and competitively as I want to.

You need to discover the lunch run AND the morning run. 8am is a late start. I start at 6am, but end early.

Having said that, 10 hours, 8am-6pm long term is sh_t. Did that when I started out. Even worked weekends. Was NOT worth it. Only worth it if you're on some partnership track for a wallstreet firm or something. if you're just an developer, engneer or tech, forget it.

There's lots of good employers out there. You have to find them.

Welcome to the world of work. Glad to have you here because frankly, there's a real shortage of runners on here that don't have all the free time in the world for training.

also, you'll discover that doubles while working is the only way to go. With your 8am-6pm schedule, get up at 6:00 am, run for 6 miles and do a 4 miler at lunch and you are at 10 miles for the day.

You'd never be able to pull off 10miles single at lunch or in the morning. See what I mean?

Doubles are made for the working man. Embrace them.