Running doubles every day is really working!

I always felt running doubles was rougher than running longer singles. I had a demanding major in college, so I preferred to stretch once, warm up once and run once instead of having to do it twice in a day. I had the complete opposite experience with regards to joint stiffness (the times I ran doubles it felt like everything was on the verge of tearing). Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for waking up this old thread. It's timely for me as I just finished my first week ever of trying doubles (only three times -- I figured I should start slow).

I do most of my running in the evening so I decided to try adding a 4mi morning run. The first day I simply matched it in the afternoon, then on day 2 upped to 6mi in the evening, and then on day 3 up to 8mi. So daily totals of 8/10/12, whereas my original singles plan had been 8/8/10. Mornings very slow -- I'm not a morning guy -- and evenings significantly faster.

Not a huge change from my mileage norm but I felt totally thrashed this weekend. Sounds like that's normal-ish(?) so I'm going to keep at it for a few weeks and see what happens. I'm looking forward to getting over the hump and on to the good stuff...

Just want to see if anyone in this thread kept it up and, if so, if race times came down as a result.

My experience is that the more hard sessions I have (intervals, tempos, speed, etc) the more doubles help in fostering recovery. When doing base, I feel like singles allow me to just get it done in one run and be done. A lot of it is mental.

Any advice/experiences regarding attempting doubles for a 59 year old who is noticing a need for increasingly longer periods of recovery? I mean, do others in my age group add a second workout when a 60-75 minute morning workout requires 24 hours of recovery? I've been running 50-70 mpw consistently for about 16 years, including training for 26 marathons.

Different phase of life wrote:

Any advice/experiences regarding attempting doubles for a 59 year old who is noticing a need for increasingly longer periods of recovery? I mean, do others in my age group add a second workout when a 60-75 minute morning workout requires 24 hours of recovery? I've been running 50-70 mpw consistently for about 16 years, including training for 26 marathons.

I'm exactly 10 years older than you and have had enormous success by running doubles. Less than 10% body-fat, iron-hard pecker on demand(boyfriend loves it) and perfect blood-work. Will attempt the Marathon des Sables and Tourist Trophy next year.

TMI with respect to all persuasions, would I'd still like more detail as to how you added the doubles: where you were in your training when you started and how your races played out before and after the doubles?

No, because the bulk of GH release is during sleep.

Testosterone improves sleep as well. But mileage above a certain point tends to lower testosterone levels.

If you want more GH, add interval work or sprints while avoiding overtraining

either volume or intensity.

For a beginner or intermediate with 2-3 marathons and maybe 4-8 halfs, 60 plus on doubles is a good start to doubling WHILE not overdoing it.

3+5 = 8 per day x 5 days. Or if you can't do 3+5 you can do 2+6, 1+7 or if you only have time for 1 run, I've done 8-10.
40 M-F total
12-15 Sa (adjustable up or down)
55
5-6 Su (adjustable up or down)
57-61 on the low end. If you go from 8 on the weekdays to 10, you can adjust this to 67 to 71 on the high end.

As you get faster you can even add more.

I did this by not running during my peak fitness. Age 18 in 2002 to age 33 in 2017 and my first half in 1:45 (slow but Cbus 2017 was 72'F at start with 70% humidity). I walked daily during those days because I was done running after HS and wanted a break. I did run a little in 2004 and 2008 but never for long. My ROTC instructor scared me and said if I run I'll blow out/wear out my knees.

I should have told him he was wrong in 2004 and started running again.

I may start this, even using slow base pace. It sounds a bit Maffetone-y but I get that it could work.

2-3 miles @ 10:00 pace in the morning. Five days even at that is 10-15 extra miles on top of the 40-45 that I had done during base from '17 to '21. And then LR/recovery/whatever on the weekend. So I can see how people can easily hit 70-80-90, esp. if most of it is EZ. Even if the second run is a workout one day, the second run the other days (weekdays only) will also be EZ.

Ex:

Mon--3 EZ @ 10:00, 6 EZ @ 10:00

Tue--2 EZ @ 10, 6 workout

We--3 EZ, 6 EZ

Th--2 EZ, 8 EZ longer

Fr--2 EZ, 6 EZ

Sa--15-16 EZ w/last 4 @ MP

Su--7-8 EZ, with some recovery

66-68 alone on just this simple schedule to build base, then go from there

I started running doubles last year. I run twice a day, 9-12 minutes per mile pace, 7 days a week, occasionally once a day, about 8-12 miles per day total.

There are some interesting benefits. Your body learns how to recover easily and your feet and legs get stronger I think. When I enter a race, I find I have really great endurance and can hold a pace about 4 or 5 minutes per mile faster than I train, fairly easy in a 5 or 10k. I also experimented running a 10k WITHOUT that kind of training and I felt super underpowered so immediately returned to doubles.

For speed work, I pick a short Strava segment and try to beat my time and move up in rankings if I am feeling good on a particular day. Currently working on a 0.4 mile segment. Otherwise I improve my speed and strength by running hills and mountains.

I have a low stress job and sleep and eat a lot for recovery.

When I started Xc I ask one of the sensors on the team what was the best way to get good at running

his response

run twice a day don’t quit

that advice has stood the test of time

I run 3 times a day because I can run long distance. 2.5km each time.

Pointless thread.

The OP ran 38 minutes before running doubles. If your pr had improved whilst doing the SAME mileage then I would be impressed.

Running doubles AND increasing mileage is meaningless. It's obviously the mileage which led to improvement.

Yes, that is true, it's the mileage.

Doubles provides a (mostly mental) framework for me to run the mileage from 60-80 miles per week and not make as many excuses and actually get the mileage in...perhaps safer and with better recovery than running singles, at least for me.

The more I run, the easier it is to run. Running twice a day is "more" in some way for me mentally.

There was a thread here years ago, (even older than this thread) that linked research showing that running doubles was more effective than running the same mileage in singles. (Running triples showed no increase over running doubles).

I started this thread a few months ago asking if it made sense for me to start running doubles for 5K training:

I was a 6 day per week runner running about 50-52 mpw and it was becoming difficult to increase the weekly mileage while maintaining the 6 day per week schedule.

I'm in my 4th week of doubles now and it's been going great. My weekly mileage is creeping it's way up to 60, while sticking with the 6 day per week schedule.

One thing that really surprised me in a good way is that splitting the run up into 2 despite increasing total miles is much easier than one longer single run. My previous typical daily run was a single 8 to 8.5 miles and those felt more difficult to me than a morning 6 miler followed by an evening 4.5 miler. I think this is especially true during the hot summer months.

I like running doubles when possible. The first run is almost always the "extra" run with only 2-4 miles at a very easy pace. Then a few hours later I do the main run and every single time it feels easier to run faster in that 2nd run than it does on the days where I run singles. Also only need a 5 minute warmup or less instead of 15+ minutes warmup on a singles day