Twice a day training for 2 weeks

I trained twice a day and did a long run on Sunday for years. Twice a day (did intervals twice a week) really did make a huge difference, not sure if I really benefited from the long Sunday run. A rest day may have been smarter.

If you’re doing 70km - 80km (43mi - 50mi) a week i would recommend singles. It’s better aerobically to just do the mileage in singles. Although with you mentioning your age, if you are unable to handle that much running in singles, I would do 8km in the morning and 5km in the evening for the double 6 days a week. Or, if you want to add a long run, add around a 15km run one day and then do 8km in the morning and 5km in the evening the other days. That should get you around 80km. Adding in workouts would be easy, just replace the 8km day with warm up, cool down and workouts. Simple stuff like km repeats, fartleks and mile repeats will serve you well. Getting in some faster reps and strides before race day would also help if your body is able to handle speed work. Hope this helps.

singles over doubles wrote:

If you’re doing 70km - 80km (43mi - 50mi) a week i would recommend singles. It’s better aerobically to just do the mileage in singles.

No its not.

When I first started doubling, it took me about 3 months before I noticed any increased fitness and about 6 months before fitness gains were significant - ie translated into race performance. I'd already been running for 6 years by then, so results may be quite different for you. I don't think just 2 weeks of doubles will do much of anything though. If this is over the holidays, I'd run a race right away after these two weeks of doubling to see if they had any effect, assuming you don't plan to continue doubling.

Going from running singles six day a week to running six doubles for a two week period won’t do much but tire you out. Based on the times you mentioned there are PLENTY of eAsier and more effective ways to get faster at your stage.

Ok thx so far.

These 2 weeks can be an overload, however not too much.

Maybe its better to double only two easy units and if i have a quality session i do no extra unit this day. A quality day could be a Long run, Fartlek, Intervals ...

Try doubles EOD for the first week

vaxilated wrote:

Going from running singles six day a week to running six doubles for a two week period won’t do much but tire you out. Based on the times you mentioned there are PLENTY of eAsier and more effective ways to get faster at your stage.

Looking forward to hear from these PLENTY of easier and more effective ways ...

An aggressive mileage increase for such a short time is unlikely to meaningfully improve your fitness, but that's plenty of time for a 49 year old to get injured by doubling their workload with no ramp-up. Real improvements come from increasing mileage gradually over time while remaining consistent, not from 2 weeks of severe overload. You'll get people to tell you how much mileage to run etc, but I just don't think this idea is likely to bear the fruit you want.

fifth coming wrote:

An aggressive mileage increase for such a short time is unlikely to meaningfully improve your fitness, but that's plenty of time for a 49 year old to get injured by doubling their workload with no ramp-up. Real improvements come from increasing mileage gradually over time while remaining consistent, not from 2 weeks of severe overload. You'll get people to tell you how much mileage to run etc, but I just don't think this idea is likely to bear the fruit you want.

Its not about doubling the training hours a week, its about double units a day.

I have 7-8h/week now, and maybe 8-10h/week is the maximum for these 2 weeks.

lexel wrote:

fifth coming wrote:

An aggressive mileage increase for such a short time is unlikely to meaningfully improve your fitness, but that's plenty of time for a 49 year old to get injured by doubling their workload with no ramp-up. Real improvements come from increasing mileage gradually over time while remaining consistent, not from 2 weeks of severe overload. You'll get people to tell you how much mileage to run etc, but I just don't think this idea is likely to bear the fruit you want.

Its not about doubling the training hours a week, its about double units a day.

I have 7-8h/week now, and maybe 8-10h/week is the maximum for these 2 weeks.

I would recommend staying with singles and 1-2 of them per week at 70-80 min for a boost of mitochondria and enzymes for the energy process. Take advantage of your vacation and get high quality rest when no work. Good luck and tell us how it went please. :)

malmo wrote:

singles over doubles wrote:

If you’re doing 70km - 80km (43mi - 50mi) a week i would recommend singles. It’s better aerobically to just do the mileage in singles.

No its not.

Could be interesting to read your reasoning to give that claim?

Sounds like a great way to get injured. Try things in moderation. Gradually build up your mileage and gradually introduce twice a day training.

COACH WIZARD 1 wrote:

Take advantage of your vacation and get high quality rest when no work. Good luck and tell us how it went please. :)

Thats a fair and nice advice, to rest in holiday :)

However, the plan is to trigger a new input for the body ...

Anecdote: in the past i was once doing sports with even older but good athletes in pension.

One of them told me, 'lets go on, we can rest if we are dead' :)

lexel wrote:

COACH WIZARD 1 wrote:

Take advantage of your vacation and get high quality rest when no work. Good luck and tell us how it went please. :)

Thats a fair and nice advice, to rest in holiday :)

However, the plan is to trigger a new input for the body ...

Anecdote: in the past i was once doing sports with even older but good athletes in pension.

One of them told me, 'lets go on, we can rest if we are dead' :)

Be careful exploring new inputs….always be careful exploring new inputs, especially with an overly enthusiastic partner.

stan the corgi wrote:

I trained twice a day and did a long run on Sunday for years. Twice a day (did intervals twice a week) really did make a huge difference, not sure if I really benefited from the long Sunday run. A rest day may have been smarter.

Yes, i think leaving away the long run in that period is a good idea.

I tends now to go with only 2 quality sessions/week.

How healthy it is running twice a day? I would like to know more about it.

AnnaCallis wrote:

How healthy it is running twice a day? I would like to know more about it.

Why do you think that should be unhealthy?

Ok i created a first draft plan for the first week:

No long run. 2 Q sessions/week. Q ... Quality, E ... Easy

Day 1: Q (1h including warm-up, cool-down)

Day 2: AM: E 75 min, PM: E 45 min

Day 3: AM: E 75 min, PM: E 45 min

Day 4: Q (1h including warm-up, cool-down)

Day 5: AM: E 75 min, PM: E 45 min

Day 6: AM: E 75 min, PM: E 45 min

Day 7: Rest

Total: 10h