Disagree on stretching and doubles. Stretching can have a place. I always do some form of dynamic stretching before workouts and races. And I usually end up doing some form of static stretching because something always ends up a bit tight.
Icing after a workout, yeah, I think the science is still out on ice baths and icing but leans towards it being counterproductive. It's different if you're trying to keep an injury in check though, versus just icing to not be sore after.
NSAIDs, I only take them to keep injuries in check. I've seen people take them because they're "sore" and that makes no sense. Just be sore for a few days. But if you need to keep training and racing and you've got a kind of busted ankle or something, a few pills might do the trick.
Disagree on stretching and doubles. Stretching can have a place. I always do some form of dynamic stretching before workouts and races. And I usually end up doing some form of static stretching because something always ends up a bit tight.
Icing after a workout, yeah, I think the science is still out on ice baths and icing but leans towards it being counterproductive. It's different if you're trying to keep an injury in check though, versus just icing to not be sore after.
NSAIDs, I only take them to keep injuries in check. I've seen people take them because they're "sore" and that makes no sense. Just be sore for a few days. But if you need to keep training and racing and you've got a kind of busted ankle or something, a few pills might do the trick.
Check the research on stretching before races, it hurts your performance!
Doubles depends on how they are done. Training is the slight tearing down of muscles and rebuilding them stronger. If you are running twice a day you are not giving your body enough time to fully recover. Now if you run slow twice it might recover but it just doesn't seem to be the best use of time.
Yes, NSAIDs and icing can interfere with the body's ability to heal itself. Blood flow to muscles facilitates healing. Don't impede it.
Check the research on stretching before races, it hurts your performance!
Doubles depends on how they are done. Training is the slight tearing down of muscles and rebuilding them stronger. If you are running twice a day you are not giving your body enough time to fully recover. Now if you run slow twice it might recover but it just doesn't seem to be the best use of time.
Yes, NSAIDs and icing can interfere with the body's ability to heal itself. Blood flow to muscles facilitates healing. Don't impede it.
I'll take the negligible performance decrease over potentially pulling my hamstring or calf, thank you very much. If stretching gets it to feel alright and loosens it up, I'm doing it. As is every good runner ever. And this is just static stretching. Literally every professionals does some form of dynamic stretching.
Your double logic is too simple. You can train too hard on singles and not give your body enough time to recover. You can also run very easy doubles and recover better than you would off of harder singles. The goal isn't to be fully recovered by your double either. As long as your progressing and recovering, it doesn't matter. I find easy doubles are often easier to manage than bigger singles, and so do many others.
Check the research on stretching before races, it hurts your performance!
Doubles depends on how they are done. Training is the slight tearing down of muscles and rebuilding them stronger. If you are running twice a day you are not giving your body enough time to fully recover. Now if you run slow twice it might recover but it just doesn't seem to be the best use of time.
Yes, NSAIDs and icing can interfere with the body's ability to heal itself. Blood flow to muscles facilitates healing. Don't impede it.
I'll take the negligible performance decrease over potentially pulling my hamstring or calf, thank you very much. If stretching gets it to feel alright and loosens it up, I'm doing it. As is every good runner ever. And this is just static stretching. Literally every professionals does some form of dynamic stretching.
Your double logic is too simple. You can train too hard on singles and not give your body enough time to recover. You can also run very easy doubles and recover better than you would off of harder singles. The goal isn't to be fully recovered by your double either. As long as your progressing and recovering, it doesn't matter. I find easy doubles are often easier to manage than bigger singles, and so do many others.
To be clear, I'm familiar with the research. I don't think you should have a long static stretching routine before a race like many people might have. But to say "all stretching is bad" is just a gross simplification.
Doubles depends on how they are done. Training is the slight tearing down of muscles and rebuilding them stronger.
Last point and I'll shut up. Sports are more than muscles. The CNS plays a huge part. I remember reading about some golfers waking up at like 3AM to take a few swings, just so they were constantly used to swinging the club. I think of running doubles in a similar way. It may not provide the absolutely optimal muscular adaptation, but running more often tends to make one good at running. A big bonus of doubling for me is I tend to sit around at my desk all day, so if I run twice, it gives me two chances to loosen up and feel less tight throughout the day.
Constantly obsessing over running form actually makes a difference.
I think the problem here is that so many people focus on form instead of training. It is one thing if you're Nico Young and you tweak something with form after already training 125 mpw and doing monster workouts. It is quite another when you're an overweight 27-year-old who studies biomechanics blogs and forces toe running for 25 mpw. It is like the corny Chris MacDougall guy. Derp - let's run for 15 minute barefoot in Central Park b/c guys who run in shoes are dumb - Derp.
Yes Alex Hutchinson showed the science that stretching may reduce performance.
However for anyone who's sore from high milage, old, or both, trying to go from zero to anything more than Z1 instantly will cause you to pull something.
The case is more about being flexible does not increase performance. I highly recommend you just race a 400m on no warmup.
I may be old now but I can still run low 16s 5k to mid 2:30s for a marathon, if I warm up.
Yes Alex Hutchinson showed the science that stretching may reduce performance.
However for anyone who's sore from high milage, old, or both, trying to go from zero to anything more than Z1 instantly will cause you to pull something.
The case is more about being flexible does not increase performance. I highly recommend you just race a 400m on no warmup.
I may be old now but I can still run low 16s 5k to mid 2:30s for a marathon, if I warm up.
People speak about stretching as a monolith. There’s a difference between doing an easy mobility routine in the morning to offset the effects of laying in bed all night, and doing a hour long yoga workout.
(3) The higher the mileage the better the performance
(4) Running doubles
This looks like old Runners World advice on how to barely eke out a marathon on as little work as possible but since a mile is a mile you're no different than the elite runners stretching, running to pain, reaching high mileage on more than one run per day.