5-6 hours enough time between morning and afternoon runs?

Yes.

The Kenyans have many of the top runners in the world.

Elite Kenyans train like this:

6am - 1 hour run, usually a `progressive run` starting out very slow, but often finishing quite fast (Tergat finishes most of his morning runs at about 3.20 per kilometer).

10 am - main session of the day, which might be hill work, intervals or fartlek or a hard run, or a distance run.

5pm - last session of the day. Usually an easy jog of about 40 minutes starting out real slow, and finishing at about 4.00 per kilometer pace (in the last 20 minutes of the run).

Some Kenyans only train twice a day, and they do the 6am and 10am thing. Kenyans like to run early, because there is nothing to do at night anyway.

So, as you can see, 4 hours is enough time between sessions, but make sure you just relax and rest between sessions, like the Kenyans. You want to conserve energy, physical and mental.

chris.moulton@mail.mcgill.ca

no............24 hours a little

8-12 hours is better. A run at 7am and another at 6pm, for instance, will allow for more recovery. Sure, Paul Tergat can get away with 4 hours when he's running three times a day, but when running twice it's better to spead it out, especially if you have little or no experience with doubles.

I've done 5-6 hours by running at lunch and then in the evening after work. It's tough unless you are young or run easy at lunch. 10-12 hours is better from my experience. Listen to your body.

Hoohoo wrote:

Is 5-6 hours enough time to see the benefits from breaking up a run (10 mile and 5 mile)?

i'd say so. when i was in college, i'd usually do a 3-5 miler in the morning and be finished before 9am, with our real workout starting at 3pm. i always felt fine. i'm still young and do this a few times a week. if i can't get more than 5 hours recovery, then i won't do 2 runs, just one.

(keep in mind i worked construction during the summers, and i was used to getting up at 4am and working hard and not getting home until 6ish, and running at 7. my body was able to adapt to hard work and training regimens. so when school rolled around, practice felt easy...all i had to do was run! and go to class....)

8-9 hours is often what I end up putting between them, though obviously if actual real life didn't interfere 10-11 would be good.

I find the most important thing is actually the number of meals between runs. If you only get one meal between doubles that can make you drag.

6 to 8 is fine, if not perfect. The thing to do is approach the day as one workout broken into 2 parts- the AM workout is, quite literally a warm-up to the PM one- with that in mind, you should take it easy in the morning, and save any intensity of effort for later in the day.

Lots of the top runners (Deena, the Hanson guys) do the opposite: a hard workout in the a.m. and a 4-6 mile shake-out run in the p.m.

Based on my experience, I'll say: just run when you can.