Better to strech your singles than load up "junk" doubles?
Better to strech your singles than load up "junk" doubles?
Singles, but it depends on what kind of distance you're talking about. You reach a point where its just more practical to break it up.
Just do what your coach tells you to do.
Personally, take the singles.
Do what works for you. Doubles are easier on the body in my opinion. I find I can get in shape very fast from running 6 in the AM and 8-10 in the PM a few days a week.
The Kenyans and Ethiopians run doubles too.
But the Kenyans and Ethiopians don't run two half hour runs, which is what a lot of HSers mean when they refer to doubles. Unless your mileage warrants, stick to singles for the most part.
Bagger wrote:
But the Kenyans and Ethiopians don't run two half hour runs, which is what a lot of HSers mean when they refer to doubles. Unless your mileage warrants, stick to singles for the most part.
They sure do. No one does singles except recreational runners.
A lot of HSers doing 50-60 mpw could probably perform better doing a few doubles. Elites' aerobic development/genetics/training history allows them to recover better on a day-to-day basis. Many HSers could do more mileage at a higher quality if they did 1-2 days of 2 x 30-40 mins easy per week, in my opinion. Individual long runs can cause greater fatigue for HSers (especially ones who are more 800-1600 oriented than 3200-XC oriented) than multiple shorter runs, in my experience.
You ought to ditch the "junk" idea. Nothing has hurt US distance running more than the idea of junk miles.
There is a time and place for both long and short runs. At some point, it's good to have a regular run on 90-120 minutes, done all at once. If that's beyond your range, do a 60-75 minute run. On other days, I don't think it matters so much. Do what you like and what fits best.
Once you average over 90 minutes in a single per day, it's time to break it up. Keep one long-ish, one short.
I know the hanson guys run like AM 80 min PM 40 min.
So do singles and ADD 30-40 min recovery runs if you feel like. Don't break up your main run. Crosstraining can be used too for recovery, although it will kill your weekly mileage.
On the other hand there are some worldclass milers running AM 40 min PM 40 min, both runs very fast. Seems to work good for speedier guys.
But since you are in HS, you shouldn't stress your body with fast running twice a day, you need to develop your aerobic engine. Longruns and consistency builds endurance.
For 800m and Mile runners twice a day is a lot better than one a day long.
e.g. 30 mins easy AM Quality Session PM
2 - 3 times a week for high schoolers does wonders.
My experience wrote:
For 800m and Mile runners twice a day is a lot better than one a day long.
e.g. 30 mins easy AM Quality Session PM
2 - 3 times a week for high schoolers does wonders.
I agree. A half hour easy run 3 or 4 days a week will give you an extra 12-18 miles of aerobic development.
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Geezus wrote:
Just do what your coach tells you to do.
This would be great advice provided his coach is very knowledgeable about distance running. At the high school level, this is often not the case.