Should I do doubles at 30-40mpw? Summer of Malmo right?

You should run more. And you should do doubles. Run them at whatever pace you want. They will help.

Increase your mileage and do doubles, absolutely.

Running doubles will help but you might want to ease into it. If you add 3-4 miles every morning you will nearly double your total weekly mileage. That is likely too quick of a jump. Run them at whatever pace feels comfortable.

Okay, I just have been told that if you're doubling under 50mpw, it has no benefits?

Anyways, I'm not planning on jumping into it adding a dobule every day. This week I'll go for a 3mile in the morning maybe once or twice this week.

I just don't see how it will help me if it's slow or easy anyways? Since it's just a 3 mile run. I'm not trying to argue, I'm just kind of weighing my own opinions in my head. Can anyone just explain to me how a couple 3-4mi morning runs will benefit me opposed to if I did not do them? Wouldn't that have to be run at a sufficient pace to be beneficial since they are such a minor detail and short run anyways?

My long run is always 20% of my weekly and I'm planning to build to 55ish in 10 weeks or so.

som doubles? wrote:

Okay, I just have been told that if you're doubling under 50mpw, it has no benefits?

You're not running doubles to "add" miles. You are running them for a 2nd training stimulus. And yes, 2-3 miles is just fine to start with.

Continue to do your main workouts and keep the schedule you have in mind. Run that as you foresee, whether it's 55ish in 10 weeks or whatever it turns into.

And run doubles. Do them as a supplement to your main training. The reason some people say doubles don't benefit you at low weekly mileage is because they think there would be more aerobic benefit to just making each workout run a bigger one. But you're a young guy relatively new to it and it's unrealistic for you to be out there doing 8 miles per day right now. Adding another few runs per week, even if it's just 20 or 30 minutes, will really help your body adapt to more running.

Michael Scott wrote:

And run doubles. Do them as a supplement to your main training.

Doubles aren't supplemental, they are your main training.

som doubles? wrote:

I just don't see how it will help me if it's slow or easy anyways? Since it's just a 3 mile run. I'm not trying to argue, I'm just kind of weighing my own opinions in my head. Can anyone just explain to me how a couple 3-4mi morning runs will benefit me opposed to if I did not do them? Wouldn't that have to be run at a sufficient pace to be beneficial since they are such a minor detail and short run anyways?

Doubles, especially at your age will increase your aerobic capacity, help you store more glycogen, increase your mitochondria, keep your weight and body fat low, and provide active recovery. That's the idea, the more miles the better.

Also, something you might enjoy, is doing a short 3-4 miles run at night, say at 10 PM. I've always enjoyed those, especially if run on a gold course, that's the best.

So even if I just do two or three 3-4mi morning runs a week throughout the next 10 weeks, that will help a lot or not significantly? will I actually notice the benefits? I'm currently in about 5:55/mile 5k ( 18:15ish) shape...so is running that slow just a waste of time? I've just been told that you need to run a certain pace to maintain/improve aerobic capacity. I do a weekly tempo around 6:30 and the majority of my runs are around 7:20 average.

I wouldn't worry too much about pace of training runs over the summer - though all runs should start off slower than you think and build as you go. Especially your easy morning runs - don't even time them if you know the 3-4 mile route. Do as much on grass and trails as possible.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about doing a structured, measured tempo every single week. The summer is a good time to do fartleks, progression runs, hilly steady runs, hill fartleks, and lots of trails if you can.

In addition to running, if you've got all this extra time on your hands, I'd make sure you were taking care of the little things as well. Most importantly drills and 6-10 100 meter strides a few days a week. I'd also do crunches, push ups, and wall squats, hamstring curls, and lower back extensions all on an exercise ball. Maybe 3-4 times a week. It'll help with overall strength, posture, running form, etc.

Pace for your "shake-out" 3-4 mile runs is not really important, and yes it will help.

Another vote to running doubles. They will help a lot.

I did doubles, all it did was make me tired all day every day. When I switched to longer singles at a decent pace I had a big breakthrough. But doubles helped me get there, so yes...do them.

Here is my question though. Why are you running your main session at 7-9 pm. If you are awake anyways go run your main session in the morning when it is cool and you are fresh. Then do a shake out in the evening. I mean I assume you are training for Xc right? And most of the big invitational races are in the morning, not 7-9 pm right?

oh man. I think you're running your easy days way too fast. Slow em down and add more mileage, it'll do you good.

I'm a in the high 15s, for 5k and a rarely run faster than 7:30 on easy days.

"the majority of my runs are around 7:20 average."[/quote]

Run as much as you can as many times as you can.

Yes to doubles, especially if they have rum in them.

Nor Cal Runner wrote:

I did doubles, all it did was make me tired all day every day.

I'm at this stage now, been doing the doubles thing for about 4 weeks. Half my log entries just say "tired". Hopefully it will get better, otherwise I'll have to drop some of these double-days once I begin with harder workouts.

summer of malmo isn't complicated. do doubles, increase mileage (not too much) and run based on how you feel. throw in a tempo or threshold workout every now and then and you'll be set