Doubling Up?

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I also forgot to add that the reason I am asking this is because my 5K time was a lot faster last year than this year and was wondering if two faster runs a day would help me get to that same point faster.

when you said doubling up, running did not cross my mind...

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Before you try doubling, try to get a longer "long run" for every week. Long Runs are about 25% of your weekly mileage. So try a 10 miler every week. If you want to get a bit more out of your week try doubling for 1x per week and see how it effects you.

cutting your runs in half and doing them in two sessions will HURT, not help you. Doubles should be used as a way to increase mileage without increasing risk of injury. Its best to get as much as you can out of singles first. Two 3.5 mile runs are not the same as one 7 mile run. As a rule of thumb, you should be doing around 3 doubles at 70 miles a week and 5-6 at 100+.

I doubled some during the winter when I was still at 30 miles a week and it seemed to help me with leg endurance...I still plan on doing a longer 7-8 mile straight run. I was just wondering if two 3.5 mile runs in one day plus my long run on another day would help me.

20 - 30 mins 4 - 5 days a week, maintain your normal training otherwise. it will help

Pfitzinger advocates doing doubles once you are at around 55 MPW if you're training for 5k-8k sort of stuff. Of course, everyone's body and lifestyle situation is different which may or may not allow for this. 70+ MPW for doubling if you're a marathoner.

Virginia Runner wrote:

cutting your runs in half and doing them in two sessions will HURT, not help you. Doubles should be used as a way to increase mileage without increasing risk of injury. Its best to get as much as you can out of singles first. Two 3.5 mile runs are not the same as one 7 mile run. As a rule of thumb, you should be doing around 3 doubles at 70 miles a week and 5-6 at 100+.

Sort of this. The only part I don't agree with is that doubles should be limited to higher mileage. If you're doing 40 miles a week in singles there's no reason you can't add in 5 or 6 doubles a week (over the course of a few weeks) to bring your weekly total up to the mid 60s. Like this poster said, doubles should be used to add mileage to what you can get from singles. Doing 60 miles a week in singles will likely be better than doing 60 in doubles, but doing them in doubles will be easier on your body so its safer to add mileage that way. Then you can go back to slowly increasing the distance or pace of your individual runs to reach your goals.

Add a easy morning run 3 times a week. Once you adapt to that, increase to 4 or 5. Personally, I usually don't double on the long day but I guess you can.

Here is a good thread on the subject. Don't let the title scare you, there is good info in the thread regardless of your weekly mileage:

100mpw in single or doubles. Which is better?

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3965743

XCrunner10 wrote:

Hi. I'm looking at improving my 5K time in XC. I am coming off of an injury and it seems once I get to a race my leg muscle endurance isn't there like it used even though I do about 40 miles a week and 7-8 mile long runs now instead of the 30 miles a week I did at this time last year. I do my long runs in about 7:40-8:00 pace, depending on how my legs feel and how long I run for. Would doing two 3.5 mile runs a day at a 7:20-7:30 pace at least once a week help benefit me and help my leg endurance?

Dude, don't be lame. 2 3.5 mile runs is stupid. Easy pace isn't that important, most people do easy runs too fast anyway. I like to think easy pace should be around 2 minutes slow than 5k pace give or take a few seconds depending how you feel that day.

You shouldn't start doubling until you can do 60 mpw in singles with Sundays off in my opinion.

And your leg probably hurts in a race because you're coming off an injury, and/or you probably go out too fast in the race. First 50-100 of the race you sprint or near-sprint to get in position, then you run even pace until 100-200m to go and then you sprint to the finish. You should never slow down in a race, if you slow down during a race you're either going out too fast or not being strong enough mentally to grind it out.

Personally I don't think it's that lame..I have a sister who is in college and her team doubles often and they run 40-50 miles a week. Her roommate has improved tremendously and actually got 9th at the NCAA outdoor championships this year in the 5K..she only puts in about 45 miles a week. Apparently they are doing something right.

To the OP:

You didn't say your age or give much background. I'm assuming you are old enough to be training semi-seriously without risking your long-term development.

If you are slower this year than last year, keep in mind it might also be for other reasons. For example:

1) Are the workouts different? (I assume you do some sort of intervals twice a week, maybe a tempo run 1x weekly?)

2) Sleep deprivation this year

3) Nutrition

4) Stress from school, job, etc?

5) changes due to puberty, etc. You didn't say your age. If you are 15 and are slower this year than last year, it could be just because you are growing this year or something. Don't stress it, you'll be back on your A game next year.

I would strongly second the posts above about your long runs. Having your long run be 25% of your weekly mileage is a standard at lower to medium mileage levels (say under 70 mpw)

If you think you can't manage much increased mileage, adding in a few doubles a week could help out. Ideally if you are strong enough though, increasing your first run is probably going to show more benefit. Also increasing your pace might help. You didn't say if you are male or female. Male hs runners at the solid but not top level typically do their "normal" runs at the 645 to 7:20 pace. HS female runners of course typically would be 45 seconds to a minute slower per mile.

If you slightly increase your mileage (if appropriate), add workouts if you aren't already doing them, increase your mileage slightly or add a few doubles, and make sure the rest of your life (sleep, stress, etc) is taken care of, I can't see you not improving.

XCrunner10,

It is difficult to determine good advice from bad on this site. Austin usually gives relatively good advice but he is still young and has made up his mind that running more is the answer to all questions.

My guess is that after your injury you just need to be patient and your endurance will come back.

In any case, keep trying to make sense of what you read here but don't be afraid to check what you learn with your sister. She may not have the time/interest to coach you but she should be willing to answer a few well thought out questions.