currently running 5k and mile race's---- times 5k 17:41 mile 4:57. weekly mileage is at 30-35 want to bump it up to 40-45 for some longer races. My question is would you increase the miles by doing doubles or by adding miles to the single runs. I'm not really sure to the advantage of doubles compared to doing a 10 mile run - lets say compared to 5 morning 5 evening. interested in your response
thanks Gretz
Not much use doing running twice a day unless you are doing 80-100+ miles per week already. You will benefit much more from a single continuous run (or a longer warmup & cooldown after a track workout) than by breaking it up.
When running high mileage (80+) it becomes necessary to run doubles since it is hard to recover from a "recovery" run over 10 miles...less stress on your system.
Also, don't "bump up" mileage...gradually increase (10% rule or even more conservative) or you are asking for an injury.
Gretz,
You really aren't doing a lot of mileage you should be able to increase your mileage by adding to your daily runs. Here is a quote in a recent e-mail from my coach in fact:
" Try to do your weekly mileage in single runs. If it is to hard to hit your volume goal in single runs, drop you volume down a bit. A 10-mile run does a lot more for your aerobic system than 2 five-mile runs. Once you are running 75-80 miles a week then you can add some 2 a days, until then don?t worry about it."
Hope that helps!