Older runners (40+) - if you had the time to do run doubles several times a week, would you?

I'll be fifty in three weeks. I ran very seriously from 15 to 23, then putzed around until my late 30s, and have been pretty serious the last decade. As I've gotten older, I need more time to recover. Forget doubles-when the weather allows, I'll try to spread my workouts 36 hours apart.

My ideal schedule---- Long run, Sunday morning, tempo Monday evening, Mid-distance easy Wednesday Morning, Intervals Thursday night, easy run Saturday morning.

If I try to fit junk miles in the interstitial spaces of the above schedule, I get hurt.

I'm no national class competitor, but I can crack 40 minutes in a 10K with a tailwind, and a keg of beer drawing me to the finish.

Hell yes

yes, and yes.

everyone's different, but i run doubles over the summer 4 days/week (mon-thu) since i'm a teacher and i don't teach summer school, but even during the school year i probably manage doubles 3 days/week.

strangely enough, when i start to do fewer doubles in march/april/may, my injury rate seems to go up--can't say whether it's a delayed effect from accumulated work, or the fact that when i don't double, i don't stretch as much (i only stretch after i run) and scar tissue builds up more--who knows...

fluffily yours,

cush

Yes.Running an easy 3 or 4 miler at lunch keeps me a lot looser for my harder evening runs.

From age 40-55 I think I could have and it would have improved my training. Since age 55 I think that it would make recovery even more difficult and raise the risk of overuse injuries. Plus, I think that cross training for core strength and leg strength is more beneficial than a second run would be. At my max base phase I will get to 90 minutes/day in singles plus 30 minutes/day cross training.

I am 40, I do have the time, and I do run double several times a week. I have averaged 91 mpw for 2014 so far. I just ran a 15:40 lifetime PR last weekend (15:44 from HS was my previous best) and am shooting for sub-2:33 in Chicago this fall.

I would give it a shot if I were still serious and wanted to increase mileage.

I ran doubles every other day from 45-65 until I stopped working. But the days in between were non running.

I found that I could load up the days I ran but if I ran every day, my legs were constantly tired.

Everyone is different. I'm an old legged runner with north of 100k miles since 1968. Doing higher miles and doubles and running 5, 6 or 7 days a week is no longer doable.

I´m 45 and I don´t do running doubles, but twice/week I run in the morning and cross train (XC skiing or roller skiing) in the evening. I need one day per week with absolutely no training, so that makes 8 training sessions per week.

I'm 46 - I double two or three times per week when I can - I think it helps a tremendous amount. Something magic happens when I string together a month of doubling - a 1+1 = 3 situation.

and a side effect is that warming up for races is easier - something about running every 12 hours rather than every 24 hours makes racing easier.

Now that both my kids are in HS, I will have more time to do some doubles. I run w/the kids xc@5am (makes it easier to get my first run in of 3-4miles) and afterwards, I would like to get another 4-6 miles. Depends on how hot it gets by the time I drive to my next run. Other days, I will do spin class or weight training.

I have time to run doubles almost every single day but I rarely do that. A few years ago I started walking almost daily. So almost every day I will have a running training session and a walk too.

The walks are nice because I can spend the time walking with someone else who can't keep up with me in running.

I've learned that some runners will get sore legs from walking until they are adapted to walking.

Doubles - Yes, if you have time, within reason, and can do so without getting injured, with at least one of your daily runs at an easy pace, but only if running all your volume in a single run is becoming a burden (e.g.--you're running 90 minutes on normal training days).

But what I really want to know is who's using "fluffy bunny" as their handle? The leader of the Fluffy Bunnies--who has used that handle in the past--was certainly a twice-a-day runner, so you're not him. And as a former Fluffy Bunny team member, I can't think of any runners on the squad who haven't run doubles. So who are you, oh new generation fluffy one??? ;-)

P.S.--You have some pretty fluffy shoes to fill.

thanks for the suggestions. I had expected to hear something different, like doing doubles (in the sense that your adding more volume not breaking up your runs) was just asking to get injured. Good to hear that its working for some people. I had gotten into the routine of doing weights 3-4 times a week over the winter when I was injured and couldn't run. Now that I'm getting back into running and ramping up the mileage again, I'm not hitting the weights as often.

oh yes, I'm not with the FBTC. Are they still around? I'm a slowpoke compared to those guys. Fluffy bunny was just something that popped into my head when thinking of a name. BTW, SoCalP, look forward to picking up a copy of your book. Is the kindle version the same as the hardcopy?

I am 49, and I do 2-3 doubles a week. (With one day off, so that's 8-9 runs a week.) I lift twice a week, and just do some core work on the other 4 days.

I am 54, I find the time, and I say Yes to running 2x per day.

I've been running 42 years, so have experience with less and more.

More is better.

Even now, if I don't run 10x per week, I am much slower than if I do.

(>10x per week = top ten 50+ at club xc and Boston. < 10x = not.)

Plus, when you get in that 2x per day groove, you feel much better.

Can't pretend to explain it, just know it works. So get out there!

Great thread as I retire in about a year (at 54) and wonder what I'm going to do with all that time. Never have done doubles and wonder if my legs can handle it. Around 45 mpw and my knees start to ache. Maybe one or two per week but since I love spending time on my bike, that may be my double and I'll spare my joints.

Have run doubles 6-7 days a week since college. I am 53 now, and run slowly now, but still manage 75+ per week. You just have to be smart about how you train, and do what works for you.

It's a moot point, as the vast majority of older runners have other more pressing obligations and responsibilities.