The Science Of Doubles

From time to time I like to do two workouts in less than a 24 hour period. The popular term for this is doubles. Reasons for doing doubles include improvements in aerobic conditioning and adding extra mileage.

The most common time for doing doubles is during base building. Marathoners and Elite runners will adopt this strategy to raise their mileage to a desired level. After the period of base building tempo runs and VO2 max workouts will be added. The second workout of the day is more of a recovery run.

I have adopted similar strategies in my own training. One type of workout that I will do is to first run an interval workout later in the afternoon. The next morning I will do my usual long run. I have had great success doing this. The strength gains and mental toughness have improved my running tremendously.

I like to wear a heart monitor when I run and this helps me to stay within my aerobic range. After doing a speed workout I have a tendency to have fast feet. By wearing a heart rate monitor this prevents me from making this a harder workout than I intend it to be.

My second approach to doing doubles is to run later in the day before a race. During my marathon training I like to run 5 or 10k’s to work on my leg speed. For races that I am more concerned about a specific result than a goal time I will run late in the day before the next morning’s race. Wearing my heart rate monitor during the race I can set specific targets. Following the race the next morning I will run another recovery run. This workout is not for the beginner.

After doing the double I will then rest for 36 hours before running my next workout. The extra time in between allows for recovery and adaption to occur.

One word of caution be sure to adequately rehydrate and eat plenty of nutritious food after doing these types of double workouts. Your leg muscles will be depleted of glycogen, making your legs feel very heavy.

I would also recommend begin trying this once a week. As your fitness improves added a second double workout can be added. And be on the lookout for over training.

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Curt Shryack is the author of Fatigue Nutrition & Endurance Exercise, Run2Fast, Ultimate Training Videos www.everything-running.com

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