When to Double (Read 2129 times)

Hmm okay, I have started to work on building weekly mileage to 70+ miles. Last week I did one two a day, placing the morning double before a tempo run later in the day - the morning was a little dreadmill three miler at around 8:20 pace, on the easier side of my easy run pace. The problem came with the afternoon tempo run, it was crap. I struggled to hold a 7:00 pace (log says 6:45 but there is a distance error I need to fix), quite honestly it felt near a race effort. Now, I belive that some of it was a result of trying to hold my "normal" tempo pace in a 10-20mph headwind going out but even coming back holding a 7:00 pace downwind felt fairly challenging, nearly out of the tolerable zone. A normal tempo effort feels hard, but tolerable, at around 6:40-6:55 pace. Well, probably overally much background.......... anyway my question is do you think the difficulty/slowness of this tempo run was due to being an extremly off day (didn't really feel that off) or could it have been related to the morning run? Additionally, is this a bad practice to run a double on a tempo day, should they generally be two easy runs or can a morning double loosen one up for an afternoon tempo effort?

When I used to do doubles, I would always do workouts on double days, and always do workouts at night. The key is, I think, you need to be used to doubles first. Forget tempo runs for now. Just go out and run. Run doubles as much as you can. When you first start running doubles, you just feel weird. In about a month or two, the weariness will be gone, running will be like breathing to you, and you'll be able to run three or so tempo runs a week if you want to. I'd venture to say that you'll be significantly faster too. Don't let it effect your golf game though! There are some things that are more important than running.

I doubt that a 3 miler in the morning at "easy pace" was that much responsible- I would suggest that the wind took a lot more out of you than you realized. I noticed that the tempo you did the week before was on the treadmill, so it may be difficult to compare paces. I have heard the advice often on this board to gauge tempo by effort and not to worry about hitting a certain pace exactly. A run at 7:15 pace on one day may equal what you can do at 6:45 on another day in different conditions and overall fatigue level.

I don't think it's bad practice to run doubles on a tempo day and I don't think there's a problem with doing your workout in the 2nd run of the day--that's how I would do it if I had a choice. But a couple of observations: As makers and Minderbender pointed out, trying to glean any meaning from what pace you were able to hold in a tempo run in cold windy weather is kind of pointless. I'd say your struggles probably had more to do with the weather than the fact you did an easy 3 miles in the morning. Or just an off day. Either way I wouldn't stress over it. And unless you don't have time to fit 70 miles into singles, or you're having a hard time recovering between efforts, there's really no reason to double at that mileage level. Doubles are primarly a way to fit more running into your schedule without compromising your recovery. If you don't need them to fit in more running they don't really serve a purpose. 70 miles a week in 7 runs is, in general, better than 70 miles a week in 9, 10, or 13 runs. Doubles for the sake of doubles won't help. Now if you're just practicing doubles because you think you'll soon be at a mileage level that you won't be able sustain in singles, that's another good reason to do it.

I thought this thread was about backgammon. I'm sorry. Carry on.

Aggresive. I like that.

I think a primary reason to do doubles is because it changes your mindset about training.

How so, for real?

I run doubles because I want to run all the time. I wake up thinking about going for a run - so I see no reason not to run in the morning. I typically feel like a run after school so I do that also. For me it's not necessarily about the distance. I'm building it and working on extending out all of my runs. For me it's more about desire. I desire to run lots and when I realized the only one stopping me was me I started running more.