Forums >General Running>Good Workouts for Doubling at Track Meets
I'm a mile and 2mile runner (not crazy fast, not very fast at all) and my PRs are 5:19, and 11:49. That 11:49 was my first 2mile ever and I ran it with that being my first race of the day. I've had two meets so far. One I ran the mile, and the other I ran the 2mile. I will soon be running mile and 2mile in the same day and I need to train my body to be able to perform for 8 laps an hour after a 4 lap race. Can I get any workout ideas or things I can do to help myself perform in this situation?Thank you!
How about warm up, run a mile hard, run easy for 45-60 minutes, then run two miles hard, then cool down?
The meet conditions can easily be simulated in training , which seems like the best way to prep for it.
You can come up with additional variations on the above.
Just my thoughts, I’ve never done a meet like you describe but that is how I’d prep for it.
runktrun
I frequently doubled and tripled in distance and mid-d events, and the latter races never felt as awful as I thought they would. Adrenaline usually took care of that stale or stiff feeling that I would get after pausing and re-starting an easy. So there's that benefit.
Paul's recommendation is solid. Just try to reproduce the general time lapse and effort during a non-meet day, but don't do it the day before or after a meet, give yourself a day or two to recover. And you don't have to race a full mile, jog, and then run a full 2 miles hard; I think you should run hard, but not race pace, for 5:00, then run easy, then hard for 8:00-10:00 to simulate race day conditions. Key word: simulate. You don't have to reproduce the race effort and distances exactly because that would wear you down.
Also, I find it beneficial to do a good, but short cool down and some GENTLE stretching & mobility work immediately after the first race, then totally rest until about 20min before your next event, then start warming up with some dynamic movements. Don't race, sit, and then get up and go right into your warmup run. You *might* be able to stay moving for the entire hour between events, but that could drain you.
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
I'm now watching my 3rd son go through high school track and occasionally face these kinds of doubles. Mercifully, at least where we live, I think the mile-2-mile double is not as wicked as some others because the races are well spaced out. Harder doubles, IMHO, are 4x800 and mile (which my son is fixin' to do tomorrow evening) and Open 800 and 2-mile, because those pairs are relatively close together, and it's really hard to run both well. The bottom line key, though, I think is just being a freaking strong beast. I feel like the guys I have seen succeed at these hard doubles have a good foundation of miles and hard work, so they can "bear the strain" of both races and do them well. It's not really a question of doing some "key workout."
As a bonus trivia fact.... back 1000 years ago when I was a high school runner, I ran both my mile and 2-mile PRs on the same night. I was not a beast. Had I been, I might have won the 2-mile that night, but I faded and ended up third. Still got the PR, though.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
Just know that Jesse Owens, in the span of about 45 minutes one day in 1935, broke 3 world records (200, 200 hurdles, long jump) & tied a 4th (100).
Dave
Just a dude.
I ran doubles and triples (And a few quadruples) often in high school. I didn't really train for them specifically. Just tried to stay loose by doing a bit of jogging between...
For me, I was perhaps lucky cuz I could do the 3200, then the 1600, then the 800, then the mile relay. (After I graduated, they changed the order of events... )
You'll be fine and you'll get used to it if you do it a few times....
-Kelly
Getting back in shape... Just need it to be a skinnier shape...
I wouldn't worry about any particular workout to get ready for it. Get into better shape and you will recover more quickly in between races and not feel so gassed right when you finish. Once you have a couple under your belt, you will get used to it.
I ran 4x800, 800, 4x400 most meets in high school, sometimes twice a week (Tuesday and Saturday). I didn't do anything in particular but in retrospect I was probably racing myself into shape more than anything else.
I was probably racing myself into shape more than anything else.
This. Especially if you have 2-3 track meets a week. It's REEALLY hard to fit in quality workouts that deliver any benefit when you're racing that much.
In high school I also tripled most meets (800/1500/mile relay or 1500/3000/mile relay) and threw in 300m hurdles for the district meet for the points (we won!). I remember doing 1500/400/3000/mile relay once; they would not let us run 3 distance events in the same meet for some reason so I did 400 instead of 800.
There may be a few workouts that might help, but they would just be simulations of the meets. Assuming you have a meet every week, I think the meets themselves are the best workouts for the more important meets later in the year. Don't expect to PR in both events in the same meet, as the season progresses you'll see which event you need to work harder in to get a good place and score for the team.
A good cool-down jog-walk after the mile will help. You don't want to just plop down and sit right after competing and tighten up. Take in some fluids, and easy to digest calories within 15 minutes after the mile, and no closer than 30 minutes before the 2mile. Try to stay below 200 calories, fluid and food combined, because that's about what the body can absorb in an hour. My personal choice would be low or no calorie electrolyte drink like Nuun tabs, and gel like Gu or the chewable energy gummies. Water and a small handful of gummy bears will do in a pinch. With hydration and food, you need to experiment in PRACTICE, not at the meet! You may find my suggestion makes you sick, or you may want to dilute the hydration drink more or not eat at all; you'll find out what works for you.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
I think the meets themselves are the best workouts for the more important meets later in the year. A good cool-down jog-walk after the mile will help. You don't want to just plop down and sit right after competing and tighten up. Take in some fluids, and easy to digest calories within 15 minutes after the mile, and no closer than 30 minutes before the 2mile.
I think the meets themselves are the best workouts for the more important meets later in the year.
A good cool-down jog-walk after the mile will help. You don't want to just plop down and sit right after competing and tighten up. Take in some fluids, and easy to digest calories within 15 minutes after the mile, and no closer than 30 minutes before the 2mile.
This is pretty close to what I tell the athletes that I coach.
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
Are we there, yet?
As long as you get a reasonable rest between events, preferably 45 minutes or more, doubling shouldn't be an issue. A good smattering of interval workouts are what I thought helped me most because you get the intermittent hard efforts. Running for place rather than time would make it easier since you wouldn't have two or more all out efforts. That does require a lot more mental effort in planning and executing a race strategy.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
I just pulled off a 4*800, 1600, & 3200 in one meet last week. The word is tough, and thus you need some workouts that will build toughness - 8*800 @ 3200 pace with 3:00 rest is the best I know of. A shorter ladder workout might also help, ie 400, 600, 800, 600, 400.
You might try step down intervals and ladders. With a step down interval workout, you start slower than you target, then run each one a little faster so the average matches your target, e.g. 8 x 800 with a 2:40 target could be 2:47, 2:45, 2:43, 2:41, 2:39, 2:37, 2:35, 2:33. With a step down ladder, you would run up the ladder running the same pace for each distance, then coming down the ladder run a faster pace for each distance, e.g. using 5:20 pace as a base, 200 in :40, 400 in 1:20, 600 in 2:00, 800 in 2:40, 600 in 1:57 (5:12 pace), 400 in 1:16 (5:04 pace), 200 in :37 (4:56 pace).