Doubles

Doubles- and we ain’t talking about tennis.  For athletes  in  all sports, this  is  a  training  plan  that  should   be  considered  and  discussed with  your  Coach.  I first  heard  about  this  idea  a  few  years  ago  when I was  beginning   to  get serious  about  running  Ultra marathons.   Andy Barrett, a runner from  Tampa, Fl area,  who  had  successfully  done 100 mile runs   explained  it  to me.  Running (or  whatever   your  endurance  sport ) takes   a  considerable  amount  of  time  when  you  are  doing  very  long   runs.  Since most of us do not have a spare 4-5 hrs.  to “just  go  running”  it  is difficult  to  actually  duplicate  a race  day  event.  However,  you  can  start  doing  shorter/more  time  efficient  runs  in  AM  and  PM  of  the  same  day.

This has several benefits:

1.   .   Much easier to manage time wise and fuel/fluid gear.

2.       Allows your body a brief recovery and then back into “stress mode”.  This makes your C6-C10 /damage-rebuild hormone system get more efficient.

3.     Allows you to play with training schedule a bit more. Do sprints in the AM and then do long, slow run in PM.  Or Flats in AM and Hills in PM. Or cross training options.

4.    .  This is where the creativity really comes in handy.  Finally, you can work on fast twitch/speed work and then slow twitch/endurance in same day.  In “old days”, there were the anointed days for intervals and anointed days for LSD. No longer necessary.

5.    .  The biggest benefit is being able to log your big mileage in form of 2 short runs instead of one long time consuming run. Plus for you, endurance athletes, the concept of double-doubles is pure icing on the cake. Very few of us have the time to actually run 50miles or cycle 100 miles as prep for events. But with back to back days of double digit mileage you can produce the training results that you need with less wear and tear.

6.    .  I uses to believe-rather rigidly- that you need to run/cycle the full distance of event in order to train properly.  But now I have been converted to new system.  On occasion I will go and run a pure long distance and do as well or better than old days when I religiously ran only big mileage.

7.      Remember: Change is Good!

Now, a small caveat is in order here. This type of program requires a definite, solid training base or else you are at high risk for overtraining and going backwards instead of making progress.  It is very important that you discuss this with your Coach or certified personal trainer before jumping into it.