Doubles for Ultra Training

Audio Transcript

Coach Claire Bartholic: Hello and welcome back to the Extra Kick podcast, brought to you by Runners Connect and our patrons. Thanks for joining me today.

I am coming on this very cold January day. I hope that if it’s cold in your area, you are staying warm. For those of our listeners on the other side of the world, hope that you are staying cool. Today’s question comes from Eric.

Eric: Last evening I had a discussion with a friend of mine about training for ultras, and especially for the timed events and my first 100 coming up.

He strongly suggested that I start running doubles and thought that it would benefit me more than trying to extend my long runs to five or six hours, or more.

Any thoughts or opinions on this? How would you recommend introducing doubles to my schedule? I am already running six days a week most weeks, but with no set schedule because my days off change weekly, which affects when I can run long.

Coach Claire Bartholic: This is a really interesting question Eric, and it’s actually not one that has a really easy answer.

Running 100 kilometres or 100 miles, whichever one, they’re both really long races. To prepare for it, it’s essential to run a fairly high amount of volume. But it’s also essential to run long.

What’s the best way to do that? Should you run long all at once? Or should you break up some of your runs into two sessions a day?

Doubles are a staple of elite road and track runners training. In fact, they’re so ubiquitous, it’s hard to find an elite track or road athlete that doesn’t run twice a day, most days of the week.

If the elites are doing it, so should we? Right? Well, not so fast. While doubles in the road and track world are really common, it’s far less so in the trail world, even among the top trail professionals.

Is it because they’re missing out on something? Maybe they should all run doubles, right? Maybe, maybe not.

First of all, let’s get the science out of the way. Doubles must be scientifically better since all the road pros are doing them, right? Actually there’s not a whole lot of scientific studies backing this up.

Let’s get into some of the benefits. First, when you run twice a day, you can add some volume safely while improving your aerobic development. This seems pretty obvious – the more you run while staying uninjured, the better you get at running.

For example, a ten mile run will be tougher on your entire system, notably your muscles and tendons, than a five mile run in the morning, followed by a five mile run in the evening. By spreading out your volume, you can run more, yet keep your injury risk lower.

Number two: twice the stimulus and twice the recovery. When you exercise, you break down muscle. When you rest, your body rebuilds. Natural human growth hormone is secreted after each session. When you’re running twice a day, you’re getting that hormone boost twice a day instead of once.

Number three is that double runs might be more convenient for your particular schedule. If you are not a professional runner, finding a big chunk of time to run everyday can be challenging if you want to keep your day job.

But sneaking in 30 minutes here and there during your day can be a more manageable way to get in the miles. Some people have the option of running to and from work, and that run-commute can add lots of volume to their week.

That all sounds great. But what are the downsides? The first thing is that running twice a day can be a hustle.

Sure, you’re getting twice the stimulation, but you’re also spending twice as much time getting ready to run, showering and changing after the run, and getting twice the dirty laundry.

More of your non-running time in your day has to be focused on running instead of the far more efficient one-and-done approach. Not to mention, you’ve got to be a lot more organized when it comes to eating and drinking throughout the day, when you’re running doubles.

You can’t eat too much before your runs or you’ll have tummy issues. But, don’t eat enough and you’ll be hungry and under-fueled.

Instead of having to think about this only once a day, you’ve got to multiply that by two.

Number two: two short runs might not get you the sustained aerobics stimulus you’ll need, to race a long event well. If you’re looking to run 100 miles all in one go, choosing two five mile runs over a ten mile trail run is not the way to go for most people.

You need to stress your aerobic and muscular skeletal systems long enough to get the adaptations required, to run a long race well. The first priority of endurance training should be sustained aerobic stimulus.

You get that by running long.

Number three: the risk of burnout is pretty high when you add in a lot of doubles. When you’ve finished a great run, you can go through your day knowing the work is done, and you can enjoy that sense of accomplishment.

But if you’re running doubles, you know that later in the day, after all the non-running things that you have to do, you still have to go out there and run again.

There are times when it will feel more like a job than fun, and it can a real mojo zapper. So if you still want to try out some doubles, how do you do it, and how do you do it safely?

At first, add them in once a week on a workout day. After a few weeks, you can progress to adding some doubles on your easy days.

Essentially what you have to remember is to keep the hard days hard and the easy days easy.

Run a short, easy double after a hard workout to get the double dose of those growth hormones, and enhance the recovery process, by flushing out waste products.

If that all goes well, consider adding some short doubles on other days. But the key here is to make sure that the easy days are still easy so that they are promoting recovery.

Unless you are working with a coach that knows what they’re doing, don’t try to overdo it by doing two moderate workouts a day, or two hard runs in a day.

If a little is good, then a lot must be even better. Right? Well, typically, not.

Doing two hard or two moderate workouts in a day is pretty much a recipe for injury. It’s likely not to add a whole lot of fitness unless you are absolutely at the top of your game, and are looking to squeeze out another tenth of a percent out of yourself.

The same is true about doubling up on a long run day – high risk, low potential reward.

The way I look at doubles is if they fit your lifestyle without stealing your love for running, go ahead and experiment with adding them in gradually.

But if you’re worried about injury, or if you struggle with any kind of motivation issues, they’re probably not the answer for you.

Remember, most pro trail runners don’t do them.

Instead, they choose to prioritize the gains gotten from sustained aerobic and muscular, skeletal stress – aka the long and hilly run.

But adding in a short double here and there could provide a bit of a boost to your training as long as they fit your lifestyle, and enhance your running experience. Best of luck in the [handle 00:08:07] Eric.

That’s it for today’s episode, and thanks so much for listening. I’ll be here all week answering your running and training questions. Have a great run today.