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I'm going into a period where free time will be quite tight for a few weeks (no not prison!) and wondered if two short sessions would do in place of a long one?
As an example, would two 5mile runs some three hours apart be about the same as one 10mile session if run at similar pace?
....IainR to the forum, calling IainR.....
There is a good discussion about this somewhere, unfortunately don't know where but the truth is out there.
It all depends on what pace you run them at, but generally, yes it is definitely worth doing two sessions per day. See, for example, "The art of running faster" by Julian Goater: although the book is mostly aimed at road, track (5000m and 10000m) and cross-country runners, the principles of training apply to any discipline. What you want to avoid, however, is doing both the five-milers at ten-mile pace. Make one hard and one easy, or better still, do the easy run first then you should be able to the second one harder than you would otherwise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Last Man Home
A lot of people advocate two sessions a day as much better than one run a day. Of course it will train different things and you'll get good at what you train. Either way, enjoy it!
My only advice is to mix it up. Some recovery, some very fast.
Two runs a day is great and potentially better than one 10 mile run at a single pace. As people above have said mix it up a bit but do one at a steady aerobic pace and the other you could do up to about three times a week a hard session. EG session 1 2 x 2 miles hard and mile easy to warm down, session 2 5 mile tempo, session 3 efforts within the run such as hills or 3 mins hard etc etc
Thanks everyone, two sessions & mix it up it is then.
Cheers!
yeah I do it a lot.. 4 or 5 days a week at the moment..Quote:
Originally Posted by Last Man Home
At least one run is always easy, 7:20-8:00 pace.. easy relaxed running..
But 2 6's is much easier on the body than 1 12 miler so it just makes building the miles easier. I also find my track session is improved by an easy morning run session.
Yes I do 2 sessions a day a lot, and as Iain says a gentle first run sets you up very well for a later session.
I also do what I would mean by split sessions, with just an hour or two gap between runs, both decent threshold (tempo) runs and very often round the same circuit. This is a way to train with partial glycogen depletion (etc) but retain better speed/form than one long session. People often talk about getting up and running without breakfast to get a similar effect, which I also do to an extent (I would call it 'starvation training'), but it's hard to run well first thing in the morning, and these tend to be more of an easy warm-up session when I do them.
I often do two runs a day, more through circumstance & convenience but it seems to be paying off as my times have improved significantly.
For the last 8 months, 3-4 times a week, I run 3 miles at 5k pace with a sack on my back (probably 6:45 but I don't have a watch), then nip on the train for 25 minutes & run at same pace for 1 mile to work in the morning. I then do the reverse in the evening, at a slower pace as I tend to be tired from a day at work.
Probably against the grain of recommendations but, again, commanded by circumstance.