These back-to-back sessions (a.k.a. doubles) will make you powerful, take your running to the next level with this training technique

Back-to-back sessions (also known as doubling) can be the tool that elevates your running from good to great, increasing endurance and overall fitness; but they have an appropriate time and place for every runner. Most athletes follow the general rule of completing easy runs most days in order to develop a strong aerobic base and to avoid injury.

A couple of runs per week are fast or long, to improve speed and endurance, with hard days followed by rest or easy runs. The double is the exception: two stacked workouts, either on subsequent days or spaced out on the same day.

This training method has made headlines recently due to its popularity among Norwegian pros like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, but has been used by athletes and coaches, like the well known Jason Koop, for years. Back-to-back sessions add extra stress, causing your body to respond to new stimuli, rebound and become stronger. If you’ve been running consistently for at least a year and you’re struggling to improve, back-to-back sessions may be just the thing your body needs.

Here are a couple of back-to-back sessions to try. If you’re not under the supervision of a coach, stick to running your double workouts on subsequent days: the stress load of two challenging workouts in a single day carries too much injury risk for most recreational runners.

Short and fast

For newer runners, this one can be a challenge, but the workouts can be modified for ability, and the benefits will pay off. There’s a lot of fitness involved in maintaining higher speeds on subsequent days, so running one slightly faster interval session followed by a still tough but slightly less intense tempo session is ideal.

Try it: hit the track for some intervals the first day. 5-8 x 800m at 10K pace, with a short and easy warmup and cooldown, is perfect. If you’re new to this, tweak it by running fewer intervals.

Follow that session with a fartlek workout on the second day, running two sets of 1-2-3 minutes at 5K pace, with an easy warmup and cooldown. Fartlek is a Swedish word that translates to speed play, and simply means workouts involving changes in speed and effort.

Long and longer

If you’re training for a half-marathon, marathon or ultra, your long runs are probably adding up to a fair bit of mileage. Take this a step further by stacking two long runs.

Try it: follow up your longest run of the week (25-32K) with a medium-long run (15-20K) at a slow, easy pace the next day.

If you are training for a shorter race, you probably still have one day of the week where you fit in a longer run; simply adjust the distances of your two long runs to reflect the distances you’re working with.

Make recovery a priority

Trying new and challenging things in training will also require you to level up your recovery game: make sure you follow these workouts with two rest or easy running days. Fuel and hydrate lots between and after workouts to help your body recover.

posted Thursday July 21st
by Keeley Milne