#2 - Running Doubles

One of my struggles growing as a runner is increasing training volume while staying injury free. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has struggled with this. The golden rule of my training has become 'first do no harm'. It's painfully (or not) obvious that if you push to hard too often and get injured, you cannot train, and therefore your progress slows to a halt or reverses. When building volume or doing any amount of training, going easier more often pays huge dividends.

One of my key strategies for building volume without pushing past the breaking point is to run doubles (often called two-a-days. I also call them 'stacks' for some reason). Running a double means doing a short or medium distance run early in the day, and then doing another similar run in the evening. The shorter runs allow you to maintain and practice good form, keeps muscle breakdown to a minimum, and allows some recovery between miles. Intensity for the runs can vary, but at least one of them should be easy.


Training: Easy 4 miles. My rest day yesterday turned into a marathon session of intense sand volleyball. Struggled for 4 miles today, probably over exerted myself on the day prior to yesterday.