Since Wednesday was a holiday, which obviously meant no work, what better to do than work out twice? I had plenty of time to get everything in, so why not?!
I woke up bright and early, and met up with Meg and Meghann for a solid 7 mile run. The run was at a good pace, but still slow enough that we were able to chat it up the whole time. It was actually my first time meeting Meg, so we had a lot to talk about!
Thanks for the photo Meghann!
I came home, refueled and then headed out for workout #2 of the day – swim practice. We kept it relatively easy, but I was still feeling the swim for sure. The time between workouts was pretty short, and my body definitely knew it.
When I was in college, we had 2 a day workouts 4 times a week – Monday through Thursday. We would get our quality work done in the morning (speed work and tempo runs) and then an easy shakeout in the afternoon, along with weights. In the beginning, it was incredibly difficult. I felt like I was always tired, and then something just clicked. I started getting faster and reaping the benefits of the two a day workout. I became stronger, leaner, and a more fit runner.
When you run twice a day, especially running in the afternoon after running a workout in the morning, your muscles actually start to flush the bad stuff out of themselves and get you ready for your next day. Check out the article in Runner’s World about it – they definitely bring up some good points – Build Slowly, Recover Right, and Mix & Match. You don’t have to be a professional athlete either.
But there is also the opposite side as well – your body needs rest and all that pounding can’t be good for it, right? I definitely believe that some people’s bodies can handle all the pounding, day after day. Unfortunately for me, soon after I graduated from college, I learned that the extremely high mileage was not for me. I’m not sure if it had to do 100% with the high mileage, or the lack of stretching and recovering I was getting myself in to. In school, we had athletic trainers, mandatory ice baths, and plenty of ways to stay healthy – in the real world, not so much. You truly have to make the effort to get in the correct recovery.
Triathletes are constantly doing two a day workouts, but rarely ever are they the same sport. They may run and bike in the same day, but never have two runs. It’s just one of the many, many ways of a training program. I’ve heard of people catching a lot of grief for working out twice a day – they are obsessed with exercise, trying to hard to lose weight – the list goes on and on. But why is it such a big deal?
I don’t run twice a day but I will run in the morning then lift and cross train at night with my husband. I don’t do it every time but probably 3 times a week!
When I was training for the Seneca7–a seven-person team relay race in which each person runs three legs–I ran twice a day three times a week. It was tiring, but it definitely helped during the race, especially during my third leg; I was used to running on less-than-rested legs.
Now that I’m training for a triathlon, I’ve started sprinkling in two-a-day workouts again. Like you wrote, Mary, I don’t do the same sport twice–I’ll swim and bike, run and bike, etc., but I’m not completing back-to-back running workouts. It is time consuming, but I love it!
When I was only running, I never ran twice a day. But now that I do triathlons, I do two-a-days 4-5 days a week, but never the same sport twice in one day. It’s the only way to get in sufficient training, and is also one of the reasons I started doing triathlons–I was bored just running once a day! I think it’s easy to become obsessive about training, especially with triathlon training where you have three sports to fret about, but working out twice a day is generally no big deal.
Yep! As long as its in your schedule to work out twice a day, its pretty doable.
I used to do 2-a-day runs for high school cross-country, and we would run 6 miles in the morning with the team and 3 in the afternoon on our own. Even though they were fun, that second run by myself was always tough to start!
By yourself!? Kudos to you for getting out there! That would be tough!
Ithink 2 a days are okay – and especially if you’re doing 2 different sports. I don’t think i could do 2 long runs in one day but I can definitely do a run and swim, a run and yoga, yoga and hiking, whatever! I’ve not trained for a crazy long race like an Ironman or the overnight relays but I’m sure 2 a day workouts are very beneficial in that training.
Ya, I really think they do provide a lot of benefit!
As a group ex instructor in a small town, I teach a couple of times a day. I just have to make sure to take a few COMPLETE rest days and eat more!!
Agreed! Complete rest days are so hard to take for me sometimes!
Way late to the game on this post, but such a small world–Meg’s my bff! I’ll have to join you guys on a run when I come down to visit!
Yes, you definitely need to Ashley! Thanks for reading!!