Should You Be Running Twice A Day | Prischew.com

It is common among elite runners to do two training runs in a single day – that is, one in the morning and one in the evening.

But recreational runners don’t normally train twice a day. Is two workouts a day actually good for recreational runners? Let’s take look.

Should you run twice a day? (Image from running.competitor.com)

Helps to boost recovery after a tough run

If you have completed a tough workout, such as a tempo run or hard intervals in the morning, doing an easy run in the evening where you don’t worry about your pace will actually boost your recovery after the hard workout.

This is because being in motion rather than in a static position actually increases the blood flow to your muscles and this enhances recovery.

But just make sure that you keep this second run easy and do not over do it – or you may risk injury. If you don’t feel like going for a second run, then you could do a light pool workout or a cycling session. These will give you the same benefits as a light run.

To increase your mileage

If you want to increase your weekly running mileage but are having trouble doing so in a single session, then doing two easy runs in a single day can help you do so.

For example, if you find that you can’t do a two-hour run at one stretch, why not try to do two one-hour runs – one in the morning and the other one in the evening? This will not only increase your mileage, but at the same time, you can do the two one-hour runs at a faster pace compared to struggling through a single two hour run where you may even end up walking half of the time. This will boost your running efficiency and you will feel as though you have had a much better workout.

However that said, one weekly long run is still important if you are training for a half or a full marathon, because you need to build up enough stamina to last for hours on your feet at a single stretch. But combining this long run with two workout sessions – on your other exercise days – will also pay dividends to your race training.

Boosts your personal best timings

Doing two intensive running workouts instead of a single workout in one day may also help you to break your personal best timing if you feel that you are getting stagnant. This is because when we set about doing a workout, we tend to be raring to go at the beginning, but after a certain length of time, we start to get tired and do not perform so well.

Thus, doing two shorter but more intensive workouts in a day, rather than slogging through a single workout, will increase your body’s efficiency and ultimately make you into a more efficient runner. As a result, that personal best timing may just be within your reach at your next race.

However do not attempt to do this if you are a beginner runner, because you may end up overtraining and injuring yourself.