Two A Days, Two Ways

As I have been running for about three years now, I have seemed to get bored of the same run over and over. I run up the street around Walmart and back home. A good run no doubt, but it can get old in a hurry. There are many training programs out there and if you follow any of the marathon training programs, you know you have to put in a lot of miles. If you are like me, there is not enough time in the day. So I have some suggestions.

My first is run in the morning. This doesn’t have to be far, take it easy. Get up a half hour earlier than normal and try to get three to four miles in before your day starts. In my case getting up early is hard for me to do, I already get up at 5 am, but this is a great way to get some of the miles out of the way. I have a friend that his two a days consist of him going on his lunch hour which would be nice if you have the ability to clean up after the run. Now that you have done three to four miles early you can come home and put in the rest. If your totals need to be around 10 to 12, you do the math. By breaking up the mile during the day, it will help you get all your miles in for the week. But don’t forget you still will need to do your long runs.

Secondly, what works for me is riding my bike. An easy way for me to get my two a days in without the early morning and eating on the run for lunch is to ride my bike to work. I do have to get up about 10 minutes earlier but that seem to work well for me. My ride to work is just over 13 miles and takes me about 40 minutes. And the best part is I ride the bike home after work, and the total miles is around 26 and has less impact on my legs. It has given my legs the work out they need without keeping me from doing my evening runs. Now we all know our bodies are not built the same so we have to take what works best for each of us. But for the fast paced world that we live in, breaking up our total miles into two runs or a bike ride and a run will make it easier to get our total miles in.

Here is a chart on a good week.

Whatever you are doing to get your miles in will work best for you, these ideas are a great way to break up the repetitive part of training. And like I always say the more you enjoy doing something the more you will do it. Now get out and run.