Two 5km as good as one 10km?

[Net68]

I hope my question isn't as daft as the title suggests!

My daughters have both took up running and asked me to join them both on their runs, what's a mum to do except say yes! The first few weeks of their C25K I managed to get some longer runs in over the weekends and sometimes doing to runs in one day. There life got in the way as it does! Now my girls have graduated, proud mum moment!

They want to carry on with half hour runs for the foreseeable future, I have a HM in twelve weeks and need to up my distance. So my question is, as I now have a few weeks from work, I work in a college! Do I tell my girls I can only go with them twice a week to get my long runs in or run half hour with them and another run at a different time of day? Will this make much difference to my overall training?

I know them both well and will not mind, they are 23 and 25 but we have all enjoyed this new experience.

Eventually they do want to increase their distance but not just yet!

Thank you in advance for your help!

Happy running 👟

[Bazza1234 Graduate10]

Called "split runs" - it is a contentious issue ( but what isn't in the world of running.

runnersworld.com/ask-coach-...

At the end of the day, we can only do what we can do - it may not be "optimal" but I don't think you are training for the Olympics??? I am also faced with this dilemma - because as a slow runner, for me to do single longruns for the marathon, my longruns could be up to 5 hours. Single longruns have been "do-able" for HM training - up to 3 hours at a time. So I will certainly be doing split runs if I decide to continue on past my HM this weekend. . In August, we have a "fun run" here involving 7 parkrun sites - the idea is to complete a parkrun course within 45 minutes and drive around 30 minutes to the next one - 7 times over. As far as I am concerned , I will have run 35 klms on that day ( if I manage to do it!)

[skysue16 Graduate10 in reply to Bazza1234]

Wow, Bazza1234 that sounds an interesting 'fun run'! Best of luck with it and post how you get on. Thanks for the link - I never realised how complicated running is!

[Irishprincess Graduate10]

My first thought was that I didn't think it makes any significant difference because the overall total mileage is the same. However, on second thoughts I think you need to do it all in one in training because that's what you have to do on race day. You're giving your body a rest between the runs which you can't do on the day - well, not that long a rest! That's just my opinion and it's not based on any experience of splitting runs 🙂

[Bazza1234 Graduate10 in reply to Irishprincess]

Thing is - it gets back to the "how do you eat an elephant"question - answer is, one spoonful at a time. The general principle that the best way to tackle a big job is to split it into smaller more manageable jobs. Hence whey we all run for 1 minute intervals at first in our C25K training - with a long term goal to run non-stop for 30 minutes . A seemingly insurmountable task on day 1 !

The long term goal is indeed to run a 10K ( probably non-stop but not necessarily) - and there are many ways to get to that end goal - doing it by doing intervals, long and short, is one way. In this case the rest interval is half a day -- but it still is another step along the path that leads to endurance and stamina

[Needing-answers Graduate10]

I am almost in the same situation as you. I was running twice a day in some cases as My daughter is still in the middle of her C25K but I wanted to increase my distance without sacrificing my badly needed rest days or taking a break in the middle of a run. The solution for me was to run to a meeting point with my daughter, do her run with her, then run back, taking a longer and longer route each time. I've also ran where she's joined my route for a while, that way everyone wins, it just takes a little planning. I hope you find a solution 😊

[IannodaTruffe Graduate10]

Psychologically, getting up to the distance (or close to it) in one uninterrupted session, is definitely going to be favourite. I would also think that physiologically you need to familiarise your body with the likely demands you are going to make of it when you do your HM. By breaking it up into more than one session you will not be prepared, unless of course you have run that distance many times before, in which case your mind will be ready but your body may not be.

[Noaky12 Graduate10]

Could you go out for the first hal hour with your girls and when they are done, keep going for your own run? Might give you the best of both worlds?