workouts: One a day vs Two a day

In the end you have to do what you have time to do.

But for quality of workouts, you need to be sure you have adequate energy and are rested for each workout.

In otherwords, to get the most out of each run workout, you should be recovered from the previous workout, whether it was swim, bike, weights, etc. And the same holds true for every other sport.

Ideally, I like to have my athletes have 6 hours of rest between 2 a day workouts. But if all you can do is fit things in after work, you have ot do what you have to do.

Keep in mind that a "brick" workout is different than a "2 a day" workout.

Bricks are designed to mimick race situations by doing back to back bike/runs usually (swim/bikes are OK bricks too, but that transition is not as difficult).

I do back to back workouts, sometimes combining weights with running or swimming, sometimes a combination of 2 of the tri disciplines. However, my reasoning is that I don't have the time freedom to do a am and a pm workout, so I get up early and do my training before work.

I'd prefer to split it up, because I know that whatever I do second suffers a bit in intensity, but I do what I can do.

They both have their place, but remember how deeply you dig into your recovery well with the longer single workout (be it a brick type or single sport).

Lately I've had to swim following my run....treadmill, cool down, and hop in the pool....The quality of swimming after a run is awful. I'm gassed after 2000 yds...

I'd break it up if you can....

Once the ice melts from the streets around here I will be doing my back to back workouts again. I work afternoon shift so I can't do a workout in the morning and then one after my shift. I tried that and it didn't work to well for me. I try to eat some bananas between the workouts and drink plenty of water and I am usually fine for the second workout.

I'm often in the same situation as the OP.  Working full time with family makes it tough to justify two-a-days.  A stragegy I often use is to put the key work-out or skill-specific session first.  That is if I want to focus on swim technique and speed, make sure that is first and perhaps do an endurance (Z1/Z2) run or bike afterwards.  You may have a lower pace at same HR, but that's no big deal in the grand scheme of things.  By making your 2nd work-out low key, it can be utilized as a prolonged cool-down from a hard swim, bike or run effort.  For example, a 45 minute recovery swim or ride are great cool-down options after a hard run.

Edited by mbmoran2 2008-02-12 9:30 AM

I am running right after almost all my bikes right now (3x/wk).  This is not principally to get a brick workout done, but to boost my run frequency/volume.  It's simply easier for me to do it all at once than to try to fit the run in at another time during the day.  When I have the chance, I'll also run after a swim (usually have to get to work so that's not an option).  I do keep my 'quality' and long runs separate.

Don't forget 3 a days.

Two a day also means four clothes changes and two showers!


Edited by jetlag 2008-02-12 11:06 AM

Thanks for the responses. I don't have huge aspirations in tri's, so far I've only done a sprint. This season I'm going to do some sprints in spring and will hope to do an olympic distance or two late summer/fall and maybe a half depending on how things are going. I don't have any plans to do an Ironman. With less training volume for shorter events it would seem to be easier to get away with back to back workouts. As one person mentioned, you can do the more intense or important event first and then do the second event at an easier pace. One of my big issues is that I will not compromise on sleep and I like to get 8 hours a night- I'm just happier that way. So that makes it tough to fit in two a days when my work schedule is not very flexible. Again thanks for the input!

My first season I split the workouts up, i.e. one in the AM and one in the PM. Now and over the past couple years due to time constraints I usually have/had to do brick style workouts. In my opinion for what it is worth I think you benefit much more by prodominantly breaking them up with the exception of a brick now and again. Also, I think breaking them up helps you to not get burned out as easily. And since my muscles had time to recover between workouts I felt like I got a better quality workout due to less muscle fatigue in the early stages of the workout. As a disclaimer though I am by no means saying I don't respect and love the brick workouts.

I like to do swimming in the am and run or bike in the afternoon.

I think you've got to do what works best for you, your life, and your schedule. In an ideal world, it might be best to split the workouts up by several hours, but that just doesn't work for me most of the time. Most of the time when I have two workouts per day they wind up being pretty much back to back. Right now, it's usually swimming & running that get lumped together (if I'm at the gym to swim, I might as well use the treadmill or indoor track while I'm there...) Since I have to change between these two, there's SOME recovery time between them. I usually allow myself a short soak in the hot tub in between, do some stretching, have a little snack, etc... The other thing I do is alternate which of the two I do first (running goes first one day, swimming goes first another day). It might not be the best solution, but it's what works for me.