UKH

Looking back on my running log, I see there are several years where I've done a SB on 2 different runs on consecutive days. Today it happened again; did a SB on my (nearly) 7k run yesterday and this evening did a SB on my 5k run - actually fastest on this run since 2009.

I would have thought that on day 2, I'd have no chance of running fast because legs etc would still be tired from fast run on day 1. But with this having happened several times, that's obviously not the case. What's going on?

Is it somehow that day 1 acclimatises my body to running faster and on day 2 it's using that as a base point to be able to push even harder, or what?

(my legs did feel tired today, but I was still able to push hard virtually all the way round - there was a lot of huffing and puffing 😁)

The more running I do, the more I think it's all voodoo.

When you're in good shape you recover quick enough to do back to back good performances and if you're in good shape 5k and 7k on consecutive days shouldn't be stressing your body too much.

That aside I do sometimes notice feeling stronger on the second of two hard days..

When I was 30 I could understand the recovering quickly bit - but that was a long time ago - although since I hit 60 last year, I have been in better shape than anytime in my 50's.

And 7k is about my normal longest run, I maybe do longer than that (up to 10k), 5 or 6 times a year.

Did you have easy/rest days leading up to the first SB?

Sometimes you need to 'wake the body up' afterwards. People are different, but I know at least one top triathlon coach who's plans have a rest day 2 days before a test performance and the day before is a workout day.

Had a hard (for me) running week (on holiday, one of my runs of 6k had 1000' of ascent - coastal paths - up, down, up, down), then 5 days running gap before SB 1.

Explains the first SB, surprised if that explains second one. Maybe hard week followed by several rest days does micro cycle peaks for me.

I bet you paced it better on day 2?

I'd say that after a hard week followed by 5 days off I'd expect to be able to get two good quality hard shortish days afterwards. 5 days is a lot of rest.

I reckon the 5 day running gap made all the difference and allowed the first SB to sharpen you up for the second - plenty of rest and full glycogen stores. I had a long aerobic 13k jog on Tuesday but my lad wanted to get a bike ride in after tea, I said OK as long as we go steady but we ended up racing the sunset and I felt really good even though I was full of food...

My current experiment is bouldering Friday before (not)parkrun on Saturday - last week's 5k was 2 mins faster than the week before - using this strategy. I think it might all be Skinner's Pigeons/Cargo Cult logic but what the heck if it works!

DOMS kicks in on day 2 so it's possible to put in back to back if fit, there's a section in one of the books, maybe advanced marathoning, about squeezing in consecutive hard days but then building in the recovery. When you are fit you can certainly race twice a weekend.