Who am I?
Who is this early morning runner that I've turned into?
I NEVER thought I'd be an early morning runner (hello, I would sleep in until 11am every day if I were left to my natural tendencies), but this summer I've learned to love a good early morning run. My dear friends Regina and Bridget are partly responsible for this conversion.
 |
| I would prefer to be horizontal until noon if I were left to my own devices |
1) Go to bed EARLY! It may take a few mornings of getting up early to make yourself tired enough at night to fall asleep early, but you'll quickly adjust. Or if you're like me, you can put your head on the pillow and just fall asleep in the blink of an eye. I'm convinced I have a touch of narcolepsy.
2) Set your clothes/shoes/garmin out the night before.
 |
| Set your clothes out to save precious minutes and to avoid the hassle of making choices in the morning. |
 |
| If Caroline Rotich (3rd place Boston 2011) were my running buddy and were waiting for me, I'd always wake up early. |
5) Just remind yourself how good the rest of your day is going to feel and that getting out of bed is always hard...just make it through the first miserable 5 minutes of being awake and you will NOT regret it. Again, like most things in life, it is all mental, you just have to trick yourself into doing it. This is especially crucial during these hot summer months-- if you don't do it early, it's going to be much more uncomfortable when it's 10-20 degrees warmer later in the day.
Are you an early morning runner-lover? If so, do you have any tips to add?
Used to hate early morning runs, but they're growing on me. We'll see if I keep this up during the winter...
I am absolutely a morning runner. I'm up at 5 or 5:30 most mornings to get a run in before work. It's the only it's not miserable outside!
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing for me is to think about my afternoon. Will I really run after work? Likely not. I hate evening workouts. I don't run well after eating all day. That gets me moving...if my choice is 5am or not at all, 5am wins.
Ten miles before 7am is impressive!
ReplyDeleteI love to run in the morning, but sadly only do it on weekends. I start work at 7am, so it's tough to do it before.
I think your best tip is 3, about not worrying if your first couple miles are slow.
I really needed this post. I always played sports and our practices would be in the afternoon/evening so I'm used to exercising later in the day, and I actually love running in the heat, but the morning is just SO much more convenient. I am trying very hard to transition to being a morning runner, but it's not going very well. I think finding a group to run with would definitely help, so I'm going to look into that.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm wondering about eating/fueling - Do you eat before you run? How long before? And what do you eat? I do fine on race days or weekends because I generally have at least 30+ mins after eating before any running starts. But if I run in the morning on a weekday, I don't want to sit around digesting breakfast for half an hour... I'd fall back asleep. Maybe this is a dumb issue, but it's thwarted me twice now when I've tried a morning run, so if you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.
Great question! I actually had considered addressing this in the post.
DeleteIf I'm planning on leaving the house at 5:00am, I wake up at 4:35 and eat a granola bar and drink ~20oz water while I'm still in bed. Helps me wake up a little and spend a little extra time being cozy and gives my body 20-ish minutes to start to digest. Then I'll brush my teeth, put in my contacts, get dressed, etc. and then by that time it's about 5:00 and I'm ready to head out the door.
Every minute of sleep counts, so I don't waste a minute in the morning!
I hate mornings and even if I go to bed early at night, set my alarm AND have my clothes set out, I will always change my mind once the alarm starts blaring. Sleep always wins in my book. But, I'll totally exercise at 11pm in my basement and think nothing of it. I'm such a natural night owl...
ReplyDeleteMe too! I have yet to find a way around this! I would LOVE to be a morning person! But alas, I would rather be exercising at odd hours in the evening than be up at dawn's crack.
DeleteI love getting my run out of the way in the morning. It's funny you say not to get discouraged with a few slow warm up miles because I totally do get discouraged. After I get rolling, it's all good though!
ReplyDeletethat last one is key for me! i always STILL wake up and think "really!?! Im going to run right now??" but then I remember I will be happy that I have the run in for the day and don't have to set out later that night;) I also kinda love to sleep in my running clothes for really early runs:)
ReplyDeleteI've started doing my long runs on Saturdays. So I go to bed early on Friday nights, and it's so worth it. I used to be much more of a morning worker outer, but somehow that's changed, and I'm needing even more sleep than I used to...
ReplyDeleteI wish I was an early morning runner! In fact, I am the opposite...I wait until after work when it is 96* here in Charlotte and then I die. If I am going out of town that night or for the weekend, I'll usually try to run in the am before work, but I'm pretty worthless during the run!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely ready for cool fall weather! :)
Great tips! I have everything set out in the kitchen so I don't wake anyone else up, if the kids wake up it is so much harder to get out the door in a timely fashion, I even set out my water bottles and gels if I am going to need them, and my breakfast. I love love love early morning runs, sadly I can only do them in the summer. and it is starting to be dark early again :( boo.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had someone who would get up early with me. I`m definitely a morning runner and a morning person in general and don`t mind getting up early.
ReplyDeleteI also always set up my stuff including a breakfast snack and water bottle if needed.
These are very helpful tips for me personally. I've been trying to get up and run early in the morning to avoid the heat so I think this will help me.
ReplyDeleteSUch a morning runner! I just know if I wait until the afternoon or evening, it won't happen :)
ReplyDeleteI wish I were a morning runner! I don't actualy have to be at work until 10am so I would have plenty of time...but as it is I have a hard enough time getting to work! Races would feel much better if I practiced running in the morning...
ReplyDeleteThe only things that motivate me out of bed are races or supported runs. Doing one of the long training runs in the park this weekend and already dreading the 7am start!
I love morning running! Back when I was running xc I used to get up super early to beat the Florida heat, then would come back, shower quick, and fall back into bed. Now that I have 2 little ones, that post-run nap ain't happening, but I still love to run when the city (I'm in nyc now) is just waking up.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy early morning runs. If i could just make myself get up... I feel better the rest of the day, just somewhere in that span I lack motivation.
ReplyDeleteI totally set the clothes out the night before. Seems to work for me!
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of your tips. Especially laying your clothes out the night before. Sometimes I even sleep in my shorts to save myself the extra 30 seconds in the morning. :-)
ReplyDeleteI used to do this when I worked full time.. not anymore. I am lucky too though that I can sleep as soon as my head is on the pillow.
ReplyDeleteI think your tips are just great and I am sure that anyone who is thinking of giving early morning runnning a try would benefit from them... I am going to share this post on my FB page.
And the last three days I have been sleeping in until 10, but I am a little sick. But I am definitely not a morning person, but when I know I'm meeting a group, I get my buns out of bed quickly! So I totally agree that meeting people is a huge early-morning motivator.
ReplyDeleteI'm NOT a morning person by any means, but a group run will definitely get out the door early. Best tip is definitely to meet people for the run since I would feel TERRIBLE flaking out on someone. And I would hate it if someone flaked on me. I wish we lived closer so we could be running buddies.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could get my run in before 7am. The day is so much more enjoyable that way! I think having running buddies really helps. Saturdays I meet with a group and love the early morning runs. During the week I am alone and just can't get up. I wish I would live in a city so I could find runners, who are crazy enough to get up at 5am :)
ReplyDeleteI am NOT a morning person. I have discovered that it is ingrained deep into my DNA to hate waking up in the mornings. The only reason why I do right now is so I can run before it gets to be 110* here in Phoenix. I am training for Ing NYC right now, and the heat has been brutal! I love your tip on the mental aspect of it. It does suck for the first 5 minutes of being up....my problem is I know I can fall back asleep easily, even after I run, so it's hard not to think about how amazing going back to bed would be! I am getting better at it, though....enough running in the 95-100* weather with the sun bearing down on you and you tend to get your ass up thinking about the heat. Thanks for the great topic!
ReplyDelete