Forums >General Running>Early morning running and quality workouts
Not a dude
Jane
I agree with what others have said, it takes me longer to get started (longer warmup) in the early morning but I can keep the higher paces.
Never run, if you want to never run, don't start because you'll never stop.
I'm definitely a night person and was never able to run in the morning until recently.
Now I run in the mornings and feel fully awake in doing it.
The key is to get enough sleep. If you're cutting your sleep short to work out when you wake up, then yeah, it's a struggle, because at that point you don't even want to be awake, let alone huffing down the road.
All my daily runs are in afternoon after work, on tierd legs so when I do the long run on weekend early am I always feel refreshed and have a much better run.
Rusk Runner
I get two of my weekday workouts done prior to 4:30 AM. This is the time I have to run, so thats when it gets done. Keys to success, Go to bed as soon as the kids go to bed, Learn to get up and on your feet as soon as the alarm goes off, Have your stuff set out and ready, Know that this is the time you have to get this done and it is something you enjoy.
As much as I would like to get more sleep sometimes, I always feel so darn good after an early morning run.
PRs...5K - 20:36, 4mile - 26:15, 13.1 - 1:32, 26.2 - 3:42
Just Run!!!
So...basically, I'm not alone and I just need to suck it up and get it done. Good to know! It is also nice to have reassurance that it likely won't affect my race performance. I know that I run so much better after I have been up for a couple of hours, but I just can't see myself getting up at 3am to run at 5am several days a week. I have to balance my want to be a good (or reasonably decent) runner with my regular life. Going to bed at 8:00 would definitely not be a good way to balance everything. I think I will try to keep everything in the morning routine, but will switch some workouts to evenings if I really struggle even with a solid warm-up. Thanks so much for the input, everyone!!
Caveat: I am not a morning person and never have been, so I could be biased.
You are definitely not alone. I agree with everyone else that once I get going in the AM it feels amazing and I love watching the sun rise over the Philadelphia skyline, but for me it's the getting out of bed that is really the hardest part. Especially now that it's cold and my puppy snuggles next to me during the night! But as far as workouts go, I need to do them in the evenings. I actually have tons of energy after sitting at a desk all day and feel great doing speed/hills right after work. In fact, I look forward to it all day. The other dilemma I have is that I hate drinking coffee in the morning before a run because of the digestion and dehydration effects it has on me. However, if I do a workout after work , I have already had my daily caffeine intake. Just do what works best for you.
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NYCM: 11/4/2018
You can train your body to run at any time day or night.
this^
Get off my porch
Tessa
I think time of year also has an effect. Early morning running in the summer is great. It's cool and you don't have to dodge many cars. Early morning running in the winter, however, is difficult, between taking longer to warm up, wanting to hibernate, and the sheer amount of clothing/gear one needs in frigid winter morning temperatures.
That said, all things being equal, I find speed workouts are easiest midday (but I am on a gym treadmill then). Morning is a time for easy striding. Evening is a time for businesslike runs but in summer it's hot and there are a lot of cars.
Now in my third winter of running, and this seems to be my pattern. AM runs March-November, PM runs during the winter. It takes about a week to shift my wake-up time, but I don't recall any difference in workout quality.
Interval Junkie --Nobby
Funny, couldn't disagree more. Tried morning runs in the summer and hated it. Winter is wonderful. But I think that might have more to do with the absolute, rather than relative, temperature on these runs. 35F feels great. If there were a time of day I could run in that temp during the summer, I'd wake up for it.
@OP - just be careful to give yourself enough time to warm up that connective tissue -- it's being doing nothing all night long.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Especially now that it's cold and my puppy snuggles next to me during the night!
morning runs are the best simply because they always happen. I'll take 80% effort on a morning run that happens over an 80% chance an evening run will happen any day.
Since I started running 1.5 years ago I've been trying to roll out of bed early in the AM for my runs, but it never happens, wind up running at night. I hope to start morning runs soon, "hopefully".