Why do elites wake up early to train?

They're running 2-3 times per day. They want as much recovery time between each run. And so they can sleep in the hammock in the sunny backyard in the afternoon while you work.

Mark Nenow who held the 10k American Record for close to 20 years trained at 11pm at night.

Because they sleep in between doubles/triples, and because their races are early in the morning.

I'm not elite, but could be considered national class. At Hansons a lot of us do work in the stores (which don't open until after 10am), so to get a 20 miler and breakfast/shower sometimes you have to start a little "early." Also, we try to get in a routine where we run every workout at the start time of most road races (around 8 AM). Trust me, there are some cold and dark mornings when I am dead tired and do want to get out of bed. I fear if my alarm didn't go off or a teammate didn't wake me from my slumber I'd sleep past 9 or 10 for sure!

More daylight

Less road traffic

Less cell phone people on my track

Cooler temps May - Oct

More of my work day/family time available

You'd think some elites would sleep in a bit to get more recovery, run in late AM and then do a second run at 9PM or something...what's wrong with that?

just wondering yalllll wrote:

You'd think some elites would sleep in a bit to get more recovery, run in late AM and then do a second run at 9PM or something...what's wrong with that?

what i mean is that there's a balance between sleeping to get adequate recovery and waking up early for the sake of being well disciplined

Why dont office jobs open at noon and get out for the day at 8pm?

just wondering yalllll wrote:

You'd think some elites would sleep in a bit to get more recovery, run in late AM and then do a second run at 9PM or something...what's wrong with that?

Said elites are probably/hopefully more disciplined with their time and get to bed early on a regular basis so as to not have to sleep in to get enough rest.

Dan

jkdnajsdnasf wrote:

Why dont office jobs open at noon and get out for the day at 8pm?

I ask myself this every morning when my alarm goes off. Sigh...

jkdnajsdnasf wrote:

Why dont office jobs open at noon and get out for the day at 8pm?

There are a lot of jobs that have hours other than the typical 9-5 or 8-5. For instance, one of the librarians at school told me she works 3-midnight.

less traffic, cleaner air, it is quiet and peaceful, if doing a track workout you dont get told to leave because it is time for the schools team practice, or if it isnt the schools team practice time it is better early before all the walkers and slow runners are there and take up lanes 1 and 2 etc.

things come up in the day that may interfere with the workout.

just a few reasons, each person has their own reasons though.

Similar to a previous poster, I am not elite but can be considered national class. I am more of a 7am runner, not a 6am runner and I run early in the morning for two reasons: winter = daylight, summer = temperature.

It gets dark by 5pm where I live, so I start my second run before 3:45. I like to have at least 6 hours between runs so my morning run needs to be over by 9:45 and I'm usually out the door by 7. I just don't like to run in the dark (or cold) nights - personal preference. I could run later in the morning and then run again later at night when it's dark; I choose not to.

In the summer I have to be done running by 9am because of the heat. It gets really hot where I live and running at something like 10am is not an option. Then I won't start my second run until after 7pm because it can easily be 90 degrees at 7:00 here.

Those are my two reasons.

If they are truly elite, they most likely need about 8 hours of nighttime sleep because they nap a couple of hours between their double workouts. Additionally, they probably don't stay up very late. As such, a common bedtime may be 10:00 PM. 6:00 AM is 8 hours of sleep.

Discipline and motivation.

When you have things to do, you have to manage your time effectively. When I am training for an Ironman, I get up at 4 am to get my swimming done, with runs to and from the pool to my home. Go to work, go to a nearby gym at lucnhtime. Get home at 5.30, train until 8. Dinner, and then a nice bike ride from midnight to 1am.

It's exhausting but once you are commited to it, you will only think about your goals.

6am is sleeping in for me

Blastocist wrote:

When you have things to do, you have to manage your time effectively. When I am training for an Ironman, I get up at 4 am to get my swimming done, with runs to and from the pool to my home. Go to work, go to a nearby gym at lucnhtime. Get home at 5.30, train until 8. Dinner, and then a nice bike ride from midnight to 1am.

It's exhausting but once you are commited to it, you will only think about your goals.

Nice life dude. Nice life.

I'm not sure what elites everyone else is talking about, but the ones I know - about a dozen or so - are typically going what I consider "late" (9-10am)