Is running at night basically worthless?

Anti-Vaxxer wrote:

daypire wrote:

I am over a minute slower at easy pace than I am during the day when running at night and workouts are right out, even considering them. Might be because where I live is sparsely lit and I run along sidewalks of major roads, with a lot of stoplights and half lit neighborhoods. How do some people do this for like half the year?

Because they are not weak minded-fools.

That got a chuckle out of me. Well played.

Personally, my favorite time to run is at night in the snow. The snow dampens all of the sound so you're really in tune with yourself and it also makes it less dark.

It also helps to invest in a nice chest lamp.

I often run at night, enjoy it.

One thing I have noticed is that after a run (assuming I didn't check my watch during) I

would find my pace slower than I thought it would be. Visually it seems I'm going

slightly faster in the dark. Maybe weird but that's how my brain sees it.

This has been true for me, too. I’ll feel like I’m flying along and feeling great, and eventually find out I was running a very normal, fairly modest pace by daylight standards. And it’s like you said, purely a visual trick, I think.

I used to work at Logan Airport on the night shift, off at 2Am. Someone would give me a ride through the tunnel and I would run home to Watertown every night. I have seen bodies dumped out of cars, idiots trying to catch me for whatever reason but for the most part absolutely serene, just floating along.

It’s hardly worthless. Many easy fixes. Do your workouts and quality work on weekends when you have daylight. Find parking lots and low traffic neighborhoods etc. to do your workouts in if they must be at night.

ah, the Boston of yore!

* In reply to oldguy talking Logan -> Watertown

Swagmeister_69 wrote:

buy a headlamp

Any recommendations for a quality, light, and bright headlamp for nighttime running?

Mine sucks and I'm looking to upgrade.

When I was younger, I almost exclusively ran at night during the off seasons. It always felt great. Nice and cool out, no cars (mostly I ran on trails), and faster tempo than during the day. I miss those salad days of my youth. I still enjoy running at night, other when there is ice on the ground.

I don’t understand how stop lights are only a problem at night.

Free_the_thigh wrote:

I don’t understand how stop lights are only a problem at night.

At night some stoplights might be running on timer instead of sensors. There was this one area I used to run in that was next to a high school the stoplights during the day would only take like 2 minutes during daylight for pedestrians to cross while at night it could last as long as 5 minutes.

I do almost all of my running early in the morning and that means dead of night in the winter (5-6:30 am). I really enjoy running at that time when there are very few people or vehicles out. I have the advantage of living in an area where most of the streets have lights, so I can do fairly long runs with only a few short sections that are very dark. I do find that it is mentally difficult to go hard in the dark, but for base mileage it's great.

amkelley wrote:

I do almost all of my running early in the morning and that means dead of night

This is contradictory.

nothing to add other than I notice the same thing. The darkness either makes me more cautious or raises my perceived exertion...there's just something about seeing far down the road that makes me run faster. I have done it a fair amount, and I've never been able to run comparable times to daylight unless it's cold and I'm trying to stay warm.

swagmoneyamongus wrote:

Free_the_thigh wrote:

I don’t understand how stop lights are only a problem at night.

At night some stoplights might be running on timer instead of sensors. There was this one area I used to run in that was next to a high school the stoplights during the day would only take like 2 minutes during daylight for pedestrians to cross while at night it could last as long as 5 minutes.

I find that stoplights almost become a non-issue outside of human hours. Like just check if a car's coming, it's usually not, and you cross the street. Maybe I'm just used to heads-up running because I grew up in the south running on the side of the road.

Bodies? Damn bruh

lol. You're joking right?

daypire wrote:

I am over a minute slower at easy pace than I am during the day when running at night and workouts are right out, even considering them. Might be because where I live is sparsely lit and I run along sidewalks of major roads, with a lot of stoplights and half lit neighborhoods. How do some people do this for like half the year?

why one minute slower?

dangerous/uncertain footing?

Temperature?

Are you a morning person and your body is slowing down at night?

For reference, I'm 30-60 second slower per mile in the early morning as I come alive more at 5pm. It might just be your natural body rhythm. I've run really good workouts at night in the dark. I wish road races were held at night actually.

aging_fatso wrote:

Swagmeister_69 wrote:

buy a headlamp

Any recommendations for a quality, light, and bright headlamp for nighttime running?

Mine sucks and I'm looking to upgrade.

All headlamps suck because they're attached to your head.

Get a nice chest lamp.