How to start running and doing workouts early after waking up?

I run in the morning every day. For my easy runs I only need half an hour. I just roll out of bed, grab a banana or something, put on my shoes and head out the door. If anything, being half-asleep is good on my easy runs. It forces me to actually run them easy. It's not pleasant, but whatever.

For workouts I like a little more time. Maybe an hour. And I'll eat something more substantial with a little fat and protein so I don't get hungry in the middle of the workout. For long runs (16 miles for me) I like to give myself two hours and eat a full breakfast, but I know people who do them fasted no problem.

Yes, go to bed earlier. Get your running clothes ready the night before. Program the coffee maker, too, if you need it. Shouldn't take you much more than a half hour to roll out of bed, hit the bathroom, eat a banana and head out the door. Start slow, finish faster.

ya easy runs aren't really a prob. like i said i do the 4 milers without eating anything sometimes, just shoes on and go out. but those are runs i dont care about pace at all, i just do them for recovery/extra miles a couple times a week. ive done 7-8 mile regular aerobic runs at 7:00 pace here and there in the past early when i have had to, and they've been kinda crappy.

i guess ill just need to adjust. if i want to do runs at 7am, what would be a good time to go to sleep? mainly just want to feel energized for long runs and workouts that early in the morning, i want to keep my training up. 5am is going to be brutal but i will do it if thats what it takes.

just trying to figure out the ideal sleep time, food to eat, and any other tips for early running

thanks

I think that's a personal thing. I feel best at 8 hours of sleep per night with my current mileage, but sometimes I'm not disciplined enough to actually adhere to that, so I get 7 or so. Just experiment with your bedtime and see what makes you feel good.

You remind me of myself, OP.

First of all - there is no need to eat before any runs, especially at your mileage. You will almost never get glycogen depleted, and if, your relatively low mileage won't keep you in that state for more than a few hours. If you eat regularly, your last meal could safely be dinner and you can do long runs on empty stomach no problem. Just make sure you eat enough after your run.

I do most of my runs between 5 and 7am, including intervals, tempos and long runs with surges. It took me about 2 months to fully adjust, but nowadays I hate to run anything longer or faster in the afternoon. I used to think that I have to eat at least something for runs over 8 miles, but nobody really does. It is just psychological. Besides, if the meal has carbohydrates, it will rise your insuline levels, which will inhibit fat burning for fuel big time }the antagonist of insulin is glucagon, which drops, if insulin levels rise, thus the body's ability to burn fat for fueal drops dramatically; in turn, you burn glycogen at faster rate and become hypoglycemic much sooner than you would if you had started your run on empty stomach). Fastened state is much better for distance runners, or at least to have 3-4 hour window without any food before starting your run. If you must (which you really don't), eat something during your run afetr 30-40 minutes of running, no sooner. Your hormone levels will be already set, and the ingested gel or whatever will be used only as a fuel for the liver and will rise your sugar levels in blood (your brain will feel better that way).

As for myself, I need 30-35 minutes between alarm and starting my run - I would drink a cup of coffee (strength depends on the difficulty of the session beforehand), brush my teeth, use the bathroom and get out the door without hesitating. Once I start to think too much about my run, it gets increasingly difficult to start.

I am proud to state, that after 18 years of competitive running, I had become a morning and noon runner, and I had never been so lean and fast (I was a D1 foreign recruit). Just 1-2 months, and you will be a better runner. Good luck!

For me I've found that getting to bed at a decent hour is key. All the small stuff helps as well (e.g., getting your shoes/clothes ready the night before), but my biggest inhibitor to doing runs and workouts in the morning was always how tired I was. For me, the difference between getting 6 hours and 8 hours was big....to be fair, I could probably use more like 9, but it just gets increasingly harder to fit that in, so I drew the line at 8. Also, once I got in the habit of knocking it out of the way first thing in the morning and not having to think about it during the day while I'm at work, the less appealing it became to reset the alarm and run in the evening.

Coffee

Try this

i dont drink coffee at all. would you really recommend it or is it not necessary? i would prefer not to get into the state of needing caffeine daily to wake up/function like i see a lot of people do.

Jump in the xfit box for ~10 min. upon waking. Get a sweat going and limber up those muscles. Stare in mirror, growl at your fine self, then go do your running workout.

earlybirdnow wrote:

I'm not used to running early.

Then get used to it. I'm serious. Just start doing it. The first week will be tough. The second week will still be tough, but slightly less so. By the third or fourth week, it will be a habit. Just keep after it and plow through the tough times in the first days and weeks. Before long, running in the morning will be like brushing your teeth.

Forrest child wrote:

First of all - there is no need to eat before any runs, especially at your mileage. You will almost never get glycogen depleted, and if, your relatively low mileage won't keep you in that state for more than a few hours. If you eat regularly, your last meal could safely be dinner and you can do long runs on empty stomach no problem. Just make sure you eat enough after your run.

This always makes me wonder. What about hunger? Does that bother you? I wake up hungry no matter what I eat the night before, and if I don't eat it before a run then food is all I can think about for the entire run, and it gets really bad after 6-7 miles.

Oh also, if you need to get up before the sun, this is pretty useful: http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Hf3470-Wake-up-Light-White/dp/B003XN4RIC/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1380807667&sr=8-7&keywords=sun+lamp

I go to bed at 9:10 and get up at 5:10. I start running by 5:25 and never eat before I run.

When my kids were babies, I learn what it really felt like to be tired and to get up anyway. A couple years back when my kids were old enough so I could run before they got up, I started my current schedule.

As you seem to have realized, the best thing about running early is that you can pack the rest of the day and still get it all done.

As for feeling hungry, I eat a good breakfast when I get back so I have 3 real meals in a day. I have recently given up snacking in front of the TV (I didn't really need to but I kind of had no choice as everyone in the family now has the same bed time) at night and even that doesn't seem to have made me more hungry in the morning.

My guess is that you are constantly very close to dieting. I would suggest that you eat more all day and only diet if you are gaining weight.

earlybirdnow wrote:

i dont drink coffee at all. would you really recommend it or is it not necessary? i would prefer not to get into the state of needing caffeine daily to wake up/function like i see a lot of people do.

I'd avoid coffee if at all possible. I went down that rabbit hole for about a year and ended up more exhausted, cranky and craving sweets throughout the day than anything. When you build up a tolerance you're essentially just constantly hammering away at your adrenal system. On top of that I developed acid reflux and general stomach problems.

The strange thing though is that I drink quite a bit of tea (both black and green) and have absolutely no problems with respect to caffeine addiction, i.e., I often go days drinking just decaf teas and have no withdrawal symptoms. The acid reflux and stomach problems are completely gone as well. There's something about tea (besides quantitatively having less caffeine per cup) that gives a more mellow alertness without the crash and burn when you stop drinking it mid-afternoon.

I absolutely love the taste of coffee but I'm pretty convinced I may never drink it again because of what I went through the past year. Each person is different though.

I've been running before work for 20+ years. I've never eaten anything because i don't want to get up any earlier. For easy days, this works fine. i've gone 12+ miles like this and never had a problem.

Speedwork poses a bit of a problem. It's really tough to hit pace in the morning if you don't have a really long warmup. The perceived effort is much higher for me in the morning than in the afternoon so i stopped doing anything with perceived effort and shoot for actual pace. it may also have to do with the dark.

only recently i'll carry a gel with me and take it at the end of a morning workout before the recovery. speed without food really depletes so i figure the gel after speed on an empty stomach will metabolize quickly and help with recovery.

I get up between 4:15 and 4:45 4 days a week to run. If I am doing a workout I have a packet of caffeinated sport beans or a red bull. If it is a long-ish/hard run (like 13mi w/ 10 @ marathon pace) then it is a red bull and pop tart. Otherwise, a glass of water and I am out the door.

I do the bulk of my running early in the morning. I never eat beforehand or during runs, even for workouts or long runs of up to 24 miles. The body gets used to it. I'll occasionally have some extra pretzels or something the night before if I have a long morning run planned, but that's it. As others have said, not eating saves time. I'll sometimes have a coffee before going, but if you don't drink coffee already I wouldn't start.

If you start getting up early to run, you'll start wanting to go to bed earlier. Don't fight that inclination. Just get in the routine.