ask yourself...are more flights delayed at 6am or 6pm? Same goes here.
Too much goo happens during the day. Get it done early, lock it in, and move on.
ask yourself...are more flights delayed at 6am or 6pm? Same goes here.
Too much goo happens during the day. Get it done early, lock it in, and move on.
Done both. But as I get older the harder it is to get up and run. I do get up at 4:15 for yoga and weight training. I have to be out the door for work at 6:30. As another poster stated... you do run the risk of some family crisis coming up and not being able to run. Life happens for sure. I would opt to just get it done in the morning if that is what you are used to. Personally I run right after work or after practice (I coach XC and Track). I have 3 kids (10 y/o and up). Luckily my wife is also a serious runner and we always make time for each other to get our workouts in. Yeah it takes away from family time a little, but they are used to it as that is how it is been. If I waited until my youngest goes to bed (9PM) it would be dark and I live on a country road.....
I’m in the same boat although 5 am is 4 am for me. I do a mix, but if I had to choose, I’d take mornings. Always better to get it done as the day can be unpredictable. As to being warmed up, I find that as long as I run an easy 1.5-2 miles prior to workouts, I’m okay (age=51). I would have a hard time, though, if I weren’t able to do lunchtime runs at work. That’s a must!
PROS for 5AM
Very low chance of scheduling conflicts, so routine is optimized
My wife is usually asleep too, no missed time with her either
CONS for 5AM
Body is stiff and sleepy, need more warm-up time to avoid injury, and to wake up 30-60min before running and drink coffee to be able to do workouts adequately.
Sometimes tough to get to sleep early enough.
PROS for 8PM
Better workouts (usually). Although the difference can be mitigated or almost eliminated with some acclimation period and a proper morning routine.
CONS for 8PM
After kids go to bed is typically alone time with my wife, which is more rare than time with kids so is at a premium.
Hard for me to go to sleep soon after a run.
Have to eat a very small dinner at about 6-6:30, then more afterward.
High chance of scheduling conflict and last minute changes.
Overall, early morning runs allowed me to train more consistently with less strain on daily life. I was able to double/ lift/stretch at lunch 3 days a week. Kids aren't the only factor.
Gotta be the early morning run every time. You'll have higher energy levels and fell better for the rest of the day, and as others have said - too much can pop up and derail an evening run.
Do it at 5AM, before breakfast. After dinner you will feel awful.
Who eats breakfast at 5 or 6 in the morning? At the earliest I'm hungry at noon.
epicTCK wrote:
Do it at 5AM, before breakfast. After dinner you will feel awful.
Why do you have to eat dinner first? Run, then eat. Have a small snack if you're so hungry you can't - but it really shouldn't be a big deal.
Working Stiff wrote:
I have to leave for work by 7AM every morning. I have always opted to get my daily runs out of the way early usually getting started by 5AM and sometimes earlier for workouts.
The other option has always been 8/8:30PM after my kid goes to bed but I’d never really considered it for whatever reason.
What does letsrun think? Given the choice (assuming you can only do one because you have a family and running more then that is a little selfish) which one do you go with and why?
Is one more beneficial from a physiological standpoint maybe?
How would 8pm running work for you?
-get home
-dinner with family.
-hang with family
-kids to bed
-run
-shower
-Another small meal for recovery etc?
*Seems like a great way to spend NO one-on-one time with your spouse. A very bad idea for the relationship in my opinion.
I personally hate mornings and would never consistently run at 5am no matter what so i'm a bit biased on that.
Option 3: Mid-day running
I run 3-4 days at lunch and shower, sometimes lift. Eat food at desk or short drive back to office. I've worked out a deal to take 90 minute lunches and just get in or stay 30 minute later everyday. I can do it in 60 minutes if i'm hustling.
It's ideal for my family, work, sleep, and eating schedules. Running at lunch makes your afternoon so relaxed and then you never worry about darkness all year. And you get home and you're 100% available to your family.
lunch running is the answer wrote:
How would 8pm running work for you?
-get home
-dinner with family.
-hang with family
-kids to bed
-run
-shower
-Another small meal for recovery etc?
*Seems like a great way to spend NO one-on-one time with your spouse. A very bad idea for the relationship in my opinion.
Not necessarily. All depends on your relationship. For my wife and me:
- get home
- kids eat dinner. We hang out with them but neither of us eat.
- hang out, help with homework or whatever
- kids to bed (at least the younger one - the older one puts herself to bed at this point)
- run (and my wife does her stuff, which is not running)
- shower
- wife and I have dinner together, enjoy each other's company, blah, blah, blah.
Works out well, we don't have to eat whatever the kids want to eat, and we see plenty of each other.
AM.
You'll derive more training gains & benefits from the 5am run, than from the 8pm run, especially if you're running in a fasted state.
Working Stiff wrote:
I have to leave for work by 7AM every morning. I have always opted to get my daily runs out of the way early usually getting started by 5AM and sometimes earlier for workouts.
The other option has always been 8/8:30PM after my kid goes to bed but I’d never really considered it for whatever reason.
What does letsrun think? Given the choice (assuming you can only do one because you have a family and running more then that is a little selfish) which one do you go with and why?
Is one more beneficial from a physiological standpoint maybe?
Night runs are amazing! I’ve done a few 10 pm runs & if you don’t have a busy neighborhood then you’ll see that you zone out every single time. I’ve done workouts on a few occasions but i don’t sleep until mid night. I’d double in the AM & do your main run in the PM. GOOD LUCK!
Great, from your response it would seem that 8pm running is better for you so long as you and your wife are cool with eating dinner at 9pm or later.
You're all set then. Best of luck.
At 5 AM , the most cold blooded and dangerous street thugs are just winding down there day . avoid that . just run at lunch time.
I work in NYC and have a demanding work schedule (with uncertainties that can jeopardize evenings ) but I always almost pick night runs.
Morning seems more time consuming unless you can go from sleep to running within 15' in which case you are golden and will live a nice life, stress-free. But I worry very much about injury risk.
Are these worries substantiated or overstated? I've had a few tendinitis episodes when running early. My joints aren't anywhere as painful at night, but I reckon most serious runners seem to be morning people, and that 25th hour fits schedules very nicely.
Wish I could do it!
Thanks for the input everyone.
I'm inclined to stick with the early morning runs based on what everyone has brought up. I didn't think about the logistics of eating dinner and the fact that evenings aren't always super predictable.
Although, it'd be great to feel looser and warmed up as many of you have described in the evening so I might give that a go for a couple days to see if that feeling is worth the scheduling sacrifices.
I have had a similar choice to yours all my life and I've always chosen 5 am. My reasons:
1. At 5 am I may be sleepy but I'm not tired. If I've had a tough day I'm often just too pooped to run in the evening.
2. Other things tend to get in the way in the evening. Even if you never have to do anything work-related in the evening (not true for me), family issues also often intrude at that time. No one ever demands my attention at 5 am.
3. I don't run well with anything in my stomach. In the evening I feel starved if I haven't eaten and puky if I have. First thing in the morning I'm empty but not hungry yet.
4. Anywhere I've lived there's a lot less traffic at 5 am than at 8 or 8:30 pm.
5. If you're going to run at the same time year round, the weather is likely to be better at 5 am. In warm climates/seasons it's much cooler at 5 am than 8 pm. In cold climates/seasons it's cold at both times.
Try it both ways and see what works best for you.
So, on a related note, I've sometimes wondered if at 9pm if I have energy and time, could/should I do the next day's 4:45am wake-up workout early even if it technically means I'd be doing a double. How much more rested/ready are legs 8 hours later. Sometimes just seems like they are stiffer.
bank the workout? wrote:
So, on a related note, I've sometimes wondered if at 9pm if I have energy and time, could/should I do the next day's 4:45am wake-up workout early even if it technically means I'd be doing a double. How much more rested/ready are legs 8 hours later. Sometimes just seems like they are stiffer.
Mark Nenow trained at night. I'm a big fan of it as well.