This morning I knocked out 10.10 miles at a 7:57 average pace...all before 7am. Last two miles were a 7:20 and 7:13.
Who am I?
Who is this early morning runner that I've turned into?
I NEVER thought I'd be an early morning runner (hello, I would sleep in until 11am every day if I were left to my natural tendencies), but this summer I've learned to love a good early morning run. My dear friends Regina and Bridget are partly responsible for this conversion.
I would prefer to be horizontal until noon if I were left to my own devices
Here are 5 tips for a successful early morning run that have worked for ME:
1) Go to bed EARLY! It may take a few mornings of getting up early to make yourself tired enough at night to fall asleep early, but you'll quickly adjust. Or if you're like me, you can put your head on the pillow and just fall asleep in the blink of an eye. I'm convinced I have a touch of narcolepsy.
2) Set your clothes/shoes/garmin out the night before.
Set your clothes out to save precious minutes and to avoid the hassle of making choices in the morning.
2) Make plans to meet a group or buddies. This may be the most important hint for me, if I know friends are waiting for me, I can't keep hitting the snooze.
If Caroline Rotich (3rd place Boston 2011) were my running buddy and were waiting for me, I'd always wake up early.
3) Don't feel discouraged or bad about having a slow warmup mile or two, your body is just waking up, be easy on it.
5) Just remind yourself how good the rest of your day is going to feel and that getting out of bed is always hard...just make it through the first miserable 5 minutes of being awake and you will NOT regret it. Again, like most things in life, it is all mental, you just have to trick yourself into doing it. This is especially crucial during these hot summer months-- if you don't do it early, it's going to be much more uncomfortable when it's 10-20 degrees warmer later in the day.
Are you an early morning runner-lover? If so, do you have any tips to add? Used to hate early morning runs, but they're growing on me. We'll see if I keep this up during the winter...
Who am I?
Who is this early morning runner that I've turned into?
I NEVER thought I'd be an early morning runner (hello, I would sleep in until 11am every day if I were left to my natural tendencies), but this summer I've learned to love a good early morning run. My dear friends Regina and Bridget are partly responsible for this conversion.
if I were left to my own devices
1) Go to bed EARLY! It may take a few mornings of getting up early to make yourself tired enough at night to fall asleep early, but you'll quickly adjust. Or if you're like me, you can put your head on the pillow and just fall asleep in the blink of an eye. I'm convinced I have a touch of narcolepsy.
2) Set your clothes/shoes/garmin out the night before.
and to avoid the hassle of making choices in the morning.
were my running buddy and were waiting for me,
I'd always wake up early.
5) Just remind yourself how good the rest of your day is going to feel and that getting out of bed is always hard...just make it through the first miserable 5 minutes of being awake and you will NOT regret it. Again, like most things in life, it is all mental, you just have to trick yourself into doing it. This is especially crucial during these hot summer months-- if you don't do it early, it's going to be much more uncomfortable when it's 10-20 degrees warmer later in the day.
Are you an early morning runner-lover? If so, do you have any tips to add?
Used to hate early morning runs, but they're growing on me. We'll see if I keep this up during the winter...