I’m three days into my “Become a Morning Runner” experiment and it’s actually been a big success so far! It remains to be seen how I’ll adjust as the days turn into weeks and the novelty wears off — but for now it’s working great. I’ve hit the road each morning between 6:30 and 7:15. I ran 3.5 miles on Monday, a short 2.5 miles (aka 30 minutes at the “summer” version of my easy pace), and another 3.5 miles today. Some observations:
Positive: It is indeed cooler. Gloriously cooler. As in 80 degrees instead of 95+. This makes a HUGE, and I mean HUGE, difference. (According to SciGuy, we haven’t had a day with a high below 95 degrees since July 29. We’ve had many days where the LOW hasn’t even dropped below 80 degrees. Supposedly a slight break is coming soon, in the form of drier air. I can’t freaking wait!)
Negative: It is more humid. Way, WAY more humid. As in 80-85% instead of 50%. So while the cool temperatures feel so much nicer and I don’t get as overheated, the humidity is brutal. The first half mile is ok, but then I’m struggling to keep sweat out of my eyes for the rest of the run. I didn’t know it was possible to sweat more than I did on my afternoon/evening runs. But WOW. It is possible. The sweat doesn’t evaporate because the air is already so moist, and I just sweat even more.
Positive: It’s so awesome to come home after work and not have to worry about getting out the door for a run…because I already did it!
Negative: As I suspected, getting to bed earlier has been a challenge. I closed my eyes at 11:30 on Sunday night, 11:00 on Monday night, and 11:30 last night — which is pretty good compared to the usual 12:00-12:30 — but it was HARD. Around 8:00, I start telling myself both in my head and out loud that “I am going to bed at 10:30.” Obviously even that isn’t 100% effective.
Positive: So far, I’ve found that I have more energy when I get to work, which helps me get going with the day.
And finally, something that isn’t positive or negative, but just a question. This week I decided to run three days in a row — primarily because we’ll be in Miami from tomorrow through Sunday for my brother’s wedding and I don’t know whether I’ll have much time to squeeze in a run. But for next week, I need to figure out how many days to run. Three? Four? Every weekday? Hmm…
i thought you were following a training plan? that should tell you how often and how far.
if not, then i would say that 4 out of 7 days is minimal for someone who wants to do well, which you said you did. clearly if you dont care about that, then run 1 day. :o)
I do intend to follow a training plan — but I haven’t picked one yet. I’m debating how many weekdays to run (plus obviously a long run on the weekend). I’m hoping to either find or modify a plan to where I run 3 our of 5 weekdays, plus a long run on the weekend. That’s only 4 days of running per week, but I want to maintain some tri fitness too. So 4 running days would allow me to do a 1-2 hr bike ride on the other weekend day, and spinning or swimming on one of the non-running weekdays.
Great job on the morning runs! I really need to create a training plan as well. The Woodlands fit plan is a bit light on the mileage, so I need to tweak it a bit. Since I’ve decided to end my tri season early, I’ve kind of been hanging out with no plan and I don’t like it!
Things often come up. I *try* to run every day if I’m in training. In practice I end up running about 5 days a week. If things are going well and I run 5 or 6 days in a row, i take a day off. Planning to run every day makes it seems a bit easier, I think.
But everybody’s different. Some people can probably plan to run 5 days a week and actually run 5 days a week. 😉
I also do Tri’s and Adventure racing so I run 4 days week including my long run. I do cross-training (biking, weights, yoga etc) on the other days. This seems to work for me.