Training AM/PM ?

Up here in Minnesota (for me any way) its a question of beating the humidity. Particularly on the run. So if the weather forecast predicts high heat and humidity then I try to train in the morning.

Ian

I don't do mornings either—or so I thought. Last week the heat and humidity were obscene so I did my first morning run. It was slow. I was creaky. It was still pretty hot and wet. But, the cool thing was that I was totally alert and energized at work that morning (an unusual phenomenon) and then a swim after work killed two birds: got in a 2nd workout in one day, and cooled me off after work! For me, it was putting my shoes on the nightstand so they were the first things I saw when I opened my eyes. Guilt works wonders.Good luck!

I've learned that you need to workout when your body feels most active and energized. For some INSANE people, that's in the morning, but I'm an evening person myself. Time of day makes a huge difference, particularly in injury prevention. I think the crazies might have an advantage though, because most races are in the morning. They probably perform better at these than the night owls.

-dave

I would really like to get started in the morning again, thats when we ran back in HS for cross country.

I ride my bike to work once in a while (about 10 miles) need to do that more too.


How do u non morning people get yourselves up !! hardest part for me.

Working out in the morning is tough to do/get used to, but it does wake you up for the day for sure!

I run and or swim real early, sometimes before 5am, and then bike or hit the weights in the evening ....luckily, my body only requires ~ 5 hours of sleep

Come to think of it, I used to swim in the morning. It woke me up, but at about 10:30 I would start falling asleep again. Every single day...you could set your watch by it. Anyone else have that problem?

-dave

I get up at 4:45 am to run (M, W, F) and bike (T, Th, Sat), for several reasons.
First, my family doesn't know I'm gone, so I'm not stealing any time from the.
Second, it leaves me free to swim (T & Th) at night.
Third, for the bike, the roads are nearly deserted and much safer, and for the run, the heat of the day is not yet upon us. Best of luck to you.

My bike training consists of commuting to work at 6:00 am (short direct route) and back at 4:00 pm (longer more scenic route). I swim at the hotel pool next to my office building when I get to work. I run at lunch or after I get home in the afternoon.

Wow, lots of replys, I didnt realize this forum was gonne be this busy.

GREAT !


maybe just the fact that all you can wake up in the am will convice me i can do it.

I do both. Yoga is always in the morning, before my shower -sometimes in my pajamas. Sometimes I run in the morning or ride my bike to work, but usually the rest of my workout is spread throughout the day. I swim on my lunch hour and do something else in the evening. Unless life intervenes, then I do something else.

Andrea

I am NOT a morning person! Just want to point that out. But I really, really needed to start training in the mornings, so I decided I needed proper motivation.

I signed up for a swim workout class, that comes with a grade. Oh yeah, baby, I'm there--every day!! And what a workout, and by the time I finish, the clouds in my head have been dispersed!! Since that began, I've managed to start doing earlier bike rides on the weekend, as I've already got the new schedule in place (and I find it easier to get up early if I do that every day, instead of just M-Th).

The swim class has changed my workout life!!

Best of luck to you, said the recovering night owl,

Dana

I've found that since working out again, I can't sleep as late as I used to, so there is now time to put in a workout before work (on a given week), and acutally perform better.

A couple of tricks for helping yourself get up early are to move your alarm clock so you have to get out of bed to turn it off -- that one helped me a LOT. I also make a deal with myself that I'll just brush my teeth and wash up, and if I still feel horribly tired I can go back to bed. But the water on my face is often enough to wake me up. If you're a coffee person, you can buy a coffee maker that has a timer, and set it for 15 minutes before your alarm -- the smell of freshly brewed coffee when you wake up might tempt you out of bed.

I do more mornings than evenings for a couple of reasons
1) the family thing...like someone else said....if they don't know I'm gone they don't whine
2) I often take martial arts class in the eves

The drag is that I perform worse in the AM--I am not as awake and joints are creaky.

The good news is that it is done for the day once it is done!

Best to you

I run and bike in the morning about 5:00. The days get busy and so I set aside the early morning hours for the ground work. In the evenings I'll swim or weight train. I end up mising a lot of swimming because I wait until evening for it. My weight equipment is in my master suite so It's not a time factor usually.

I do a lot of both. For me the determining factor is working around my family schedule (I have 3 kids, ages 2,4, and 6). I try to minimize the impact of training on my family time. So I train early in the morning and late at night, depending on what I am doing that day.

I have lately come to terms with early morning workouts since I can get a 2-3 hour bike ride or a 1.5 hour long run in on a weekend morning before anybody else in my house even gets out of bed. I also have a regular monday early morning open water swim that I squeeze in before work. I do have trouble getting up early, but if there is a training partner waiting on me I force myself to get up. Once I'm up and out the door, I feel pretty good.

I often run during the week at night (9:30 PM) with a small group in my neighborhood - we do 4 - 7 miles on these runs and stay on well-lit streets. This time frame works out since we all have 2-3 kids - so once the kids are all in bed we get an hour run in. It's an informal thing, but I have had running partners nearly every night I want to run, so it works out very well. Only problem running at night is that it can make it hard to get to sleep after a good run - I'm too juiced up after a run to just shower and go to bed.

It's become a very rare event when I get in a workout during mid-day or early evening hours. Occasionally I'll slip away from work (shhhhh) and get in an hour or so at a pool, or a quick 5K run.

I ride to and from work (have to be there before 7am). Getting off work about 3:30 gives me plenty of time to do evening workouts. I used to do early morning workouts, but I just can't get that motivated anymore. I need a little more sleep. I find that late afternoon/early evening workouts keep me focused all afternoon at work. I'm normally ready to blow off the day's stress, then I can attend to whatever needs my attention in the evening.

I've also found that running when it's much warmer (late afternoons) helps to build endurance for those early morning races. I typically run much faster when it's cooler, so I figure the added heat-stress (and resolving the necessary hydration issue) is helping me tremendously.

This was tough for me, but it's determined by other demands on my time. I work up to 60 hours a week, we have 2 kids 2 and 3 y.o., wife works evenings and weekends.
I don't like mornings, I made my living as a musician for years and was pretty acclimated to waking up at the crack of noon. That ended a few years back but it's been tough to overcome. Waking 1.5 hours earlier than I have to is pretty much done by sheer force of will. I promised myself I'd complete a sprint tri and told friends and family that I'm training for one. It's either get up early or quit. And I can't quit because I bought a BT singlet. I have no intention of coming across that in a dresser drawer over the winter and saying "what if..."

Edited by marmadaddy 2004-07-19 10:56 PM

I have always been a morning person and since starting tri training I now wake at 4-430 and am out of bed by 515. I go to an early bird swim as often as I can when my hubby is home to care for our daughter. I like to run and bike in the morning, but not early early, usually around 830 or 930. My day ends early as well, and I'm usually in the sack no later than 930.

Darlene

I do mornings. I started doing that so as not to take time away from the family (heard that one before huh?) but I found I'm a much happier and pleasant person with an early am endorphin fix. Plus, I'm just not as energetic in the evenings, although a late evening run is nice sometimes. And I teach nightime spin too..the key to getting up for me is getting my butt to bed on time (not tonight, as you see) and having everything packed and ready the night before, so in the am I get up, grab coffee and I'm out the door....Cindy

Well I managed to get up early today 7:00 (early for me at least)

And rode in to work, its right at 10-11 miles and took me 40 minutes.

now i just need to keep doing that.

I used to do morning workouts, and then we had a baby...I've tried and tried to get back into it and it just hasn't happened. The days that I plan it, she gives me about 3 hours of sleep and I cherish that little time. So for now I swim and do short runs over lunch and then I bike at night. The weekends though are morning workouts.