Night Running

Greetings night runner!
I'm in pretty much the same boat where working 12 hours doesn't leave much time for day running and at the moment it's 100 degrees plus so the night is a pretty good option. The only nights that are a bit hard is when there's no moon so i sort of feel my way along which drops the pace a bit but at least the miles are clocking up. I've got a LED light that I'll be trying out soon and hopefully that will make a difference. Having said that it's quite pleasant running at night, no flies or cars throwing dust everywhere, and when the moon is coming up full in the desert that's pretty awesome as well. So go for it!
PS if you're tired enough you'll find a way to sleep

I LOVE running at night!
FWIW, I have NO trouble at all falling asleep after running at night.
Also, I have no trouble racing in the morning when I do most of my training at night.

I don't run at night now (country roads, no sidewalks, lots of snow, snowplows going up and down the road, adversion to being hit and killed by a snowplow).  BUT I love to run at night during the summer.  It is a great feeling.  I don't have any problem running at 10pm coming home and going right to bed.  Not too much in this world prevents me from sleeping.  LOL!

i also do a fair amount of my running at night. i'm not a morning person, so the night is just more convenient for me.
i run with a petzl LED headlight. it's great for lighting and also for greater visibility to cars. i also wear a flashing red light on my back (Brooks magnetic).

I've done MANY night runs, and some of them have even been at the end of the day rather than the pre-dawn darkness. I've carried a flashlight for some of them when I knew I'd be out of any range of street lights. All I can say is that you can ditch any thoughts of really high quality.

I"m a night runner in the summer months due to the texas heat I might not start out till 11:30pm. Since I live more in an urban area it's very well lit up and I get in just as good as a workout as my weekend morning ones. For sleeping I might take a quick hour or so nap then get up to run.

My only problem is when I run late at night, past midnight, then attempt to get a good running workout in at 6am. I forget that just because it's a new day my body need more than 5 hours of sleep and recovery

gary

I also use an LED headband that I got at Wal-Mart for $4.98 and I clip my bike's blinking red light to my race belt and wear that on my arse.  The only tip I can offer is to run against traffic (left lane) rather than with traffic (right lane).  That way you can avoid any drivers just coming home from happy hour who swerve a bit.

Sign me up for the night runner club.  I've gone from not liking it much to loving it.  I also wear an LED headband and stay in my neighborhood (although little lighting, I have a nice 3.5 mile loop) ) where I know the area well.  The run seems to go by much faster, and I feel as if I'm running faster.   It took some getting used to (started with the end of DST), but I plan to continue this spring/summer to avoid some of the heat.  Most of my night runs are of the zone 1/2 variety, but I've managed to get in some tempo work about once per week.  Sleep hasn't been affected, as I'm a night owl anyway.  In fact, I think I sleep much better after running, a glass of strawberry milk, and a warm shower with stretching.

I like running at night, but have serious problems getting to sleep after any type of exercise at night.

Totally agree! Night running is fine with me getting the miles in. It's tanquil and all but the few times I've run under the sun (either playing hooky or a short weekend run), I'm left wishing my schedule would let me keep it that way.

For your questions:
1 SLEEP - I don't have much of an issue getting to bed cause I barely get about 5hr anyway. But a nice cool shower and a good stretch really mellows me out for it.

2 MOTIVIATION - I sign up for races and figure out what I need to do or risk injury (been there done that). That's enough motivation for me.

3 WORK OUTS - I'm not much help there but I'm someone here could help

4 LOVE TO RUN AT NIGHT? - Not really, especially when I pooped. I love the sun.

SUGGESTION
If I'm running long, I map the route (stick to it), with an ETA on the return, print it and leave it with my wife.
I take ID, health insurance card, blood donor card (for blood type), cell, a note with emergency contact info and $20 in a fanny pack. I always wear reflective clothes, a white/refeltvie hat and off I go.
I've been meaning to order a RoadID.

I'm up for the nightowls club.

I love to run at night with the stars out and especially when there is a full moon.  I also like to run in a fresh snow at night it is so quite.  Count me in on the group also.

 

On the nights that I have a hard time falling asleep I take a Tylenol PM.

 

 

 

Any word on this yet?

i'm up for the nightowl club! I seem to do all my training at night as i'm not a morning person. No problem dropping off afterwards either - give me long enough to cool down, stretch and shower then I'm ready for sleep! lol