Improve morning performance

I'm not normally a morning runner, perferring to run evenings, but as all races start mornings, and I'm busy training for 10k run in 3 weeks, thought I'd try running early today.

Ate porridge one hour before my run, plus one cup coffee and one glass water. Went out about 8.30am. 0-4 miles were awful, really slow, legs felt weak, energy zero. Miles 4-6 were better.

Any ideas what I can do differently? As I said, run in 3 weeks, and at this morning's pace, I'm really not going to achieve my goal time.

Thanks!

Comments

  • i dont eat in the mornin

    dont worry i always felt like crap when i started my a.m runs,

    they still feel more of an effort but its great to get them over with first thing

    relax they will get easier

  • I only run in the mornings on a Sunday and on race days. On those days I don't eat at all before I run.
  • XKXK ✭✭✭
    90% of my runs are before the world wakes up. I never eat before the run, just a good fruity drink or sports concoction. Eating an hour before running would make me feel awful.
  • A glass of water when I get up and sometimes I have a toasted bagel with a little jam a couple of hours before a run with 500ml of a SIS energy drink.
  • Hi all im upto 5k but want to increase my pace as well as distance what should I concentrate on to first?

    Any advise will be great

    Cheers Anthony

  • AM .......... I always go for 'time on my feet' ...... build up the distance and then the speed follows ... of course horses for courses image
  • Yep, no food for me either, a bowl of porrige would be too heavy an hour before.Eat well the night before and keep well hydrated.
    I get up, have a drink, allow myself time to wake up properly(20-30mins)5 mins walking,10 mins slow running, then go for it.
    For me, there's no better time to run.
  • Get up, drink of water, stretch and out the door.

    I'm often half aslee,p but love morning running !

  • Agree on the eating - I've always run in the morning (usually very early) and you don't have time to put fuel in in the conventional way. If you're worried about energy, make sure you get a decent carb-rich meal the evening before and a snack before you go to bed. The important thing in the morning is getting a good drink - your body will be fine without food, and you'll enjoy the breakfast when you get back far more!
  • If your really worried about it then I find a nutrigrain bar or small banana about an hour before helps me! I love morning running and tend to perform better this time of the day however I need to little bit of fuel before setting off and it seems to work for me!  Everyone is different though;  Porridge is amazing fuel but I would give myself at least a three hour window between eating that and running!

    Overall though - fluid is crucial and definitely more important in the mornings providing you had a good meal the night before!  Hope that helps

  • When I run in the morning it feels like I'm running much slower than in the afternoon.  I would sware that effort to get up to usual speed feels much harder than in the evening and I have to run slower as a result.  However, when I check the time/speed I actually run just as fast; it just feels slower.

     Have you tried timing your evening and morning runs to see if there is any real difference?

  • My times don't differ but my HR is lower when I run in the morning compared to the evening, feels easier too.
  • Thanks everyone for your comments. I really thought eating before running was the best thing, but I'll concentrate on the fluids more next time and see if that's better.

    I did remember I'd had a couple of glasses of wine the night before too, so perhaps that didn't help....

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