Motivating yourself for early morning runs

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great christmas.

I use to run a lot but after a lot going on over the last couple of years my running has taken a down turn.  I've started to get back into it & forgot how much i enjoyed the feeling after a run, & how good it makes me feel for the rest of the day.

I need to start running in the mornings & have done a couple of times but find it very hard to get up, i have to put my alarm outside my bedroom so i have to get out of bed. 

I was wondering how everyone else manages to get out early for a run.

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Comments

  • Ian MIan M ✭✭✭
    I find very hard to get up early too!
    So I don't image
    You have my sympathies!
  • First of all go to bed early.

    As you say put your alarm clock away from your bed - forcing you out. Also have your kit all laid out on the radiator next to the alarm clock - if everything is all ready and nice and warm it will be easier to slip it on and go.

    Set your mobile alarm to go off downstairs 10 mins after your bedroom alarm.

    Or try arranging to go out with a friend (if you can find one willing to) - you'll have to go then.

    Good luck.

  • Agree with Running Kev about laying the kit out before going to bed.  I tend to have sticky patches during runs and try to use the struggle of getting out of bed to prove to myself that I can get out and get through the bad patches.

    I like to fact that its quiet and there are less numptys shouting various "motivational" things at you. I have a training list and colour it in green when I have done what I wanted and have found that anything not coloured in green bugs me.  Sad I know but it works for me.

    I don't always manage it though.

  • I work a lot of shifts and tend to avoid early runs if possible just. Had my alarm going off at 630 this morning for an 11 miler. Woke up at 1030, not happy with myself but that's how it goes sometimes. I'll make it up tomorrow, promise!
  • I am not an early morning runner. I like to leave my running til mid day though during the summer I'll run at night as late as possible.

    As above - having everything ready may help. I drink a pint of water before I go to bed and when the alearm wakes me I have to get up. image

  • Like towns, I've also got a chart that is either green or red which is very motivational. The nearer I get to a race, the more the fear builds and so the more likely I am to actually get up and out. So entering a race is a good idea. Also, I reward myself with something very unhealthy like a bacon sarnie if I've gone out early (on balance, if the prospect of a bacon sarnie means the run gets done, it's ok!). Or try running to work instead of your usual public transport - when they go on strike you feel smug that they can't get you.

  • I am too stif and achy  to run early and I find that my tummy is a bit tempermental at that time.
  • JjJj ✭✭✭
    It's habit. Do it enough and it becomes normal. Stop doing it for any reason - injury, laziness, ice - and you have to get back into the habit again.
  • Don't know why but if I run at any other time of day, I find it harder.
    HR is always much higher as well.
  • I run better in the late afternoon, although keep threatening myself that I will get up and go for a short run before work. It never happens these days though. I would love to start doing that again.
  • Come and join us on 'The Stupid Oclock Thread' !

     We'll try and motivate you.

  • Thanks everyone for you replies, i managed to get up & out for a run this morning.  I put all my gear outside the room along with my alarm, so when it went off i had to get up.  Seeing my running gear there helped, so before i could even think about it i was out of the flat.

    I'll join 'The Stupid Oclock Thread',  and have a read of that. 

     Thanks everyone, it's nice to have a bit of support, especially when most people i know hate running!

  • I have 'no option', well, I do - one of the cars - but I try not to use them - if I did, SWMBO would ask me why I took that one, as she'd invariably want the one I tookimage

    If I'm on an 'early-turn', I'm out of the house by 05:00 at the latest if I'm riding in, if I'm running, it's more like 04:50

    I live about 4 & 1/2 miles from work by the shortest road route ('XC' is about 4 miles, but not feasible at that time of a morning!)

    If  I can get there in 30 minutes I'm happy, as it gives me plenty of time for a pot of tea & a showerimage

    (morning running at that time's not too good though, as this old body's very stiff after a night in bed, don't have breakfast before going - tend to have cereal at work around 07:30)

  • I run to work as such I have no other option than to get up and do it.

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