26 days until the marathon! Wa! I am running my last "big" week before the taper. And I am so ready to taper.
Before reading this, you need to know that Empathy is my number 31st strength.
I thought I would share with you the secret I have learned to getting up early for morning runs. You know the ads you always see, "One secret to cutting your auto insurance in half..." or "One food that you should be eating to help you loose 5 pounds a day!" I am just going to say now: it is lame. You have been prepared.
Running Tip Tuesday: My lame secret to getting up early.
Go to bed early. Yes, I know, this is a revolutionary thought.
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| I found this on Pinterest...supposedly it came from here. |
Here are some other revolutionary thoughts to help you get up early.
- Even if you do not fall asleep immediately when you go to bed, still try to rest. The days I get up at 4:30am to run are not preceded by nights that I am asleep at 8:30. But I am in bed, with my eyes closed, not thinking about stressful things.
- Accept that you may get made fun of for having the same sleep schedule as an 80 year old. I have embraced it. The people with sleep schedules of a 24 year old with a full time job are not going to be rocking marathons any time soon (but I will be).
- Try to limit your amount of caffeine (or drink none at all). This is really important for me. If I drink a cup of coffee with my co-workers at 3pm, I am going to be awake at 1am.
- Find some way to turn on a light as soon as you wake up. It helps me a lot to go in a different room than my sleeping spouse and turn on a light. You will walk around squinting, but it helps.
- Find some form of motivation. When you wake up in the morning in your nice warm, snug bed and your body is screaming at you, "5 more minutes!", what is going to get you out of bed? It better be a good reason :) Here are some of the reasons I use:
- I have to pee. And as long as I have gotten up, I might as well go run. (You can splash some cold water on face will you are washing your hands.)
- I have to wash my hair for work, so I might as well take a whole shower, and I might as well get sweaty before taking a shower.
- I will not have to run at ____ {whatever time you run after work}.
- Early morning running is just too fun to pass up (just kidding, I have NEVER used this as motivation to get up).
- Don't make excuses.
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| This is what I saw at the end of my run this morning! |
Happy {early morning} Running!
I got in an early morning run today! Up at 5:18am... I don't really have any tips except just do it!
ReplyDeleteIf it is going to be sunny I think how beautiful the sunrise will be. I don't run, though, but I do walk 3.5 - 4 miles in the morning. I think turning on a light is key---I keep thinking I should invent an alarm clock that not only plays a cd but turns on a lamp. One more thing---for Cathleen (who sometimes has to get up as early as 4:30 a.m.) she will place a second alarm far enough away she must get up to turn it off. The second alarm is set to go off 5 minutes after her radio alarm clock by her side of the bed.
ReplyDeleteSara - I agree with the "just do it", but some people are always like, "how do you do it?"
ReplyDeleteDaddio - I used to do the 2 alarm clocks when I was student-teaching! If you were to invent an alarm clock that turns on a lamp, I would buy it. Maybe you could put a lamp on a timer?