You might be wondering, why am I laying down? This is a very unusual place for me to shoot a video. I’m always on this couch, but not usually in this position. And the reason is, sometimes it’s easier to lay down and not do a thing than it is to do a thing. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today. And that is how to become a morning runner.
Okay. So, I have to actually get up to do this video. I can’t do the whole thing, lying down, unfortunately. But like I said, in the beginning, it’s much easier to lay down or go back to sleep and not do a thing than it is to do a thing. And running is definitely a thing to do. Something that both of you and I want to do, right? You’re here because you like running and you’re searching things out and you’re trying to become better at it, you’re trying to become a morning runner, so you’re seeking my advice, and I’d like to give that to you. But I have to ask you a favor, hopefully, you’ll follow my directions and subscribe to this channel, stick around for more videos about running where talking about everything running here on this show, Runner’s High, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
So, let’s go on to the crux of it, how to become a morning runner. There are a lot of habits you can adopt. And maybe not everything works for you. But finding at least one of these things that you can use is going to be key to getting you out of bed at the right time and get you out on the road. The first couple pieces of advice I have for you are just the simple stuff that your parents probably told you since you were young and stayed up late and didn’t do what they told you. But you got to go back to the basics sometimes, and that’s go to bed early and set an alarm clock.
Now, that is actually easier said than done as far as going to bed early. If you don’t normally go to bed early, and then you’re trying all of a sudden to go to bed early, probably not going to work. I know, at least for me, I often am like stressed out if I know I need to sleep. I can’t sleep because I’m trying to go to bed early, and I’m like I must go to sleep now, and then I’m thinking about it and I can’t relax. You have to make it a routine everyday. So, even say you run three times a week, if that means you have to go to bed at nine, then you probably should go to bed at nine every night. Because that consistency will keep your circadian rhythm in the same place. So that when you need to get up, it is part of your normal routine. There’s no extra stress to it.
And then your alarm clock is your friend. I know especially as I’m filming this, it is fall time and we’re heading into winter, things get darker, it becomes much harder to wake up in the dark. So, having that alarm clock is a helpful reminder. There’s some times where I naturally wake up at the right time. Often, that’s the summer, when the sun comes up and it comes inside. There are alarm clocks you can get to have a light that kind of brighten up the room gradually to try to simulate the sun and kind of wake you up more gradually. You can look into that. But I don’t have any personal experience with those kinds of alarm clocks. So, that’s going to be your mileage may vary, and I don’t know which is going to work or not. But that is something to look into.
Beyond the basics, one of the things you want to do when you set that alarm clock is set it a little early. And the reason you want to set it a little early is because my next tip is that you need to give yourself extra time to warm up just a little bit longer. I’ve talked about this in another video here on this channel, which as mentioned, subscribe, check out those other videos, all that kind of thing. I’ve mentioned in another video on this channel, the most optimal time of day two run is roughly in the afternoon, early afternoon. That’s when your body is most physiologically ready to go for a run.
However, that’s usually not when most of us have time, right? We have to get going in the morning to get it done before the day catches up with us and we don’t have time anymore because other priorities take place. So, even though we are stiff in the morning, we need a little bit extra help. We can get there. But that means you have to plan for the extra time to be patient with yourself. So, if normally, you can warm up in 10 minutes, give yourself 20. And that means use the 20, don’t just give yourself 20, think you’re going to do 10 and then you’ll be fine. You do need that extra time.
This last tip is probably going to be the most crucial for you or at least me. Maybe you’re like me, and that is don’t check your phone. Don’t check email. don’t check social media, don’t check your calendar for the day, don’t do any of it. Your priority is getting up and running. I can’t count how many times I have woken up, opened my phone and checked my email errantly just thinking, oh, just see what’s come in. Well, number one, people send all kinds of emails in the morning because that’s when people have attention. Those automatic emails that go out, like if you’re on our email list, I send emails out actually mid mornings on Saturdays, because that’s when you have the most time.
But what you should be doing is not doing that. You should be out running. Running is the priority. It is very, very easy to get distracted, time sucked. I mean, I’m sure this has happened to you. You’ve gone on social media at some point or email or something, you meant to do something else, then that email came in or that notification came in and you got down a rabbit hole, and oh, 30 minutes gone. Well, in 30 minutes, could have warmed up, could have gotten started with a couple miles, you could be in a fair ways into your run and almost have it done.
So, when you allow those distractions in your life, then they take you away from the things that you’re trying to make a priority. This takes the most self-discipline. There’s nothing I can do to help you. It’s simply a matter of you have to decide, I cannot touch it. You have to make a rule, basically that says it’s not allowed. There’s no breaking it, there’s no bending the rules. It’s just this is what it is. And maybe it’s not an issue for you. But I know in our ever distracted world where there are all kinds of things for us to look at, it becomes increasingly difficult not to be distracted when we have basically a distraction machine in our pockets next to us that are often our alarm clocks nowadays.
And that kind of goes into the why of being a morning runner. We didn’t really ask that in the beginning when I was snoozing here on my pillow. We want to know why we should be a morning runner. Morning isn’t the time for everybody. I know my brother, he’s kind of a night owl. He’s not really into running. But if he was, he’d probably do it at night. So, why be a morning runner? If you’re asking the question, you probably already know, but you haven’t kind of formulated it into words.
And it’s known as decision fatigue, where at the end of the day, you get tired. You don’t want to do it, you procrastinate. And part of that has to do with, we as humans, have finite resources to say this is all the things I’m going to do throughout the day, and all of the decisions that I’m going to make, and all the things I’m going to be disciplined about.
So, if running is a priority, you put it first in the day so that it gets done because the later on in the day it goes, number one, there’s going to be things that come up that you have to make decisions about and that drains our mental resources. But then also, stuff may simply come up where you have to go do those things. And now you don’t have the time to run because something came up, it’s a priority over that run. And then another goose egg for that day, you didn’t get your run in.
Which, if you get it done in the morning before all of the chaos of life begins for the day in the early morning when street lights are still on, the world’s not awake, the matrix hasn’t been programmed yet; all of those feelings if you get that done then it’s no longer an issue. It’s out of your way, you’ve got something accomplished. And if everything else goes to shit that day, you still got your run in. So, you know it’s going to be at least one glimmer of good thing for the day no matter what else happens.
So, those are my tips on how to become a morning runner, and more importantly, why you should become a morning runner. If you have any questions for me, anything you’re dealing with, leave them in the comments below and maybe I’ll make a video just for you here in the future. I’ll see you next time on the next episode of Runner’s High.