Running in the AM

fhunter91

So I'm trying to run twice a day - 3 miles in the morning, 3 miles in the evening. I can always finish my evening run but in the morning I am just bone-tired and end up walking some of the way. I'm not breathing heavily or anything, I just feel like I don't have it in me. I try to eat protein and carbs at night to give myself energy in the morning but it doesn't seem to help any.

Anyone have any strategies to offer for getting up the energy for a morning run?

frozentrace

a good and healthy breakfast.. I brisk walk 8km in morning at 630am before work which starts at 830am.. and sometimes I get the feeling you're talking about and I attribute it, to not having a substantial breakfast.

KarenJanine

Running twice a day is not giving yourself enough time to recover. Rest is important as that's when the muscles repair and energy stores replenish. How about running just once a day, making it longer than 3 miles if you feel you need to get more road time in. This way you'll have a lot longer between runs to recover.

michellemybelll

Running twice a day is not giving yourself enough time to recover. Rest is important as that's when the muscles repair and energy stores replenish. How about running just once a day, making it longer than 3 miles if you feel you need to get more road time in. This way you'll have a lot longer between runs to recover.

false. it's only a total of 6 miles.

as far as energy: i wake up super early so i can have coffee and breakie before running. i usually feel good.

vegwrangler

You might want to keep a sleep diary to track the number of hours you've slept. I invested in a Polar Loop since it tracks how long I sleep and the number of hours that are actually restful periods of sleep. Figure out your sweet spot of how long you need to feel optimal for your morning run. It really helps!

Another thing to consider is the amount of time needed to warm up in the morning is far different than that of an afternoon/evening run. Something that always helps me is doing the warmup exercises prescribed by the ChiRunning books -- here is someone doing them on you tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEG-acAEyCQ

Dynamic stretching like this loosens up all the connective tissues and primes your body for awesomeness!

Best wishes, and happy running!

Shropshire1959

Running twice a day is not giving yourself enough time to recover.

Nope - not true for everyone ....

Sounds more like a motivation thing - but the OP is motivated enough to actually get out there - so that's a good sign.

OP - maybe change your training tactic slightly .... make the morning run shorter (for now) but a Speed session some days and a slow one on other days.

abadvat

not a monring person... either go to sleep earlier or else scrap the 3 km in the AM and move them gradually to the evening?!

BrianSharpe

Without seeing how you're fueling your runs or more information about your running history it's impossible to give you any really useful advice.

Generally speaking, running twice a day is not recommended except for very experienced runners, you do need recovery time between runs and 6 miles a day while not grueling may be a bit much for a novice runner.

It may be lack of carbs, it may be lack of sleep it may be that you're just not a morning person.

runningforicecream

Are you eating enough?

MeanderingMammal

3 miles in the morning, 3 miles in the evening

Assuming that you're talking about every day that's 70km per week, which is a lot of time on your feet. If you're only doing that as 5km steady state sessions every time then you're not really getting optimal training effect, as well as not giving yourself any recovery time.

I'd suggest thinking about why you're running, specifically why you're splitting that into two sessions, and then modify your programme to support your objectives.

Personally I generally do my short runs, up to 10km (6mi), in the evening with longer runs in the forenoon about an hour after eating a decent breakfast.

In general your answer probably is to take some rest days, and reprofile your runs.

n8udd

You don't mention what time you're going to sleep or waking.

I found that there's a big difference in how I feel in the morning dependent on the time I wake up, as well as the number of hours slept.

There are a number of phone apps that track your sleep, and monitor your movement. Some of these included intelligent alarms that wake you +/-30mins from your designated alarm time so that the alarm doesn't go off when you're in deep sleep.

Try keeping track of when you go to sleep, when you wake, number of hours slept and how you felt and try to identify a pattern.


Related to fueling, I find that I can't eat masses in the morning, but a banana works wonders for me pre-run, then I eat when I get back.

Each to their own though, what works for some may not work for others. Try to mix it up and see what works for you, then stick to it.

GillianMcK

How long have you been running and how many times a week are you doing back to back runs??

Why are you running twice a day, is there a specific reason for it, how many calories are you eating before your run??

Whilst it's 3 miles and you can do 3 miles on an empty stomach, if you're not eating enough overall (can't see your diary to know how many calories a day you are eating) then this will be affecting.

How many hours sleep are you getting, I work a 2nd job at the weekend and ended up with only 5hrs sleep on Saturday night before trying to do 5 miles on the Sunday morning, it wasn't a good run, because I hadn't had enough sleep, I should have slept longer and went out in the afternoon, but had arranged to meet another 2 people and didn't want to let them down.

Recovery is important, I looked at ultra marathons that have back to back runs as part of the suggested training plans (8-12hrs recovery between the runs), any other training plan for runs up to marathon level don't suggest back to back runs.

For people on here to make suggestions, Why are you running like this, how often are you running like this, how much are you eating bother before the run and on a daily basis, how much recovery/sleep are you getting??

LynneW1983

I have the opposite problem can run in mornings fine can not get half as far at night. I though it was just I had more energy in morning. I don't eat before I go out in morning. I go to circuits and boxing classes at night and get on fine. Have been to spin class to in evening and been ok.

rybo

My guess is that since your afternoon runs are fine, its that you aren't a morning person. I can and do run in the mornings on occasion but I am much better when I run in the PM. I am slow to warm up on morning runs and it takes some time to adjust.
As for the fueling thing, that seems to be individual. I never liked eating in the morning so I have run up to 20 miles on an empty stomach without issues.

Samstan101

Running twice a day is not giving yourself enough time to recover. Rest is important as that's when the muscles repair and energy stores replenish. How about running just once a day, making it longer than 3 miles if you feel you need to get more road time in. This way you'll have a lot longer between runs to recover.

false. it's only a total of 6 miles.

as far as energy: i wake up super early so i can have coffee and breakie before running. i usually feel good.

No, not false. Recovery is extremely important. That's the one constant everybody needs to adhere to and yet some people seem to be overly ignorant of. 6 miles a day may be too much for one person's body or not enough for someone else, but proper recovery for healing is one thing that won't be 'overdone'. Stretching, icing, heating, sleeping, resting; all this needs to be planned as stringently as your runs are. Its like overhauling a car for restoration, you wouldn't hot-rod the engine without improving brakes to compensate.

fhunter91, I think you're doing something wrong here. If your goal is to have energy in the morning, you shouldn't be eating at night especially not carbs and protein. Your body spends all night metabolizing the calories, which is most likely why you wake up feeling so tired. Eating before going to bed is a bad idea for that reason, digesting the food while you sleep will make you tired in the morning.

If running twice a day isn't causing any injuries for you, muscular or joint, then continue to do it. It all depends on your physicality. If distance and endurance is your thing, maybe that works then. If speed and calories are your thing, then you should probably just do strength training in the morning and run in the afternoon for speed instead of distance. Try doing interval running or race training where you can measure specific improvements instead of just a basic jog. The main idea is you want to define the goal of what you're trying to get out of these runs. If its a better run time, lower maximum heart rate, general calorie burning and weight loss, endurance building, you need to understand the point of it all. That way solutions are more easily found to any issues.

Final note, consumables don't give you direct energy. Some caffeine prior to a run will give you some energy. Fat from a good source is the best long-term energy provider per kilocalorie. But all of these things mean nothing if you don't rest/recover/warm up properly/and get enough sleep.

Source for this? I've never heard that (and based on my own experience disagree as I eat at night and train in a morning and am a far better trainer in the am than the pm). And wouldn't the same be true if you ate carbs & protein for breakfast then went about your daily stuff using that logic you'd be doubly tired come your evening run as you'd expended energy "metabolizing the calories" all day as well as doing normaly daily stuff!

OP, may be you're just not a morning person, I can quite happily do 10miles in a morning but 5 miles in an evening I find really tough. I always have more energy first thing (and always have even pre-weight loss & exercise regime).

Carrieendar

I am up around 45 miles per week average aiming for 60+ for this marathon training cycle. I just added in doubles (on tuesdays I run twice a week), and it is tiring and not easy. I know I would not have been able to handle it just 3 months ago when I was more around the 35 mpw mark.

SonicDeathMonkey80

Look, as far as fueling (and to a lesser extent - recovery) goes, we're only talking 3 miles here (this is assuming you are a somewhat experienced runner). If you want a better training effect, ditch the doubles and run 5-6mi once in the day instead. You're not gaining any beneficial adaptations from doubling up short runs >3-4hrs apart.

You'll probably have to volunteer more info to get better advice.

Edited because spelling is good

_Josee_

Sorry, but there is nothing to gain by running doubles if you are only running 3 miles at a time.

Here's some basic info on the subject: http://www.active.com/running/articles/is-running-doubles-beneficial

A quick google search will give you many other sources saying the same thing.

SonicDeathMonkey80

Source for this? I've never heard that (and based on my own experience disagree as I eat at night and train in a morning and am a far better trainer in the am than the pm)

Wow, would've thought this was very nearly common sense. Besides hearing this from various flight physicians I've had (i'm an aviator), a nutritionist who trained me to be a fitness instructor, and countless doctors you can find this knowledge on the web too.

When you eat during the day, you are relatively active, and your metabolism is functioning at a rapid rate. In contrast, during sleep, your metabolism has slowed quite a bit—and because of this, the food that you have recently eaten will be metabolized and digested at a much slower rate. This contributes to increases in body weight, and possible obesity. Another important reason why you may want to avoid eating late is due to the effect it can have on your sleep cycle. Having to metabolize large amounts of food during sleep can lead to feeling tired or lethargic in the morning. It doesn't guarantee that it will, but the odds are high. Everybody's body is different.

Scientists have found that when mice ate at unusual hours, they put on twice as much weight, despite exercising and eating as much as others.

The study, in the journal Obesity, is said to be the first to show directly that there is a “wrong” time to eat.

Keep in mind, I am not a doctor or a nutritionist or sleep specialist. I am just someone with a well-informed opinion and experience around how my own body responds to things.

Not this again. Doesn't matter what time you eat. You are not a mouse. This has been proven wrong numerous times here.

lporter229

I agree with the others that in order to give you proper advice more information is needed such as: How many miles per week are you running? How many days are you doing doubles? What is your running history/ experience?

Aside from that, here are a few things that work to help get me going in the morning:

1. Drink a big glass of water as soon as I get up. I can literally feel it waking my body up.

2. 3-5 minutes of light yoga such as sun salutations to loosen up the joints.

3. Walk around my yard/ street for 2-3 minutes before beginning my run to get myself acclimated.

I would try and limit the number of days you double up. I generally double up with running and strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but anything more than that tends to lead both to mental and physical fatigue.

DYELB

Running twice a day is not giving yourself enough time to recover. Rest is important as that's when the muscles repair and energy stores replenish. How about running just once a day, making it longer than 3 miles if you feel you need to get more road time in. This way you'll have a lot longer between runs to recover.

false. it's only a total of 6 miles.

as far as energy: i wake up super early so i can have coffee and breakie before running. i usually feel good.

No, not false. Recovery is extremely important. That's the one constant everybody needs to adhere to and yet some people seem to be overly ignorant of. 6 miles a day may be too much for one person's body or not enough for someone else, but proper recovery for healing is one thing that won't be 'overdone'. Stretching, icing, heating, sleeping, resting; all this needs to be planned as stringently as your runs are. Its like overhauling a car for restoration, you wouldn't hot-rod the engine without improving brakes to compensate.

fhunter91, I think you're doing something wrong here. If your goal is to have energy in the morning, you shouldn't be eating at night especially not carbs and protein. Your body spends all night metabolizing the calories, which is most likely why you wake up feeling so tired. Eating before going to bed is a bad idea for that reason, digesting the food while you sleep will make you tired in the morning.

If running twice a day isn't causing any injuries for you, muscular or joint, then continue to do it. It all depends on your physicality. If distance and endurance is your thing, maybe that works then. If speed and calories are your thing, then you should probably just do strength training in the morning and run in the afternoon for speed instead of distance. Try doing interval running or race training where you can measure specific improvements instead of just a basic jog. The main idea is you want to define the goal of what you're trying to get out of these runs. If its a better run time, lower maximum heart rate, general calorie burning and weight loss, endurance building, you need to understand the point of it all. That way solutions are more easily found to any issues.

Final note, consumables don't give you direct energy. Some caffeine prior to a run will give you some energy. Fat from a good source is the best long-term energy provider per kilocalorie. But all of these things mean nothing if you don't rest/recover/warm up properly/and get enough sleep.

I'm so exhausted from sleeping! It's a real workout!