Well, I finally did it. I ran early in the morning, around 6am. I had been up since 3am so it doesn’t really count as a first-thing-in-the-morning kind of exercise, but pretty close. I’ve been trying to do this ever since I began a family eight years ago and found my preferred end-of-the-afternoon exercise routine constantly interrupted. It’s part of the reason I allowed myself to get out of shape from 2006-2010. A day would pass, then a week, then a month, then several months, then a brief attempt to get back in shape, then more interruptions, and so on and so forth, until five years had passed, forty pounds had been gained, and my systolic blood pressure was up in the 140s.
Anyway, for the last year and a half I’ve been getting better at working around the family schedule, but I still find myself cancelling one or two workouts per week as stuff comes up. I read somewhere that people who exercise consistently tend to do it first thing in the morning, but I also read that one’s body isn’t very prepared for exercise right after it awakens (lower hear rate and body temp, I think were the reasons, although testosterone levels are high, at least for men, in the morning, which is good for strength-training).
The first mile of this morning’s 4.5 mile run did feel a little stiff, and my pace was about a minute-per-mile off, but I did enjoy the cognitive and ambient peacefulness that running at that hour of the day affords. Very pleasant once I warmed up a bit. If I can keep this up, it may mean running mostly shod throughout the winter, or running barefoot on the dreaded tread, but that would be an OK trade-off I guess if it meant exercising six days a week consistently, right? Maybe I could get in at least one mid-afternoon run per week to maintain the pads.
Anyhow, I was just curious what other people’s experiences have been in terms of scheduling their runs or other exercise. Do you find your performance or capacity changes at different times of the day? Are there any psychological tricks you play on yourself to motivate first thing in the morning? Are there any secrets to dealing with interruptions later in the day so that you can get in your workouts no matter what?
Anyway, for the last year and a half I’ve been getting better at working around the family schedule, but I still find myself cancelling one or two workouts per week as stuff comes up. I read somewhere that people who exercise consistently tend to do it first thing in the morning, but I also read that one’s body isn’t very prepared for exercise right after it awakens (lower hear rate and body temp, I think were the reasons, although testosterone levels are high, at least for men, in the morning, which is good for strength-training).
The first mile of this morning’s 4.5 mile run did feel a little stiff, and my pace was about a minute-per-mile off, but I did enjoy the cognitive and ambient peacefulness that running at that hour of the day affords. Very pleasant once I warmed up a bit. If I can keep this up, it may mean running mostly shod throughout the winter, or running barefoot on the dreaded tread, but that would be an OK trade-off I guess if it meant exercising six days a week consistently, right? Maybe I could get in at least one mid-afternoon run per week to maintain the pads.
Anyhow, I was just curious what other people’s experiences have been in terms of scheduling their runs or other exercise. Do you find your performance or capacity changes at different times of the day? Are there any psychological tricks you play on yourself to motivate first thing in the morning? Are there any secrets to dealing with interruptions later in the day so that you can get in your workouts no matter what?
