Why I Love to Run in the Morning

Today, the hard runner wants to explain why running in the morning is so important to me.  I have been running regularly since 2004 and have not stopped since, unless I was suffering from some injury.  That has been a little more often than I'd like to admit.  However, the fascination of getting up early in the morning before the sun rises and before there's any traffic on the road has always held my interest.  I've learned from reading many studies that you burn more fat calories in the morning because you don't have as many carbohydrates in your system after a full night's sleep.  Of course, to take advantage of this benefit, you must run before breakfast or getting any food in your system.  If you're doing a long training run, more than 75 minutes, I wouldn't suggest you run on an empty stomach.  That could land you in the hospital or at least you'll have a pretty miserable experience that day.

Another benefit I found is the clearing of the mind.  Similar to how some people like to meditate or pray before starting their day, running can get you ready for a busy day.  I believe in prayer, but I do enjoy adding running.  It gives me an opportunity to think about what I need to do during the day and often helps me come up with some pretty good solutions.  Nothing else has had an chance to bogg down my thinking.

It's so easy to put off exercise if I wait until later in the day.  You know the challenge of getting busy or staying a little later at work to get something done.  Next you have some dinner party you have to attend or your kids' soccer practice you have to get them to.  Little time is ever left for you to take care of yourself once 5 pm shows up.

And the far best thing I love about early morning running is that I can cry, or whimper without anyone seeing me.  I guess this works at night too, but there are far fewer people around at 6am.  I remember from the 1980s or 90s an Army commercial that ended, "The U.S. Army, we do more before nine am than most people do all day."  I just love that sense of accomplishment you earn by realizing you have done a complete guilt free workout before most people get out the shower to go to work.  And if you really feel fancy, you can add another workout at the end of the day.  That's bonus fat burning and muscle building potential that few will ever see.

See this video and tell me how great it is to run at White Rock Lake - Dallas in the morning.

So tomorrow morning, when you're suffering the heat and humidity during your training run, think of this…  You could be running at 2:30 pm!  Never, never stop running!