Woke up at 4.45am this morn, was out the house by 5.10am and did an easy-paced 2h 15min run, covering about 26km.
Then I rode my singlespeed to Rifle Range Road to meet up with some Singaporeans who will be racing the Tour de Timor next week. Not sure how far that was… Not very far probably. But it sure was fun.
Training is going great. I swam yesterday, the first time in a 50m pool in a long while. Did some sets, 3×300m@5min45sec, 3×200m@4min and 6×50m sprints (which weren’t very fast really)… 800m warm up, 200m easy between sets and 200m cool down at the end. Totalled 3km. Considering my last swim workout was about three to four weeks ago, I’m pretty pleased I could still hit okay times. Was tough work though..
5 Comments
May I ask what time do you sleep normally if you wake up so early to do your morning runs?
Thanks.
Hey Jane,
Thanks for poppin’ by! Well, for runs like this morning where I start off at 5am, I try to be in bed by 10pm and fall asleep as quickly as possible.. last night was a bit of a toss and turn though and I didn’t sleep too well. But a few minutes into the run and somehow the sleepiness melts away. I think the tough part is not running in itself, but forcing yourself to jump out of bed. The worst thing you could do is have second thoughts, say “Just five minutes of sleep more” and press the snooze button on your alarm. I feel like I need more sleep almost every time I wake up, but I know that if I just got out of bed, changed and headed out the door, all that tiredness will be gone. Usually :-)
It takes a while to get into the rhythm. After taking a break after the Sundown Ultra, I found that waking up at 5am was tough. The first week back to early morning runs definitely was a challenge, but I find if I can just do it for a few days, my body gets into a rhythm and I get used to waking up early. In fact, somedays when I do get to sleep in, I feel uncomfortable because I didn’t get an early morning run in!
Actually I try to get in bed by 10pm or 10.30pm everyday, no matter what time I have to wake up. I find it’s not how long I get to sleep, but what time I get to sleep that makes the difference. If I slept at midnight and woke up at 8am, I find that I feel more tired than if I slept at 10pm and woke up at 6am, even though both include eight hours of sleep. Weird but true.
Anyway I don’t run at 5am every morning. It’s usually once, rarely twice a week. Other runs start at about 5.30am or 6am or even 6.30am. I try not to start my run too late because it gets too hot and there’s too many pedestrians and too much traffic out. I like the peace and quiet of the early morning.
i agree that the challenge is always having to get outta bed every morning or at least thrice a week for a morning run.
sometimes I will pretend that I hear the rain and snuggle back in bed again! And the guilt creeps in later.
thanks for sharing :P
Jeanette,
Thanks for sharing.
I have been following your blog and am always inspired by your early morning runs.
I tried doing that too and like what you said, the waking up part is the toughest, once past that, it gets OK. But the challenge I have is also after the run where it is a mad rush to get to work!! (I am in office by 8am - although I can always wake up EVEN earlier to run!!)
All the best for your upcoming races! :)
Hi Jeanette,
I follow your blog on and off and noticed lately that your running routes pretty similar to my (oops! pls dnt mistaken me as a stalker!as I did most of my runs in the evening)care to share with me when you are doing your long run like the abovementioned, how to do hydrate yourself? I normally bring along exact amount for my water point as I was advised not to bring water bottle as it may affect my running gait, which I also feel discomfort with water bottle on the hand.
Thanks.