Early Morning Runners -Support Group ( :

Last summer, I started walking.   Then wogging.  Finally jogging/running.   I relished my cool morning workouts. 

Then summer was over and I had to shift my jogging to the 4PM heat and humidity.  It was almost unbearable, but I made it.   Then winter arrived and I had to deal with a host of new issues ----  never been an exerciser, let alone one who ran in the ice and snow, so how do you keep your glasses from fogging up or avoid bronchitis in the cold????    Made it through that too. 

This summer (up until yesterday's close), I taught summer academy but did not have to be there so early as with regular school, so I was able to return to my morning workouts.  HALLELUJAH  ---   I had forgotten how incredible cool, peaceful, and invigorating it is to run in the early morning hours.  It's as if my dog and I are the only living beings.....   I love it. 

My body clock is pretty good at waking me up and I try very hard to just make it happen every day --- for me to be done with my workout in the cooler weather and because my dog needs the exercise, but my friend Tamar who lives in a VERY HOT climate is having a hard time getting up to run. 

How do you make it happen for yourself?  How do you get up and get going???????

Other deep thoughts that cross my mind in the morning.......... 

1) my knees are  beginning to be an issue even with new shoes, stretching, ibuprofen, etc,   anyone here an OT or sports medicine guru?   I know I supinate/walk on the outsides of my feet and that is why my knees hurt ---from being torqued too hard side to side, so what do I do to strengthen whatever quad/ham muscles to stop/help my knees?   
  
2)am I the only person stricken at times with almost emergency bathroom situations while jogging before "voiding"?   
   
3) anyone find now the mp3 player that first motivated you to keep going is now just a distraction from the road and your pace?
      
4) what about runner's etiquette ???  -- I always get out of oncoming car paths -- even if it means running across the road or getting my running shoes wet/dirty, but still the people in this town are hateful.    

5) what about this --- the same routes I have been running (I have a range of 2-5 miles mapped out) are getting too easy/too short/I feel like I could run more, but I like to do a loop, you know?  start at my house, make 4 turns, I am home.  do I just try to pick up my speed (yuck) or do I do two trips?

This is long, but I hope to hear lots of good advice and get a support group going for all us early morning slaves of the shoe!   Are you out there?????

olivia- just saw this post....

first and foremost i have major #2 problems... awful. i hate it and nothing helps --- sometimes i'll go right before and have to go again. hate it!!

i tend to run with and without my ipod dependnig on my mood.

YES sign up for thr 5k. I signed up for a 10k and it's TOTALLY motivated me to keep running! good luck!

YAY NICOLE!!!    keep on trucking, sister girl!!!  good for you!!!!!

hey jt!!!

good to know I am not the only one on several fronts!   ( :

I <3 running!!!

If you had told me a year ago I would be saying that, I would have laughed at you until I was sick.   = P

Had a great run this morning!!!

it is so cool to wake up, strap on my shoes, and be out the door before I even think about it.  Talk about habit!

Hope this finds all of you in a good place too!  ( :

Run on! 

I was out late last night so I missed my morning run.  I already took my one "rest" day this week, so I can't skip...  In about 10 minutes, I will go and brave the 7 pm heat and squeeze in 4 miles before dark.

Will follow with Chicken Mexican Pizza.   (made healthy of course).  Yum.

OMG -- first, kudos for running in the evening heat, and second MEXICAN CHICKEN PIZZA>????   I must have this recipe!!!!   : D


EDITED TO ADD:   it is so good to have good jogs!!!!!!  it was cool and breezy even at 8AM today..... did the 5 mile, lake route.  I like that one.  I could have kept going too when I got home, but instead I got on the bicycle.      ( :

it's super easy.  take a whole wheat tortilla, bake it until crispy.  top with fat-free refried black beans, chopped grilled chicken seasoned mexican (cumin, chili pepper, coriander, pepper, etc), and reduced fat shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese.  bake until the cheese melts and everything is warm.  top it with salsa, fat free sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, guacamole, or anything else you like...

yummy!

did a 10.5 miler yesterday morning in the freezing cold, everytime I see someone post about heat and humidity I just keep dreaming on summer.  Oh well, I guess when y'all are freezing your arses off I will get to enjoy the heat here!

Just had to pick up a new pair of running shoes... eek on my wallet, unfortunately, thats just one more thing that costs ridiculously more here than in the states (in many cases 2x's as much).  And unfortunately, I started out with the most expensive shoe (Asics Gel Kinsei) and am very reluctant to change because I have a very odd gait (supinator with flat feet, even the guy at the running store looked at me and said... wow thats really odd, ever think of getting orthotics).

Hope everyone had a great weekend

LUCKY!!!   I <3 cold weather!

I love my Asics Enduros too.   Asics, period really....  ( ;

You can have it!  I hate the cold, my hands were absolutely frozen for every run last week. 

Fortunately today I did a lunch time recovery run with one of the girls I work with.  She asked me a few weeks ago if I she could go for a run with me when she saw me doing a run on my lunch break (I only used to run on my lunch break when I just couldn't get out of bed in the morning or my 2 year old prevented me from going in the morning becuase she decided to wake up ridiculously early and not got back to sleep).  So, it seems Monday runs will now be lunch time runs for now.  She is quite a bit slower than me, but it doesn't matter because Monday is always an easy recovery run anyway since I do my long run on Sunday and am always a bit sore on Monday.  The good thing is that it has caused me to increase my distance without really even thinking about it, and I really like being able to run with someone else, wish I had a morning running buddy, it makes the runs go so much quicker.  Oh well, I guess a running buddy one day a week is better than nothing, and it means I get to sleep in Monday mornings too. 

Did my second run with my new shoes (used my old ones for my long run on Sunday)... they are quite nice I must say (they better be for the price!).  Will start just alternating days with my shoes until the old ones don't feel cushioned enough anymore.

Ok couldnt wake again for 4 days in a row.

There is a runners "group" in Tel Aviv. I didnt want to join cause I figured I am not in shape for that yet but maybe thats the only way I will have to wake up - you know if I commited to other people?

I say go for it with the runner's group, you migh find it is the motivation that you need to get you up and going and there will probably be runnres of all levels.  Even if you are the back of the pack, it just means there is that much room for improvement.  The runner's groups I have run with in the past have all been very encouraging (wish there was one by me that ran at 5 am!)

 

me too, me too!   I wouls still, I think, be embarrassed to run with anyone who could see how slow and sweaty I am....  EDIT:  manta -- I think it is awesome you let her come with you, girl!!  high five!~

that's sad, that I still think like that, but yeah...   I DO think it would be awesome to have a group of support in real life.   ( :

SKipped mine today --  go too sunburnt yesterday. 

Hey ladies...a couple questions for you....

I have alwasy been jealous of runners...amazed at how they can well...run..sounds stupid I know. But just recently I decided to work my way into running. A friend and I go walking/ jogging in the evenings and she blew me off last night, and then again this morning. So I decided to go on my own this morning. I mapped out my route on mapmyrun.com and found out it is about 4 miles. Most of it is nature trails and gravel/dirt roads since I am not comfortable jogging in town (trust me no one needs to see that!). I did the whole almost 4 mile route, but walked most of it...jogged for a total of maybe 3 minutes.

How long did it take you to go from walking to jogging to running?

Where do you run? Like on trails...pavement...what? Like I said before, I am mainly on a nature trail that goes into the country then I go on a dirt road, then to a gravel road, and back onto pavement and back home.

Do you ever have the mental block where your mind tries to tell you that you can't go any farther? If so, how do you get over it? Seems like everytime I try to run, I get going and then I start telling myself that I have to stop, that I can't go any farther.

 

I started on the back roads in thw town I lived in last summer....  now (especially since I do not know anyone who lives in our new town, I jog where I want. 

serious yes to your last question though.....  One year ago I started walking with a goal of 1 hour a day.  Started wogging (trying jog 1/2, walk 1/2) when I found a dog around the corner who apprecaited beng off his chain.  Started jogging when I got ot a cardio point that I could.....   I still have days where it is hard to keep going.  Set goals "to the bext mailbox or telephone pole" or map those walk.jog points on mapmyrun.   Come by the Couch to 5U Motivational thread of restless girl.   She put a bunch of good stuff to gether to get started on that and it would give you a good work up to your goals!  ( :

PS:  I wish I had nature trails to jog in!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks! I'll check out that other thread.

I love running trails when I get the chance, unfortunately, most of my running is on pavement/sidewalks, although I do get to run by the ocean regularly (not into sand running... yet, but might have to try it this summer). 

It took me about 9 weeks to go from doing absolutely nothing to running for 30 minutes straight (couch to 5K program).  Then I hit the mental block you are talking about... I just couldnt seem to get past running for more than 30 mns.  Then I switched to going by time and that forced me to go 3 miles, but I couldn't get past it no matter what I did.  I would try and just be exhausted by the end of the 3 miles, then one day I mapped a 4 mile run and decided I would just do it no matter how long it took me.  I went VERY slow so that I would have enough energy to complete it and I did!   After that, the mental block was never a problem again because I knew the best way to increase mileage was to just run slower than I thought I needed to.  I am now up to 11 mile long runs and I started running less than a year ago.  Oh, and another thing that helps when you get that voice in your head telling you you just can't go on, on top of slowing down, give yourself a landmark and say ok I will just go to there, then another landmark and so on until you get past that little voice telling you you can't do it.

 

Good luck!

I mostly run on pavement/roads. I wish I could run on trails, but at 5 am when I run it is just not safe, even with my dog.

I did my 3 mile loop this morning- it felt great to be out there. It was cool this morning!

I am currently sitting here working up the GUNG HO to get out there this morning.   I WILL DO IT, but I am a dummy and got really sunburnt, especially my booty area and the backs of the my legs.   Not lookng forward to how that is going to feel -- since just sitting on the bike yesterday was pretty rough.  wish me luck!  ( :

I am proud of all of you for getting out there  ---- hoping it is cool and breezy here!

good trick, manta --  I like the way you broke down the mental block wall.  I think that would work for me too.....

just because I am thinking about it....   coolest thing(s) you've ever seen while running? 

Coolest thing I've ever seen?  Hmmmm....

I run around the LSU lakes frequently, and one day last summer I saw an alligator hanging out on the shore, just chillin and watching people.  I almost tripped and fell!

Another Sunday morning, during football season, I saw an SUV floating upside down in the middle of the lake.  The windows were open, and the lake's not very deep, so I assume the driver made it out okay.  Those LSU fans need to be careful about their drinking and driving after the games!

I really don't see anything cool, I see people in their pajamas outside with their dogs and other runners, that is about it!!