Day 9 Another early morning start

Todays run - Morning (Early!) - See how I go - Pavement - 5K - 27mins

An early morning run again this morning and after really enjoying last weeks I was looking forward to heading out early again, but what a change from last week it was! If I thought it was cold last week this week the British weather really showed me what cold is!

An early morning run is never the right time to push yourself to run a quick time but this morning soon after I set off I decided I was going to see what speed I could muster. I felt pretty good so I aimed to finish comfortably under the 30 minute 5K time I had set on last weeks early morning run. Although a different route I felt I could easily knock a few minutes off as I was running well rather than just shuffling around.

In fairness my route this morning was more conducive to running faster as there were a few downhills. Although a new route it is a route I have ran before in the opposite direction to make the route a difficult hilly route but this time I I made it easier on myself by running in the opposite direction to make the route mostly downhill.

I saw five other runners this morning which I thought was a pretty high number for such an unearthly hour but then again my route was a more obvious course along more prominent roads rather than the back streets. The other thing that surprised me was that non of the other runners were wearing hats! And at least three were in shorts and T-shirts! They must have been freezing?! I felt warm enough thankfully in my kit of shorts, running fleece and wooly hat. My fingers did bare the brunt of the cold but as I don't like wearing gloves while running that is the price I will pay! My new fleece has a zipped collar which meant I could protect my neck from the cold which was my main discomfort on last weeks early morning run.

Thanks for reading, wrap up in the cold when you are out running, stay safe and happy running!

Day 3 Early morning run and Evening boot camp

Today's run: Moring (EARLY!!!) - Gentle/Recovery - pavement - 5km - 30.51mins

The first big challenge of my runstreak, combining Wednesday evening boot camp with a run. The only thing for it was a seriously early pre-work run.

I often run in the mornings but usually its either at the weekend so therefore I don't need to get up that early or its heading off from my gym in London so by the time I have commuted into London I have been awake an hour or two and feel pretty alive and awake.

But this morning I was up early and headed out for a run straight away.

I got up at 5.30, had some water, half a banana and some coffee got myself changed and got ready to train. From previous experience I have learnt early morning running is a little easier after a bit of a warm up so I jumped on my exercise bike for a minute or two to get the blood pumping in my legs. After a quick loosen up and stretch I headed out...

The last time I ran at this hour was in the summer of 2013 when I was training for my one and only triathlon. 

It was dark when I headed out but not that cold, I had wrapped up in abase layer and a woolly hat and didn't feel cold but could feel a slight chill on my neck and face.

My legs didn't feel too bad at all as I started off and I tried to maintain a slow, steady pace with the aim of knocking off my 5Ks in 30 minutes.

The experience of the run was refreshing as it was so quiet, still and peaceful out on the streets with hardly any traffic and only the odd hardy dog walker.

One of the aims of my runstreak was to push my self out of my comfort zone and to make me run more than I normally would and to run in different situations outside of my normal routines and this run certainly falls into this category.

It is something I should do more often though as I found the peace and quiet very relaxing and enjoyed the accompaniment of early morning bird song.

I was thankful that it wasn't raining as yesterday was a very rainy day with the rain still falling when I went to bed last night. Yesterdays rain had mixed with the abundance of fallen leaves to create some slippery patches on my route which were tricky to identify in the early morning darkness. Other than this though the run was very enjoyable and rewarding and I completed my 5K in 30.51 feeling good and invigorated.

After an early morning run a decent bit of breakfast is definitely in order!

I still managed to head out to work at a reasonable time safe in the satisfaction of having safely completed day 3 and the pride of having had an enjoyable productive early morning.

Thanks for reading, I hope this goes someway to perhaps inspire you to an early morning run?