1) SET YOUR KIT OUT THE NIGHT BEFORE
It sounds simple, but how many of you actually do it as a course of habit? The idea of rummaging about in the dark for your running gear while the other half complains about the noise you’re making can put you off the appeal of a morning run. Get it out (your kit, that is) the night before and have it ready to go.
2) GIVE IT TIME
It takes 30 days of repetition before something becomes a habit, so don’t expect it to feel easy straight away.
3) DRINK COFFEE
Research has found that pre-exercise coffee can help. The caffeine will not only help you wake up, it mobilises fat burning and some studies have shown athletes can perform faster having ingested caffeine.
4) EARLY TO BED
Bring bed time forward a bit and try not to watch the late news. The stories will engage your brain and that stimulation will make it harder to sleep.
5) BE ALARMED
Use an alarm clock that’s loud and station it far enough away so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. You’re up now, you might as well do something useful.
6) BE POSITIVE
Summer is the perfect time to make the switch. As well as thinking about the benefits morning running can bring you, the fact that you’re out there getting the miles done while the sun is coming up and there is hardly anyone else out and about except the postman and the odd homeward-bound reveller.
7) REWARD YOURSELF
Have a healthy, filling breakfast waiting for you when you get back.
8) WORK IT IN
If it’s possible, incorporate a morning run into your journey to work, saving money, fuel and getting you to the office on time, if you can shower there.
9) FOLLOW A PLAN
If you’re signed up to a race, have your training plan on the fridge door or the kitchen wall and run a thick marker pen through those sessions as you tick them off each morning.
