The Fix

Seize the Day

Getting out for your run before the rooster crows can be a challenge. If you want to rise and grind, having good morning habits will help. Many successful runners have put into practice morning routines that get them out the door feeling stoked and ready to tack on the kilometres.

What morning habits can you borrow from successful morning runners?

The Power of Habit

“Champions don’t do extraordinary things,” says Charles Duhigg in his book, The Power of Habit. “They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.”

Successful runners tend to accomplish extraordinary things because they do ordinary things day after day. They have gradually put routines into place that result in habits, the types of habits that help them succeed as runners.

Stevie Kremer won the 2016 Red Bull Summit Quest Altitude Race in China. Her day begins with a 4:42 a.m. wake up call. She then leaves her house around 5:00 for a 90-minute run. Stevie gets back to her house around 6:30 a.m. and is at work by 7:30 a.m. For her, routine is important.

“I love starting my day outside with a run, even in negative-degree weather. I find if I don’t get up and do something in the morning, I have anxiety about it all day that I won’t get to it. Also, the refreshed feeling I get after I run in the mornings, can’t come from anything else. It’s part of my morning routine. It’s like my coffee that gets me going,” says Kremer.

Many runners agree that getting in a morning run can take the edge off for the rest of the day.

Become a Morning Runner

“Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort,” says Duhigg. “Left to its own devices, the brain will try to make almost any routine into a habit, because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often.”

Habits are routines of behaviour that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Many people would love to turn their running into a morning habit, but it just doesn’t happen. They get pumped to run early, and then it fizzles, but running early in the day can become as routine as brushing your teeth and tying your shoes.