The earlier the better for training regime

By day, Chris Bisley is the busy gym manager at Dunedin’s Moana Pool, and a father of three girls.

By even earlier in the day, he’s one of the most dedicated runners you’ll ever come across.

Bisley does not do things by halves – this year, he’s won four 100 mile (160km) races. Yes, four, in a year.

And so, it should not have been a surprise when he said what time he gets up in the morning to run.

But it was – I mean, there’s getting up early to go for a run. And then there’s when Bisley, 39, gets up.

On the Dirt Church Radio podcast this week, co-host Matt Rayment and I did a short intake of breath as Bisley tells us his sleep routine.

‘‘I get up really early and go to bed early,’’ he said. ‘‘I go to bed when the kids do – at 8pm or 8.30pm and I’m out on the trails at 3.30am. I’m always planning to be home by 6am.’’

Let’s just take that in: he’s out running by 3.30. In. The. Morning. That’s the time some people go to bed.

I mean, I like to run early, to make sure I get my run in during the day, but not 3.30am.

Although, after talking to

Bisley, Matt and I decided to give this early, early running lark a go. And, so, with our friend, Seawon, we met at 4am last Saturday (we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to start at 3.30).

And I can see the appeal. The day was fresh and unsullied – not even the birds were up.

And there was something quite majestic being out on the trails as they started their morning birdsong and when the first rays of light crested the horizon.

By later in the day, though, long after the run, I was whacked.

It helps Bisley that’s he’s always been a morning person, so he’s used to it.

He grew up in Motueka and was a swimmer, ‘‘hitting the pool early and taking the covers off – early mornings have never been a problem for me’’.

He switched to Ironman triathlons after moving to Dunedin, eventually qualifying for the Ironman World champs in Hawaii in 2009.

Fatherhood made him decide to switch to running – which meant less time training.

But Bisley was never going to be a kind of ‘‘parkrun-ona-Saturday and that’s it’’ kind of runner. No, he dived in, soon running ultramarathons – in fact, he won his first one, the Great Naseby Water Race 100km, in 2012.

And so, while he’s ‘‘just’’ running, rather than training for an Ironman, it still requires a lot of training – up to 180km a week, sometimes.

And so, he gets up early. It was an easy decision for him.

‘‘I’m not going to sacrifice being a Dad for training,’’ Bisley says. ‘‘I can’t be out there knowing that the family is at home; I’d rather be out there when they’re in bed.’’

And he makes sure every run has a purpose. ‘‘I’m making those 16 hours I train a week 16 hours of purpose and direction.’’

It pays off. This year, he’s won the four 100-mile races of what is known as the Southern Seasons Challenge Series – the Northburn 100, near Cromwell, the Old Forest Hanmer 100, in Hanmer Springs, the Great