Morning runners--how hard is it to run a race at night?

[jennypenny]

I am strickly a morning runner (usually 5am). I am considering doing the W & D half marathon. How hard is it to run at night when you usually don't? I could try and get a few night runs in before hand but I can only run when my kids are at school (which means the morning).

 

[APrunner]

It is not that hard. I think the adrenaline from doing a race will kick in and help. I did Wine and Dine last year, and am doing it again this year. I am also a morning runner. Last year I did maybe three or four night runs close to the race, just to get a feel for it. I waited until the kids were in bed, and ran fairly late. You will be fine. The main thing is just watching how much and when you eat. May want to keep dinner lighter, and maybe earlier than usual. Snack very lightly later in the evening if you need to. One thing I learned from my night time practice runs was having too much too late caused me to cramp up. So I played it safe on race day.

 

[dawgs4disney]

We are also planning to do the wine and dine this October . You mentioned one area I have been concerned about which is when and how much for dinner. For those of you that ran the half last year, what specifically and when did you all eat. Also, what time do you have to leave resort for race?

 

[jennypenny]

I eat dinner at 7pm, then run at 5am. So that's 10 hours, right? So if I run that race I'll stick with that I guess. If the race is at 10pm, then I'll eat at 12 and then stop. I'll drink during the day, but not too much so I don't need a pit stop.

The biggest problem with that plan is that it's the food and wine festival! I'll want to eat and drink!! I have to fly back on Sunday, so I won't get to indulge then either. I'm starting to think this race isn't worth it. I wish it was the following weekend (columbus day) so I'd get Monday. I think if I do the F&W festival I actually want to eat. Maybe I'll do the Philly half at the end of September and go to the F&W festival as a treat for columbus day weekend.

These races are so hard when you have to be back on Monday.

 

[rubato]

I think you could eat a light, early dinner and be fine. I train in the morning, the afternoon or the evening depending on my schedule. I have run on an empty stomach, but I prefer to eat 30 minutes to an hour before I run.

 

[John VN]

DW and I ate at 3:00pm, some lasagna, for W&D last year. We then had a little something around 6:30 and we did fine.

When we go out for distance training we start anywhere from 2:00AM to 5:00AM. Just to get the feeling for doing the W&D we ate at 5pm and got out at 10pm a couple of times and decided to eat at 3pm instead.

You have plenty of time to do some experimenting to see how your system reacts.

Good luck.