Early Morning or Late Evening – What is the Best Time to Jog?
August 19, 2009 by Tom
.jpg "A couple jogging in the park")
“You have to wonder at times what you’re doing out there. Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.” – Steve Prefontaine
In my last few articles I have been looking at jogging in detail. I’ve covered the mental benefits and the physical benefits. Today I want to focus on something slightly different – the best time to jog. If you work full time there are generally two times during the day that you have the opportunity to jog. You can either jog in the early morning before you go to work or in the late evening after you finish work. In this article I am going to discuss the benefits of both.
BENEFITS OF EARLY MORNING JOGGING:
1) IT MAKES YOU MORE ALERT:- Most people will admit that they are not fully alert during the first few hours of the day. A good way to combat this is to do some exercise such as jogging first thing in the morning. After a few minutes the blood starts to flow and you quickly start to feel a lot more switched on. When you go for an early morning jog this feeling carries on for the rest of the day and allows you to feel a lot more alert for the rest of the day.
2) THERE ARE NO DISTRACTIONS:- If you get up early to go jogging there is nothing standing in your way. You wake up, you go jogging and it is done. However, if you leave it till after work there are many things that can happen to prevent your evening jog. For example, something might come up at work meaning that you have to stay late and as a result you arrive home too late to go jogging. Alternatively, your friends or family might pop round for a spontaneous visit meaning that an evening jog is no longer possible. If you go jogging in the early morning there are almost no distractions and therefore you are more likely to do it.
3) IT GETS YOU OUT OF BED:- Some people (myself included) struggle to get out of bed if they have nothing to get up for. Whist this is not a huge problem on work days it can mean that on your days off you sleep well into the afternoon. However, if you stick to a regular jogging routine you have a reason to get out of bed and stay out of bed.
BENEFITS OF LATE EVENING JOGGING:
1) IT ALLOWS YOU TO WIND DOWN:- After a long hard day at work I find that jogging is a great way to wind down. As I have discussed in previous articles, jogging is a great way to relax your mind. It is also a great physical release for any stress you have experienced during the day. Ultimately, an evening jog is a great way to end a tough day.
2) IT CAN MAKE YOUR EVENINGS MORE PRODUCTIVE:- When you get home from work what do you normally do? Turn on the computer? Watch some TV? My first instinct is to do one of these two things. If I give in to this instinct I quickly find that my entire evening is spent in front of either the TV or my computer. After spending all day sitting in front of a screen at work I do not find this to be the most productive use of my evenings. However, if I go for a jog instead it feels much more productive. Not only am I getting some fresh air and getting my eyes away from the screen but I am also burning some extra calories, improving my physical fitness and much more.
3) YOUR PERFORMANCE IS BETTER IN THE EVENING:- Your muscles perform best when they are warm. In the evening they are a lot warmer than the morning. Therefore, by jogging in the evening your endurance will be better, your muscles will be stronger and you will be able to jog at peak performance.
As you can see both morning and evening jogging have their benefits. Morning jogging can get you ready to face the day ahead whilst evening jogging can help you unwind after a hard days work. Ultimately, though the time of day is not important. Each person will have their own individual preference but the important thing is to get out there and jog.
What do you guys think? Are the above good ways to make jogging more fun? Do you have any more ideas for making jogging more exciting. Let me know by commenting on this post.
Sources:
Motivational Quotes about Running (About.com)
*****
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about jogging you should check out Beginning Jogging and Running? This in depth ebook discusses how to warm up for a jog, how to stay motivated, how to jog safely and much more:
I am a big advocate for early morning running. In addition to the great points you mentioned, it kick starts your metabolism, meaning you eat breakfast a little later, pushing lunch back as well. This reduces the time between lunch and dinner when those afternoon munchies can get the better of us.
Secondly, your metabolism stays boosted for as long as 15hours after you exercise which pretty much covers breakfast, lunch and dinner. The faster your metabolism while you eat, the more fat you’ll burn.
Finally studies show that morning exercisers stick to their program much longer than evening exercisers, and get better results. So lay out your clothes the night before, and Just do it (or as I like to say ‘JFDI’)
I’m not sure which one I prefer Amelia. Whislt I agree that once you get going with morning jogging it is a lot easier to stick to the program, I find that if you have a bad day sometimes the best way to turn it around is to go out and run in the evening.