Runners

GET-ORGANISED TIPSTHAT REALLY WORKAs humans, we’re wiredto take the path of leastresistance. Set yourself upfor a run the night before,and you’ll take the decision-making out of morningrunning – which means you’lldecide to go.``````GIVE YOURSELF TIMESome runners can wake up andhead straight out the door. That’snot most of us. Creating anenergising pre-run routine thatyou don’t have to rocket throughcould make the difference insuccessfully building a habit. WhenBrogan Graham was leading theNovember Project’s Boston tribe,as a rule he would be drinkingcoffee in his kitchen 90 minutesbefore the start of the workout.``````LAY OUT YOUR CLOTHESIt’s the oldest trick in the book- and it works. Small decisions,like choosing what to wear, canlead to decision fatigue. (Just askMark Zuckerberg, Barack Obama,or any number of top performerswho wear the same thing daily.)Laying out clothes saves you thatmental taxation. Plus, it allowsyou to get warm asap. Your bodytemperature is lowest around4am, so if you get up at 5 in yourjocks and then have to decidewhat to wear, it’s inherently anuncomfortable experience.PREP YOUR GO-TO DRINKNo convenience is too small whenstreamlining a morning. Whetheryou grind beans for pour-over,leave a packed moka pot on thestove, or set your coffee maker’stimed brew function, pre-preppinga morning beverage is one of thetop time-saving and motivationgems. As Olzinski puts it, “My bestalarm is the coffee alarm.”``````WARM UP WHILE FUELLING.Do exercises between bites andsips. This incentivises you – a sipof coffee is a great reward for afew lunges – and keeps you frommindlessly scrolling on your phone.PUMP-UPTUNESLin-ManuelMiranda‘My Shot’``````A ng e l s &Airwaves‘True Love’HAIM‘Want You Back’John Butler Trio‘Ocean’Andra Day‘Rise Up’ON YOURRUNThe xx‘On Hold’(Jamie xx Remix)``````Brother Ali‘Champion’(Remix)Muse‘Uprising’Two A n o t h e r‘Over MyShoulder’``````Cut Copy‘Hearts On Fire’``````Captain Cuts‘Love LikeWe Used To’COOLDOWNThe Lagoons‘California’E l e c t ric G ue s t‘Oh Devil’Jake McMullen‘Dancing onMy Own’``````Pixies‘Where IsMy Mind?’Coldplay‘Life inTechnicolor ii’``````I have this mind-setof ‘just do it’. Just do``````it. If you take the timeto think, to makeexcuses, it doesn’thappen. Just do it.”`````` LARISSA RIVERS, SENIORMARKETING MANAGER AT STRAVAAND MOTHER OF THREE, ON HOWSHE GETS UP EARLY TO RUN“OnthedaysthatI’mdragging,music gets me out the door,” sayspro ultra runner and Western States100-mile course record-holder TimothyOlson. Research has shown that musiccan increase work output, improveexercise performance, delay fatigue;and, of course, boost your mood. Andif waking up to run one morning feelsparticularly unbearable, a playlist couldbe the perfect antidote – one smallthing to look forward to that helps coaxyou out of a warm bed. “Podcasts andmusic can be a helpful tool to not feellonely and purposeless super-early inthe morning,” says Roche.We polled all of our sources – athletes,coaches and scientists alike – ontheir favourite morning-run songs forwarming up, powering through theworkout, and cooling down. The resultis the energetic, rocking playlist at right.Download it for tomorrow’s run, and wepromise it will be worth waking up for.LETMUSICSET THEMOODJULY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 51