Want to start running in the morning!

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Hey guys,
I am not a morning person! I go to uni and over the holidays I go to bed at 12 and sleep till lunch time. It takes literally hours sometimes to get out of bed even when I have class or work and I'm always in a very bad mood, can't concentrate, and really drowsy until about lunch time. The thing is I really want to wake up early and exercise as i try to at night but usually run out of time. When I was aged about 10-15 I used to get up at 7am every morning and on weekends I'd go for a long walk then have breakfast and i had so much time to do everything I needed to do for the day (weekend homework, practice the guitar etc).

This is only half of my problem, I'm also really unfit. I do martial arts and boxing so I have strength fitness (i can do lots of push ups lol) and i walk to uni every day but when it comes to running i'm really slow and get puffed out after about 400m! Also, I live at a college and some people i know go running at 7:15am and i'd like to run with them but i will just get puffed out half way and it will be really embarrassing because they're all really fit. They've asked me to come with them also.

Does anyone have any suggestions? How do I get up early and run? Should I join the college guys even though I'll just get puffed out after about 5 minutes? Should I get up and practice boxing or karate instead? It seems counter intuitive and i know the only way I'm going to get good at running is by doing it, but how do you start?

-Cad

If you get puffed up after a short period of time, I suggest running at a slower pace. Also, does your school have a gym with free membership (for all students at the university)? Maybe you can also go to the gym and go on the treadmill, just a suggestion though. Maybe you like to get more fresh air.

I can barely brush my teeth early in the morning, so I work out at night. I know how hard it is to adjust to an early morning schedule as a natural night owl. It can be done, but you have to keep the exact same sleeping schedule every night, no sleeping in on weekends. A full spectrum sunrise alarm clock is what has worked the best for me, but they aren't cheap (well worth it, in my opinion).

Thanks for your help, guys.

First, work on getting up at an earlier time. It might work best if you try waking up an hour earlier, then another hour, etc until you're up as early as you would like to be. For me, I do better if I just go ahead and wake up early one day instead of waking up early in increments like I just explained...do whichever one is best for you.

Then the running. Most fitness magazines/books/etc recommend walk for some distance, then run a short distance. And do this back and forth until you are running more than you are walking. If you can do it, maybe walk 15 minutes then jog 5 minutes? It really depends on what your body can handle as to how you set your increments. I'm so out of shape that I have to walk for a while, then look at something in the distance...say a mailbox...and just jog until I reach it. Do that if you can't jog for long.

if you wake up at 6 o'clock, you can take a nap, 11:30 am, one o'clock, whatever works for you, and you might be surprised how much you can get out of a 25 or 30 minute nap, or just a rest period while you lie there and allow your body to relax

Bill Dement kind of had a trick in which you drink a cup of coffee immediately before your nap. The caffeine kicks in about half an hour later, and you can back this up with an alarm clock

Even if the dorm or apartment is noisy right after lunch, a rest period can be cool


The Promise of Sleep by William C. Dement [of Stanford Sleep Center] and Christopher Vaughan
http://www.amazon.com/Promise-Sleep-Med ... Descending