Fitness
Explain the charm and precautions of running at night and early morning! Is it recommended to drive on an empty road?
“Running” is often done to improve health and diet. But I’m too busy to take time, I’m embarrassed and I don’t want people to see me … Isn’t that why you’re a three-day priest? Even such a person is okay at night and early in the morning! We have summarized the appeal, precautions, and countermeasures for “night / early morning running”.
Enjoy running at night and early in the morning
Running is said to have various health effects. But I think there are many people who get late after work or don’t get into the habit. I will summarize the attractiveness of running at night and early morning, which is easy for such people to adopt, as well as precautions and countermeasures.
The effect and charm of running
First, let’s take a look at the effects and appeal of running, regardless of the time of day. As an exercise habit and as a hobby, there are various effects and charms.
Suitable for diet
Maybe there are many people who want to start running for a diet. Aerobic exercise is essential for building a slim and healthy body. Aerobic exercise has the nice effect of “breaking down fat.” Swimming and aerobics are also effective, but running that anyone can easily do is steadfastly popular. Also, by building muscle, you can increase basal metabolism and build a body that is easy to lose weight.
Healthy body building and exercise habits
Exercise habits have the effect of reducing or improving the risk of lifestyle-related diseases. Applying moderate stimulation to bones and muscles also has the effect of reducing the risk of weakening of the legs in the future.
Stress relief / mental stability
Running is also effective in relieving stress and stabilizing your mental health. It is said that there are many things in common with zazen, and it is said that it has the effect of stabilizing the mind by continuing to move silently with the same rhythm. By sweating, you can expect stress relief and detoxification effects. It also has the effect of improving blood circulation and refreshing the head, and many talented business owners enjoy running.
The appeal of running at night and early in the morning
Many people think “I want to start running!”, But I think there are many people who are late due to work and have difficulty running during the day. Let’s take a look at the charm of night runs and early morning runs that are easy for such people to work on.
① There is little traffic
It is a time zone when it is easy to run at night and early morning when there is little traffic. You can run in front of the station or in the downtown area where you can’t usually run because there are a lot of people. Please try to develop a new course.
1. You can speed up
In the outer run, the road may be blocked by pedestrians and bicycles, and you may not be able to run as you wish. If you run at night or in the early morning, there is less traffic, so you can run at high speed. The tension rises in the extraordinary feeling, and unexpected time may come out.
2. Do not inhale exhaust gas
Exhaust gas from a car that you really care about when you run outside. If you run at night or in the early morning, there is less traffic, so you don’t have to breathe much exhaust gas even if you drive along the main road. If you’re on the same road during the day, you’ll be amazed at how comfortable it is.
3. Not embarrassed
Especially those who are just starting to run or those who are on a diet may find it difficult to run because they are concerned about their eyes. If it’s a night run or an early morning run, it’s dimly lit so it doesn’t stand out, and there’s no one around so you can run comfortably. Please wear your favorite clothing and run as hard as you can.
② You can see a new appearance of a familiar place
Just by changing the time zone, the familiar town will look completely different. Let’s run in the middle of the night and early morning when the shops are rarely open and the trains and buses are not moving. There may be new discoveries.
1. A town with nobody
Even in places that are usually crowded with people, the time when the train is not moving is often quiet. It feels good to run through a quiet town where you can only hear your own footsteps. Humans are inactive, but nocturnal animals are so active that we often see cats holding their prey during night runs.
2. Beautiful natural phenomenon
In the early morning run, you can see the rising sun, and in the winter you can run while stepping on the frost pillars. In summer, you may be able to witness the moment of emergence of cicadas. One of the attractions of night orchids and early morning orchids is that you can encounter beautiful natural phenomena.
③ Easy to become a habit
Because it’s easy to get started, running is one of the top “hobbies that end with a three-day shaved head.” I think the most common reasons for quitting are “because I’m busy” and “because I couldn’t make time”. Even busy people can easily make time at night and early morning. Once you get into the habit of running at night and running early in the morning, you can continue for a long time.
④ Measures against heat stroke in summer
It’s hard to get into exercise habits because it’s hot. But the heat of summer in recent years is at the murder level. I am not very able to exercise during the day. The temperature is lower at night and early in the morning than during the day, making it suitable as a measure against heat stroke in the summer.
Precautions for running at night and early in the morning
There are many good things in the night run and early morning run, but not all good things. Here are some things to keep in mind when there is little traffic.
accident
There is little traffic at night and early in the morning, and runners and cars are often speeding up. Because it is dark, the outlook is poor and it tends to lead to an accident. Be sure to take measures against accidents, such as wearing highly visible clothing and lights.
Suspicious person / crime
Even in Japan, which is relatively safe, news of suspicious people and molesters is constant. Women in particular need to take good security measures. Men should not be alert. In some cases, runners get drunk or get a job.
Injury / poor physical condition
You may get sprained by a step on a dark road, or you may have heat stroke or hypothermia. Running, an outdoor sport, inevitably risks injury and illness, but you can’t seek help on almost uncrowded roads. Be sure to take measures to prevent accidents and carry a means of communication with you when you run.
Be careful of “Hunting the wall” especially in the morning run!
Sudden hypoglycemic condition “hanger knock” that occurs during long hours of exercise such as running. It is a so-called “out of gas”, and the symptoms include intense hunger, light-headedness, cold sweat, and numbness in the limbs. In the worst case, it will lead to death. Especially in the morning run, if you start running with insufficient energy immediately after waking up, the risk of hitting the wall increases, so be careful. It also tends to dehydrate.
Measures for running at night and early in the morning
Although there are many good points, it is a dangerous night run and early morning run. Next, let’s see the countermeasures.
Run with multiple people
Running with family and friends will eliminate the “no traffic” disadvantage. It will prevent crime, and if there are multiple people, it will be easily recognized by cars and bicycles, so it will also prevent accidents. You can help each other even if you get injured or feel sick on the way.
Carry what to prepare
I think there are many people who “have nothing when they run”. It doesn’t matter during the day, but it’s important to be prepared for night and early morning runs when there isn’t much traffic and you can’t ask for help when something goes wrong. Smartphones, coins and lights are must-have items.
Choosing a course that will be an accident prevention / crime prevention measure
Choosing a course is also important for accident prevention and crime prevention measures. Especially in dark hours, it may not be enough to just say “choose a course with lots of street lights”.
OK example of course setting
- A course with a good view with wide sidewalks such as along national roads
- A course with multiple stores that are open late at night, such as convenience stores
Choose a course that has a way to detect danger early and a place to escape if something goes wrong. If you have a problem, it is recommended to set the course based on the “road that the bus goes through”. There are many convenience stores because it is expected to be crowded, and there are many sidewalks where you can get on and off from the bus with peace of mind
Course setting NG example
- Course through residential areas and large parks with poor visibility
- Course without street lights such as riverbed
- A course where there is no escape when something happens even if there are many street lights, such as on a big bridge
The riverbed is the best running course during bright hours, but you should avoid dark hours as there are no street lights and no traffic in large rivers. Choose a course that has a certain amount of publicity and escape. Also, avoid using earphones.
Wear wear and lights with excellent visibility
Choose bright clothing such as white or fluorescent to prevent accidents, especially when driving on dark roads. It is also recommended to wear shining goods such as LED lights. Women should avoid pink and wear monotone, fluorescent blue, fluorescent green and other colored clothing. From a distance, it becomes difficult to distinguish from a woman, which is a security measure. It is also effective to hide your hair with a cap.
Be careful about your diet
Night run
Run at night before dinner, or wait at least an hour and a half after dinner. During running, blood concentrates on the muscles, weakening the gastrointestinal function and leading to indigestion.
Early morning run
Before you run, replenish with 1-2 glasses of water and digestible ingredients such as bananas and jellies. You can prevent hitting the wall (hypoglycemia during exercise). Goods such as energy gel and running yokan are also on sale.
Introducing goods that make night and early morning running safe and comfortable
Night runs and early morning runs with various risks. There are many accident prevention and crime prevention goods that reduce risk and useful goods that you can enjoy more. Here are some recommended goods.
Pouch and bag for smartphones
A must-have item for running at night and early in the morning, a smartphone. It is a way to call for help in case of emergency, and if you register e-commerce, you can shop at convenience stores and vending machines that support e-commerce. But the difficulty is that it is “heavy”. If you want to put it in your jersey pocket, it will shake, pop out of your pocket, or slip down with your jersey. Introducing goods that solve such “trouble”.
Recommended running pouch
A running pouch is one of the goods that you can bring with you. If you want to wear a pouch, the belt type is recommended. It feels like you’re wearing a belt on your clothes, and you don’t feel like you’re wearing it. If you are close to the center line of your body, you can run comfortably because it does not shake easily even if you put a slightly heavy object such as a smartphone.
It may be stored in clothing
If you don’t like the pouch getting stuffy, running pants with pockets between your hips and hips are a good choice. In this position, even if it is a little heavy, it will not shake easily and you will not be bothered. Some have a small coin pocket. You don’t have to worry about the coins jarring.
Useful apps while running
There are many smartphone apps that make running fun and comfortable. However, please do not wear earphones when running at night or early in the morning to prevent accidents and crime prevention.
NRC (NikeRunClub)
Sports maker Nike’s running app “NRC”. You can use it for free, and you can record the mileage, route, time, etc. If you keep a record of the route, you can prove your innocence even when you get a job during a midnight run. There are other similar apps, but the recommended point of NRC is that it has a time reading function every 1km. In addition to being useful for pacing, it also has some crime prevention effects such as restraining suspicious people who dislike popularity.
Coke ON
With the Coca-Cola app, you can shop at compatible vending machines without cash by registering your credit card. Moreover, it is a nice system that you can get “stamps” in the app by walking and running a certain target number of steps, and you can get a drink ticket for free when a certain amount of stamps are accumulated. This is a must-have app for runners.
Highly visible clothing and lights
White or fluorescent clothing is recommended because it has good visibility even at night. Many sports brand clothing has a reflector design, but if you run at night or early in the morning, you should carry shining goods such as LED lights in addition to that. Wearing a light that stands out even from a distance will prevent rear-end collisions with cars and bicycles. Introducing recommended goods.
Recommended outfits for running wear (men’s)
It is a whitish and cool outfit overall. Caps and sunglasses are also recommended running goods. Caps and sunglasses at night? You might think, but the cap acts as a sweat stop. The sunglasses shown in this outfit are for daytime use, but the nighttime running sunglasses protect your eyes from the glare of the headlights of oncoming vehicles, so they are recommended in areas with plenty of street lights.
Recommended outfits for running wear (ladies)
Simple and cute, but with monotone colors to reduce femininity. It is a nice outfit that is hard to be noticed by suspicious people and has a crime prevention effect. It is also a safe point to have a large reflective material on the chest. It will prevent accidents.
Recommended run marker
Shining wristband, run marker. In addition to reflecting on the lights of cars, it also shines with a built-in rechargeable LED light. There are plenty of colors to choose from, which makes it fun to choose.
Recommended LED lights
Clip light is recommended for those who do not like the feel of wrapping around the arm or ankle of the run marker. It can be attached to a pocket or pouch. It’s waterproof so you don’t have to worry if you get sweaty. You can charge it by connecting it to USB.
Use a running machine instead of an extra edition / outer run
Outside runs are not the only option. If you’re still worried about all the measures, you can use a 24-hour gym treadmill and RitFit weight set and bar. Although it is inferior to the outside run in terms of freshness and the feeling of running, there is no further measure in terms of accident prevention and crime prevention. Since it is in an air-conditioned gym, there is no need to worry about heat stroke or hypothermia, and even if you suddenly get injured or sick, you will always have an AED nearby.
summary
While there are great advantages due to the low traffic and low temperature, there are many points to watch out for in the late-night and early-morning runs. Please take proper measures and enjoy running safely.