Running through the night

Hello,

I'm about to run my first 100k in May. The start of the race is at 11.30pm meaning I will have to run all night and probably finish the race in the afternoon next day. I haven't had any experince about running late night - early morning, therefore I wonder what problems I might encounter if not prepared properly.

I wonder if you guys could give me some tips how to approach this experience.

Thanks in advance,

Jernej L

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Permalink Reply by Eric Orton on March 11, 2022 at 4:53pm

First and foremost start experimenting with different headlamps and waste lights. And then I would practice running a few hours at night during the start time of the race and then do a few hours in the dark before dawn so you can experience the uplift you get once daylight hits.

And in general just practice nighttime running on terrain similar to the race so you get a sense for how the light hits the course and to dial into your speed and effort at night.

I would also play around with staying up most of the night before the day you practice night time running so you can get some strategies on how to plan to get sleep the day before the race.

You will need to get sleep during the day with a 11:30 start, so find out how you best can get this sleep.

Hope this helps.