Why Night Running is a Training Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight
By: Ryan S Nicoll
Tags: Fitness, Sports, Running, Health, Exercise

There are so many opportunities for night running through the week. Photo by Zac Ong on Unsplash

Birds are hiding something from you. It’s the little drab ones that have the biggest surprise, too. You may think that tropical birds are the only ones with brilliant colours and striking patterns, but what you may not realize is that birds can see in the Ultraviolet (UV) spectrum. Because birds can see in UV, they also have plumage and patterns that only show up in the UV spectrum, too.

Since human eyesight works differently, there’s a lot of vibrant detail you won’t catch. So that ho-hum duck you saw at the pond recently? In the UV spectrum, it truly has vivid stripes and patterns. But to us, they are hidden in plain sight.

When something is hidden in plain sight, you might think of it as a blind spot. When it comes to running, many of us may have a blind spot to training at night. It might be something we didn’t consider because of safety reasons. Nevertheless, night running provides a lot of excellent advantages to train.

Many birds have wild patterns visible only in UV. Picture credit: Jamie Dunning at the University of Nottingham

What we’re going to cover in this article is:

Seasonal availability Scheduling week vs weekend Crowding

The first advantage we’re going to talk about is seasonal availability.

Not everyone lives near the equator

If you live somewhere near the equator, daylight is relatively consistent. This makes it pretty easy to keep a consistent running schedule throughout the year. But if you live farther away from the equator, there can be significant seasonal shifts in the amount of daylight.

Running in daylight is great

However, daylight becomes a scarce resource, especially in the winter. If you restrict yourself to running in daylight, the opportunities get fewer and fewer to go out for a run. There are many weeks in the fall, winter, and spring that open up as opportunities to run once you’re on board with night running.

But no matter the season, the sun goes down eventually. This brings us to the second point on advantages: scheduling week vs weekend runs.

The weekend time is a precious commodity

Everyone has plans and priorities. For me, a lot of time on the weekend is busy with family. It can be tough to carve out an hour to be away on a run. This is where the scheduling advantage of night running really shines.

There’s time before bed during the week

If you have kids, there’s a window of time after they go to bed, but before you hit the sack, too. But this window of time is later in the evening when there is typically not much sunlight left. However, it’s an excellent opportunity for night running, especially if it means you can offset a half-hour or hour from the valuable weekend time you need for other things.

Seasonal availability and a flexible schedule are both advantages for when you can train. But night running can also make training less awkward. This brings us to the final point: crowding.

Crowding may not always seem like a big problem

For some, it may be a measure of comfort to have a crowd around for safety reasons. There’s no disputing there is safety in numbers, but crowds can also be a disadvantage.

When sidewalks and trails have a lot of people on them, it’s a disadvantage to running. Is there someone else on the sidewalk or the path? Getting around them can be awkward if you’re on a narrow sidewalk on a road bustling with car traffic. If you’re on a shared-use trail with bicycles, this can also be awkward and distracting. Car and pedestrian intersections tend to be much busier during the day and can interrupt the momentum you have going on your run.

When you’re night running, there’s just less crowding

There are not many people on sidewalks or trails. Often, traffic intersections are so quiet they are set to trigger immediately to allow pedestrian crossings, so you don’t have to wait. These are all little things that add up to a less awkward, smooth, and consistent run.

But what about safety?

There are many facets to safety when it comes to night running. Because there are so many concerns, night running as a whole concept is easy to dismiss. Indeed, there are safety issues regarding seeing, being seen, planning your route, and communications. Because there are so many details on safety, we’re going to cover these in separate articles. Ultimately, the decision about safety is for each individual to make, and if you’re in doubt — don’t go out!

In summary

Once you consider the concept of night running, you realize there is a huge opportunity to train throughout the year. It can free up valuable weekend time, too, which might be better spent on other projects or with family. You can also train in a smooth and consistent way without awkwardly dodging people on sidewalks and bicycles on shared paths.

It’s easy to overlook humdrum-looking birds, even though they really do have a lot of amazing beauty, hidden in plain sight. Similarly, you might be overlooking the advantages of night running. There are viable concerns with safety that need to be addressed, but the advantages are real.

Next Step:

Read more on birds that glow in UV here.