Great timing for your well-researched piece. I just had an awful night's sleep due to several hours awake in the middle. Normally I sleep well and 8 or even 9 hours, but last night my mind turned on after midnight. I got up to read—a sleep tip normally effective; don't stay in bed when buzzing anxiety/insomnia, get out of bed and do something calming like reading—but it failed to work as it usually does. So I had less than 7 hours in a couple of 3ish hour blocks. I feel awful! I can't imagine going back to your predawn routine, although I did it when my kids were little. I'm sorry that's the only time you can find time for yourself. Working independently and part time in my empty-nester phase, I feel spoiled but free from any grindset mindset. Sleep is the best legal performance-enhancer, I believe.
I think you’re right. I’m trying to recover from an injury, but having the balance the time to get up and do some cross-training v. get the extra rest. A big challenge!
The history of sleep is super interesting but as a resident of the UK, I wonder exactly how it worked in different seasons as you got farther north, where the length of the night is dramatically different in winter v summer.
As a new dad who was on the night watch yesterday, this is a cool POV! I surprisingly didn’t feel too groggy during the 2am feed.
I met Jocko a few years back - he is the man, and has been a great role model over the years. His sleep routine is also bananas, and IIRC he credits it to a genetic anomaly and doesn’t suggest it will work for most people.
Hey, thanks. Kevin! Keep it up, my brother-in-night-watch arms. ✊
Jocko’s morning efforts are just bonkers! My lumping him together with other influencers and techies obviously oversimplifies things. Have you read any of his books? Curious if they’re worth a gander!
With so much work travel around the globe, I get to experiment a lot on when to run (and like you, the workday never ends). The 4-6am window is always really cool, as the cities shift from zombies to work crews, then crews to commuters.
In Oakland there is a pack of raccoons that all have a unique lighter coat. It’s not exactly albinism, but essentially there are these huge white raccoons scurrying around everywhere between 3 and 6am. Truly weird!
New York is amazing, every time. Last 3am run through Chicago I had to help chase down a crazy guy lighting dumpsters on fire. And the SF Double Marathon starts at midnight, so lots of owls, wolves, and dog-sized rats.
I used to do my runs at 5am and did not get enough sleep at night. The result was that I felt fresh in the morning, then needed lots of coffee and was injured a lot. Now that my kids are older and I am working from home, I can do my runs around 7:30, which is sooo much better. But obviously, sleep is a pretty personal thing and we all have to manage our time somehow to try to fit in all the things we aspire to do.
fascinating little piece of history - i once did a midnight run on a work trip and i felt great for a full week as a result (while going back to regular sunset runs after) - there is something to shocking our systems to do actions when they don’t that opens closed mental pores - all that said the corpo technatti encroachment on enjoyments and freedoms of regular working hours is just bored bullying imo -our lives should be worth more than our work and definitely infinitely more vital then some vc’s hack to make sleeping software etc.
Great article! As a 4am runner, your last line resonates: "I run—not to optimize, not to grind, but to reclaim something taken: time that is fully mine."
Thanks, John. That’s really kind. I think being able to have that time is the most value—that and not feeling like I’m in a mad-dash panic to get everyone ready to start the day.
I hear ya! When my daughters (now 16 and 14) were young, most mornings felt like a fire drill, and I'd need to be home from my run by 5:15am. Still, I cherished those 4am runs, that time we get to spend alone and hopefully become better versions of ourselves. In fact, that's why I still do them.
I learned about the 2 sleeps “dorvay ” or “dorveille”from Colson Whitehead’s novel The Harlem Shuffle. A good read about Harlem in the 50’s and 60’s and how the main character uses his time in the middle of the night.
Sam, I really enjoyed this! I learned about “the two sleeps” years ago from a friend. Interesting that we now call it “interrupted” sleep; it’s considered a negative, a night’s sleep that didn’t go well. I prefer your perspective.
Thanks so much, Debbie. I learned about this a while back to during graduate study. But it took a big life change to force me to think a bit deeper about it!
Great timing for your well-researched piece. I just had an awful night's sleep due to several hours awake in the middle. Normally I sleep well and 8 or even 9 hours, but last night my mind turned on after midnight. I got up to read—a sleep tip normally effective; don't stay in bed when buzzing anxiety/insomnia, get out of bed and do something calming like reading—but it failed to work as it usually does. So I had less than 7 hours in a couple of 3ish hour blocks. I feel awful! I can't imagine going back to your predawn routine, although I did it when my kids were little. I'm sorry that's the only time you can find time for yourself. Working independently and part time in my empty-nester phase, I feel spoiled but free from any grindset mindset. Sleep is the best legal performance-enhancer, I believe.
I think you’re right. I’m trying to recover from an injury, but having the balance the time to get up and do some cross-training v. get the extra rest. A big challenge!
The history of sleep is super interesting but as a resident of the UK, I wonder exactly how it worked in different seasons as you got farther north, where the length of the night is dramatically different in winter v summer.
"in the stillness before the world wakes, I run—not to optimize, not to grind, but to reclaim something taken: time that is fully mine." --
Beautiful, Sam. Love that last line.
Thanks so much, Evelyn! That's so kind!
As a new dad who was on the night watch yesterday, this is a cool POV! I surprisingly didn’t feel too groggy during the 2am feed.
I met Jocko a few years back - he is the man, and has been a great role model over the years. His sleep routine is also bananas, and IIRC he credits it to a genetic anomaly and doesn’t suggest it will work for most people.
Hey, thanks. Kevin! Keep it up, my brother-in-night-watch arms. ✊
Jocko’s morning efforts are just bonkers! My lumping him together with other influencers and techies obviously oversimplifies things. Have you read any of his books? Curious if they’re worth a gander!
With so much work travel around the globe, I get to experiment a lot on when to run (and like you, the workday never ends). The 4-6am window is always really cool, as the cities shift from zombies to work crews, then crews to commuters.
In Oakland there is a pack of raccoons that all have a unique lighter coat. It’s not exactly albinism, but essentially there are these huge white raccoons scurrying around everywhere between 3 and 6am. Truly weird!
It’s a fascinating time of day. Have you found some cities to be more interesting than others in the wee hours of morning?
New York is amazing, every time. Last 3am run through Chicago I had to help chase down a crazy guy lighting dumpsters on fire. And the SF Double Marathon starts at midnight, so lots of owls, wolves, and dog-sized rats.
I used to do my runs at 5am and did not get enough sleep at night. The result was that I felt fresh in the morning, then needed lots of coffee and was injured a lot. Now that my kids are older and I am working from home, I can do my runs around 7:30, which is sooo much better. But obviously, sleep is a pretty personal thing and we all have to manage our time somehow to try to fit in all the things we aspire to do.
fascinating little piece of history - i once did a midnight run on a work trip and i felt great for a full week as a result (while going back to regular sunset runs after) - there is something to shocking our systems to do actions when they don’t that opens closed mental pores - all that said the corpo technatti encroachment on enjoyments and freedoms of regular working hours is just bored bullying imo -our lives should be worth more than our work and definitely infinitely more vital then some vc’s hack to make sleeping software etc.
Absolute fire!
It’s also … fun to run at midnight!
Great article! As a 4am runner, your last line resonates: "I run—not to optimize, not to grind, but to reclaim something taken: time that is fully mine."
Thanks, John. That’s really kind. I think being able to have that time is the most value—that and not feeling like I’m in a mad-dash panic to get everyone ready to start the day.
I hear ya! When my daughters (now 16 and 14) were young, most mornings felt like a fire drill, and I'd need to be home from my run by 5:15am. Still, I cherished those 4am runs, that time we get to spend alone and hopefully become better versions of ourselves. In fact, that's why I still do them.
I learned about the 2 sleeps “dorvay ” or “dorveille”from Colson Whitehead’s novel The Harlem Shuffle. A good read about Harlem in the 50’s and 60’s and how the main character uses his time in the middle of the night.
Or wow. Thanks for the Whitehead recommendation. Assuming that’s the French term?
Sam, I really enjoyed this! I learned about “the two sleeps” years ago from a friend. Interesting that we now call it “interrupted” sleep; it’s considered a negative, a night’s sleep that didn’t go well. I prefer your perspective.
Thanks so much, Debbie. I learned about this a while back to during graduate study. But it took a big life change to force me to think a bit deeper about it!
I live exactly like this & have always been considered the odd one. Thanks for sharing!