Hello there, I'm Jenny Faulkner here to welcome you to another gathering of the Run Pod Run Club.

It's that time of year, isn't it, when it's getting cooler, the days are shorter, it's harder and harder to find the motivation to go for an early run.

First thing when that alarm goes.

For about 20 years actually, I've worked on either

breakfast TV or radio and my alarm has been buzzing any time between half two and half four

in the morning for that entire duration. And someone else who experiences the exact same is my guest

today. Whilst I wake up with you now for relaxing music over on smooth radio, she's

waking you up with the news on BBC breakfast, watching her on the sofa every morning.

You might not realise that she is also a very experienced runner and triathlet. Welcome to Runpod

Louise Minchin.

Oh, thank you so much. I can't believe you used to have to get up at 2.30. And when I get up at

3.45 and I think that's terrific, but 2.30, it just makes me wince. I know, do you know,

I did that seven years? Seven years I did that. And actually, shall I say the only way I got through

it was with running? If I didn't run, I would have been exhausted. I would also have

looked really tired. But it's bizarre thinking that when you get up so early, going for a run

after work, it does. Well, you'll know it. It re-energizes you and makes you feel good.

It does. It absolutely does. And I think I realized quite, luckily quite early on in my BBC breakfast career, that I was, not only was getting up in the middle of the night, but also added an extra full meal to my day. So I was having double breakfast. I was having one at 5.30 and then one at 1030. And so I was, I was putting on weight. I was putting on weight. And I also realized that I wasn't, because I didn't what you did, but I used to sleep in the, I still sleep in it. I was just woken up now, sleep in the afternoon. So I found in the winter that I'd come home from work, pretty much go to sleep. By the time I woke up in the afternoon, it was dark. So not only was I eating an extra meal, I was also not seeing any light. And I kind of

realized this was not a healthy lifestyle. Yes. I mean, it's really, it's really difficult

lifestyle. And also, I mean, there are loads of people who do night shifts and they have to

cope with the lack of daylight all the time. But I used to not sleep. I used to power through

and just fall, I would fall asleep very easily by like 6.30, you know, whilst I'm making my daughter's dinner, quite often fall asleep in a bowl of chicken nuggets or something. But it's such a glamorous life, isn't it?

I love my job. I genuinely love my job and I feel very lucky to have it. But yeah, the 345 people say, oh, you get used to it. I don't think you get used to it. Well, I don't. I've just found a way of managing it. I mean, if I'm left to my own devices, I go to sleep at midnight and wake up at 9.15 when the program finishes. I mean, I think that's me. That is actually me. I have a day off on a Sunday and on a

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