Daily Motivation

The other day, a fellow athlete who was set up on her trainer next to mine asked me how I managed to get up early for all the morning workouts again and again and again. She was on her third cycling class in 24 hours and I was on my third day in row of cycling and my fourth day in a row of early morning workouts. She was not a regular at this class and wondered how I managed so much early morning consistency.

I told her all my tricks to forcing myself out of bed in the morning to put in the work. And now I would like to share those habits here. The first thing I do is grab my phone and turn off the alarm that has ripped me from my slumber. Then I open various apps on the phone. The bright light of my iPhone helps start the process of waking me up. I have read numerous articles about sleep and they all say that any kind of light, especially the blue light from a computer screen or TV is very disruptive to sleep. Even the light from the alarm clock by the bed can be a hindrance to falling asleep and staying asleep. In this particular case, I use that to my advantage as I am actually trying to wake up. 

I look at Facebook and Twitter very briefly. I look at a few headlines, check the weather, and check my email. Then while still in bed, I post something on Facebook about the workout of the morning. The Facebook post seals the deal. Once I write it down, I feel like I have publicly committed to the workout. Sometimes I write something simple like, "up early to swim." Sometimes I go as far as write a short poem. The Facebook posts act as inspiration for myself. It is also nice to share with like minded Facebook friends who are also getting up early to swim, bike, or run. And hopefully, it is inspiring for others as well. I am sure I annoy some people with my daily posts about heart rate, t-max, high cadence drills, etc. But it is my Facebook so I will do what I want. If people are annoyed, they can ignore me, hide me, un-friend me or whatever they so choose. Hopefully though, my positive attitude towards working out will be infectious. I hope so anyway.

Another important tool for waking up early is to have a good evening routine. A few years ago, we cancelled our TV service. We still watch things on the computer but it is all on-demand with less commercials than regular TV. This has reduced our TV watching to a total 20 to 60 minutes a night. I almost always ice my kneees during this time and both Melissa and I catch up on our social media during the commercials. Less TV time means more time for sleep and for the other all important evening task that contributes to a successful early morning wake-up. This key task is really what can make or break an early morning workout session. And is really so simple. Before I settle in for the evening, I get all my morning workout gear together. That may not sound like a big deal but trust me, it really helps. Morning are foggy at 5AM. Waking up to any uncertainty can squash motivation.

Finally, another great tool for getting going in the morning is visualization. I visualize myself at the workout. I visualize all my teammates at the workout as well. I picture us side by side, working hard, grunting, groaning, sweating, and occasionally feeling close to throwing up. When I go the pool, I visualize all the strangers that I consistently see at the pool each week. There is "old guy" who plods along at a snails pace lap after lap with his feet dragging along nearly on the bottom of the pool. There is "pull buoy lady" who swims the whole time with he buoy. There is "fin guy" who swims with fins the whole time. There is "slightly overweight but still very fast lady" who always shows up about 20 minutes into my workout. And lately there has been two new friendly ladies who are training for their first triathlon. These folks don't know it but I treat them as teammates. They consistently show up at the pool week after week which I use as a motivator to get me there.

My final visualization involves the actual races I am training for. Putting in the consistent work will pay off on race day. I know that and I continually think about it. I want to be ready on race day. I want to be thoroughly prepared. If I think about my races during the early morning haze and later during my workouts, I get a little bit of extra motivation to shake off the cob webs and get out of bed even though my body seems to prefer staying horizontal. I also know that once I get the workout done and am at work sitting at my desk or in a meeting, I will feel good about my morning workout. I will feel a sense of accomplishment. Starting out the day at 8AM already having accomplished a hard workout is a good feeling.

I understand that these techniques will not work for everyone. But they seem to be working for me. Thanks for reading. Time to ice and relax and try to get some rest. After all, tomorrow morning will be here before you know it and I am pretty sure I will be doing a big workout.

Anniversary Trip to Italy: Day 10-12- Venice

After three wonderful days in Florence, we woke up and got a cab to the train station. We got there a little too early so we had to stand around for about 30 minutes but better early than late. The train ride to Venice was uneventful which is just they way I like it. Once we got to the train station, we had to catch a taxi to Venice. Important to note is all the taxis and buses that move people around Venice are boats. It was 50 Euros to get to the San Marco stop which was near our hotel. Right now, 50 Euros is the equivalent of about $70. It was an expensive boat ride. However, the taxi driver gave us excellent instructions on how to get to our hotel from the San Marco stop. Venice is a maze and we did not have a map. I was grateful for the precise instructions and tipped the driver (captain?) generously. When I go on vacation, I like to think I am working hard to stimulate the local economy.

Venice was fascinating. We got a map at our hotel which was mandatory for any trips outside the hotel. While in Venice we did a Venice Walking Tour which was very interesting and informative. We learned about how the city was built, the rising tides, the sinking city (it appears to have stopped sinking), the ancient history of the people of Venice and a little about the present day locals.

We also did a boat tour to the islands of Murano, Burano, and Torcello which are small islands in the Venetian Lagoon. In Murano we saw a demonstration of glass blowing. The master glass blower was quite the artist and it was fun to watch him create two pieces in a matter of a few minutes right in front of us. On Burano we visited a lace shop where all matter of elegant lace fabrics were made. I am guessing Joan Q would really have liked this shop. There was even a woman there on display while she made some custom lace fabrics.

Venice was super crowded. So many tourists like us. A few cruise ships came and went while we were there, dropping thousands of people off on the Island. At times it was just too busy to relax and enjoy. But in the evenings, the crowds thinned out and we were able to get around without bumping into too many people. Like in Rome and Florence, there was tons of shopping including lots of high end fashion.

Of course we had to do a Gondola Tour. We did a quick 30 minute spin around the canals. It was a group ride with 2 other couples and as you will see from my pictures, it was hard to get any good pictures as there was always someone in the shot. In fact, in most of these pictures, you will see that there are almost always people in the shot. It made us wonder how many other people's photos we must have been in. I could have cropped them but there are just too many so I took the lazy way out and just posted lots of them here as is.  I hope you enjoy them.

Here I am with the ever so precious map. Don't leave home with out it or you might never ever get back to your hotel again.

This is just around the corner from our hotel

Ponte Rialto-A famous bridge in Venice

One of the many pictures I took from the bridge

One of the many churches in Venice.

Melissa loves the Murano Glass

Our hotel room before we got settled

Gondola

Bus

Venice was very crowded with tourists like us. At times it was a little overwhelming

Doge's Palace

The buildings really could not be captured with one photo unless you did one of those panoramic photos and with all the people that would have been hard

Bridge of Sighs - Leads from the courts to the prison

This is the door to the building that our hotel room was in

You can see the Gondolier ducking as he goes under a bridge

Our tour guide for our Venice walking tour. She was very informative and funny too.

Residence of Marco Polo

Another shot of the Ponte Rialto

Outside the cathedral. The entire ceiling of the cathedral is a giant mosaic. These are little glass tiles covered in gold and another layer of glass. In the next few pictures I zoomed way in so you could see the little tiles

Lots and lots of tourists in Saint Marco's Square

Here you can see a bus pulling up to the bus stop

One reason there were so many people there. We saw several of these giant cruise ships

Another shot of the Bridge of Sighs

Artists at work early in the morning before the crowds

Since the government does not have the money to restore the ancient buildings, they get corporate sponsorship to pay for it and then display an advertisement. I thought this was an interesting ad.

Early in the morning, the boats all arrive with daily all the supplies. Everything on the island comes in by boat and all trash is carted away by boat.

A couple of buses at the busy bus stop. We watched all the commuters arriving for work and leaving to go to work.

Like I said, everything has to be brought in by boat.

Everything!

Empty rubbish boat

My buddy the pope.