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.
