Early Mornings

There is a saying that nothing good happens after 2:00AM.  If that is the case, then what is the deal with 5:00AM?  It is not too long after 2:00AM.  The sun isn't up yet.  I usually feel like crap when the alarm goes off at such an un-Godly hour.  Despite the saying and my reluctance to get out of the bed so early, some of my best work has happened at this time or soon thereafter.

Why do I have to get up so early?  Well, the only time I can get my swim training in while still being able to spend time with my family is when they are sleeping.  Also, it has a minimal impact on my work schedule, actually it allows me to get into work by 7:00AM (and thus I can leave a bit early to pick up my daughters from school).  Even if I am not going to go to the pool, I still plan on getting up early on the week days and get in some time on the bike.  This is something that I have never done before, but I can see the benefits already.

This morning I hoped out of bed, actually it was more of a shrug and limp, and threw on my biking gear and went in to the basement (it was around 5:45AM by the time I actually got down there).  I turned on the TV, clicked into my pedals and started to spin while watching "The Big Lebowski".  I found a good spin workout on line the other day and decided to give it a try, 15 minute warm-up, ~10 minutes of alternate leg pedalling (:30 concentrating on right leg, :30 both legs, :30 left leg, :30 both, :30 right and so forth and so on), 10 minutes of :60 at 105 RPMs, then :60 at 80 RPMs and repeat, 10 minutes of ~65 RPMs (hard gear) with breaks when needed. and finished off with five minutes of a cool down.  It was a tough workout, but a good one.  I was done riding by 6:30AM or so and was ready to get cleaned up and spend some time with my girls prior to getting them to school.

A couple months ago I was dreading what was up-coming, getting up well before dawn to get my workouts done and out of the way.  I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it and still function properly.  Well, it has only been about three weeks and things are going OK.  I can only hope that it continues for the next 291 days!