Friday, December 11, 2009

early to rise

People always ask me how I get up so early and work out. In the winter, the question expands to "how do you get up so early when it's so cold outside and train?"

Simple. I don't have much choice. My body is designed to rise early. I have always been this way. Sleeping in for me is, like, 8am. If I were really lucky, I could sleep until 9. But only if I were up until 3 the night before. Even in high school, I was up in plenty of time to get in a run before class.

Problem is, my body wakes up, but I don't think my brain is quite so acute in the early hours. If it were, surely, it would convince me to stay indoors, where it's warm.

Case in point:
Yesterday, I woke up ten minutes before the alarm...yep, 4:20am. And I got ready for swim practice. It was the coldest morning of the season so far - 19 degrees. And I make this the morning that I'm going to go back to swim practice. Twenty minnutes away. In a car with no heat.

But, like I said, my brain didn't argue the idea. It was just an autonomic response.

And this morning, again, 20 degrees. And I put on some tights, a fleece, gloves and a hat and I go out for a run along the river. The sleeping brain this morning? I went out with the wind. And came back against it. It's a total rookie mistake. And a recipe for disaster. or frost bite. The kicker? I'd just had discussed this very topic with my COO (and fellow runner on) Wednesday.

In other random news...
 - I've found that you make no friends in the office when you jam up the printer with pages upon pages of client tax returns. After receiving several nasty comments, my only response is "I'm just doing my job".
 - I'm still not as unpopular as that person in the office who leaves streaks in the toilet.
 - My buddy just lent me his mountain bike. So I'm riding it this weekend. Pray I don't kill myself.
 - Boulder is coming to visit next weekend. :)
 - The previous statement means I have some cleaning to do this weekend. I hate cleaning. Right now, it looks like Christmas puked on my living room floor.
 - Meeting up with Coach and teammates this eve to discuss training and season plan.
 - Um, it's Friday! Let the games begin!

7 comments:

San said...

4:30 AM?! that is sick! On the other hand, I got up at 5:30 AM this summer to run.

How come your pool opens at this time? I just looked up the opening hours at my pool and the earliest was 7AM. Or are this special training times?

Another question: How long is your swim training? Half or an hour? Just pondering the question if I need a 1 or 3 hour card. I probably would only swim half an hour, but I'm not sure if I'm fast enough with the rest. How much time do you need?

Rock on!
San

Anonymous said...

I rather get things done in the morning too. However, in the winter it is tough to feel that cold air and be excited. Awesome job getting up and out.

Have fun mountain biking. Be careful!

Missy said...

Yes, total lack of motivation in this freakin coldness! So sad, my tree is up with no ornaments...I really need to get on that. Here's to you NOT breaking your next on the mtb!!!

Marni Sumbal, MS, RD said...

I'm a morning person. I love starting my day with a good workout. Off-season is exercise for me and not training, so it is something I want to do, rather than something than I have to do in order to see performance gains. I love exercising every day of the week but when it comes to training, that hurts a bit more than normal in order to prepare for the races...but it is worth it :)
If I was there, I'd swim with ya!
-marn

Marni Sumbal, MS, RD said...

Amanda-your modified recipe is ready on my blog :) Enjoy!
-marn

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I use to an morning person, till i had to go into work earlier, too early to workout before hand.

Carolina John said...

hope you had a good weekend girl. i am not the early riser, but i will go hit the gym at 9 pm if i haven't gotten the day's workouts finished.

and i do hope that the christmas puke comes off the living room floor. that made me chuckle. nice way to turn a phrase.