Becoming a "morning person"?
Hi team,
I started OS this past week and have been getting up at 5:00 to get my training in. (I previously trained in the evenings but am aiming for the nice quiet in the house before the kids wake up in the morning). I was totally commiitted to early mornings but here's the issue: my body feels like it has nothing to give in the mornings. It's bizarre; I get on the trainer or treadmill and feel like I have absolutely zero energy. I hang in there for the entire duration but performace is lousy. I don't have this issue with early morning races but I'm pretty adrenaline filled on those days.
In terms of fueling, I've tried coffee, coffee + a gel, smoothy (low sugar), some oatmeal. So far, no luck. I recall Rich saying on the DVD that he'd get up early a.m. and take in some liquid calories pre-race and go back to sleep. Maybe I should try that.
So, for those of you morning people, did it take awhile for your body to catch up to your mind's commitment to early workouts? Please be gentle with the HTFU and SIUP responses (okay, maybe ST has made me a tad defensive) 
Thanks for any suggestions and Happy New Year to everyone!
Shannon
Comments
I'm with you. Unless I have some pre-workout calories, the session invariably winds up being lousy. Bananas + a gulp or of Hammer gel works for me.
Best of luck, Mike
I have been a morning person for most of my life, just ask Coach P. I think the best thing to do is have some coffee and something small to eat but stick with it, new habits take awhile to fully adjust. If after 30 days you are still dragging then maybe time to reconsider morning workouts. Also it is critical to get to bed at a reasonable hour. Keep with it you will get the hang of it.
Good Luck
I suspect it's genetic. Back when we lived in small groups in gthe middle of a dark hostile wilderness, it paid off if some members of the clan were up early, and others stayed up late, to keep a constant eye out for danger.
That said, just like with ramping up training, take it a step at a time, like 10 minutes a day earlier to bed and earlier to rise. Keeping yourself topped up with fluids and carbs & protein after the previous day's workout will go a long way to making the early morning training tolerable - you're naturally dehydrated in the morning, so a good 8-12 oz of fluid, water or OJ, may be all you need.
It's funny. I'm a natural morning person, get up at 5-6 AM, never use an alarm clock, etc. But I HATE to train in the early AM. I can tolerate swiming after 7 AM, but biking or running works much better in the afternoon for me.
This morning, should have been easy though - step outside, it was 22F this AM, pretty crisp for these parts, maybe even a little colder up in Mill Creek.
Another factor for me was that in doing morning workouts, I'd want to be in bed between 8 -8:30 pm. Since the kids don't go to bed until about 7:45 pm, that gave me a whole 30 minutes to wind down from the day and actually relax. I need more relaxation than that, so the evening workouts let me relax a little, go workout, then veg for another 30-45 minutes post workout while I enjoy a nice recovery shake.
See if your body responds/adjusts to the morning workouts. As Steve said, if your struggling after a few weeks then return to evenings. Some people have the biological clock to handle the early mornings, some can do it mid-morning while others just do better at night.
Keep us posted.
Here's my 2 cents. It takes a while (several weeks) to get use to getting up early as your body has to adjust. It is kind of like jet lag, flying east, as you are going into an earlier, different time zone (some would say Twightlight Zone until the sun comes up.) Then it becomes ez. I don't use an alarm clock and still wake up @ 5 am regardless of the day of the week. I have one cup of coffee and a half a bagel to get some carbs in me. One I consession I do make to the am is that I always warm up slowly and maybe for an extra 5 minutes. For a run, I always start with a minute or 2 of walking (not always fun to do in Chicago in the winter darkeness) then jog at least 10-15 minutes before any intervals. Same thing with the bike - walk around the house quietly (don't want to wake up DW and teenagers) then EZ spin for at least 15 minutes before any hard work.
Anyway, give it try and if the am isn't your thing, don't worry. Just find the time of day that works for your spirit and family situation.
Bruce
Hi Shannon. I concur with much of the advice here, and admit to being more of a morning person ... my DW says she's a morning person too , or at least thought she was, except that her definition of morning involves daylight. Personally, I've been getting up 5:30-6 for > 5yrs w/o alarm clock. ( I think all the years of getting up to swim ingrained it)
FWIW, I agree some people simply don't adjust to it, and if not, no big deal.
When I was traveling to the East Coast for an A race a few yrs ago, I did the 15 min earlier to bed/15 min earlier to rise routine to shift myself onto EDT for about a week in advance of the race. It was a little creepy being wide awake at 4 am for the last week ... but paid off on race day.
In terms of nutrition, I've found that some water or other drink before you go out is beneficial in the morning. One other thing would be trying a small protein-focused snack a little before bed. That might help with overall level of alertness and ability to focus/push early.
YMMV, but in watching others make the transition, once the first few weeks are done (away from holidays, etc. when you can have a consistent, normal routine) the endorphin hit is huge and can carry you through a lot of the day.
Best of luck with it, whichever you decide!
I think the bottom line is if your schedule allows you do your workouts when you're the sharpest and feel the best, then why would you would you kill yourself to get up early? That said, if it doesn't, the less thinking you have to do, the better. Get all your gear laid out before you go to bed, queue up whatever music/video you're going to have on during the workout, get a water bottle filled up, etc. Routine stops the thinking, and for me, thinking is the enemy at that time, because I will rationalize my way back into bed.
I haven't noticed an absolute difference in my performance morning vs night, but I know it's easier to hit that peak effort in the evening for me. It's just more painful to do at 5:30am.
Whether you are a morning person or not, you should generally not run the first thing. Your body temperarure is down and studies show that morning runners get injured at a higher rate than afternoon/evening runners. Although I hammer my Tue & Thu runs, I've been pumping weights for 45 mins first and by them I'm pretty warmed up.
Welcome to the team and it’s great to see ANOTHER a fellow PNW’er in da Haus!
FWIW I’ve been doing the 4:00 – 5:00 AM thingy for several years. This topic is so personalized… I’ll just share my strategy and maybe a piece or two will work for ya.
* I basically determine the night before how early I have to get up to get my training in and get to work on time and set my alarm accordingly.
* I give myself 30’ from alarm clock (one snooze max) to “moving” meaning out the door, on the trainer, in the pool, whatever. I find if I don’t give myself a deadline I’ll wind up checking e-mail, doing laundry, yadda yadda and before I know it it’s now 6:00 AM and I’m running out of time.
* The night before I lay out everything. Shoes, hair tie… whatever. The smaller the detail the less room for error, getting ½ way around the block without my heart rate strap, IMO.
* I have an English muffin with a smear of Laughing Cow Swiss cheese right after waking. Seems to be a nice mix of carbs and it sticks with me ‘till I eat my breakfast (steel grain oatmeal) in the car en route to work...
* And at the end of the day I really start thinking about heading to bed nine hours prior to my alarm. That gives me time to lay stuff out, finish up any tasky stuff and really be ASLEEP for eight hours.
This strategy does require some discipline, but I’ve had good results such as:
* I’ve found it really makes it impossible to miss a workout unless I’m sick or just flat out lacking the motivation (luckily I don’t struggle with this).
* Early in the morning most of the variables that can hit you later in the day (job, traffic, social life(ha!!!)), etc. are nill to none so it gets done.
* Also, I find I don’t spend the rest of the day with this nagging task list in my head reminding me to get my workout done.
Good luck, keep us posted!
Just be sure you are getting enough sleep. You may need more with the training to be sure you are recovering.
As others have said, this is pretty highly personalized. For me, I find that I get up early and can do workouts then, or can do them in the evenings. Assuming that I'm good on nutrition, the biggest variable for me as to whether it's a good work out or not is having a specific goal that I want to hit, and the reason/motivation behind it to work hard. I think it's easy to a poor work out at any time, but if you get it in your head and visualize what you want to do, then your chance of success is much better - whatever time of day..... Just my 2 cents.....
Here is the deal...morning workouts require a formula that is specific to you, at a least thats what I haves found. I wake up, have a cup of coffee and some water while i munch on a piece of toast and spend my quiet time (reading in the Bible) getting going before I do anything. It usually takes about 25 minutes before I am worth anything workout-wise.
The bottom line is that the morning is BY FAR the best time to be doing these workouts, it just requires discipline to get the habit and the forumla right!
Good luck!
WOW WOW WOW!
I can't believe how many of you shared your time and great ideas; my enormous thanks to each of you.
There are so many great suggestions; I'm going to print the thread out, highlight all the good ideas, and review it often. Hopefully I can instill some great habits. I loved Al's comments about the genetic component; I suspect I'm a night owl by nature. I also grew up in Hawaii and feel like I've continued living 2-3 hours behind mainland time since I moved here (i.e., still on Island time)
After reading the posts, I can already identify one big issue, which is my getting up and on the trainer in 15-20 mintues. I suspect that spending a bit more time "getting" my bearings could go along way towards my adjusting. I' m also considering trying some of my Infinit since I always use that race morning and feel good.
Thank you all again, a hundred time over!
Disclaimer- I know I am a morning person.
I have to say, I can not get up and just go. Each night I put 16 oz of water at my bedside. When the alarm goes off, I hit snooze but chug the water immediately. 10-20 minutes later, I actually get out of bed. I have my Heed made and clothes picked out for training and work. For OS, that's all I do.
In season I also have 4-8 oz of protein shake because the workouts are longer.
But I agree with Steve. Give it a month. But you may just be an afternoon person.
I have tried to become a morning person several times and it has never stuck. I cannot run or bike in the mornings. I just don't have the zip that I do later in the day. Swimming is the only thing I can do somewhat effectively in the morning. One of my 2011 goals is to do all my swimming & weight workouts in the AM and do the run/bike stuff later in the day. I was doing everything in the PM in 2010 and it did provoke some ill will with the Mrs. on occasion.