I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I haven’t made one since sometime in high school. Back then I made a resolution not to make anymore resolutions and so far I have stuck to it.
That being said, I’ve decided that I am going to start waking up early to get in my workouts. It’s not a resolution, just something I decided to do. You see, for the past year, I’ve done my runs sometime in the afternoon or evening. I had no set schedule; just a training plan that called for certain runs to be completed on certain days. Even the days were pretty flexible. A Tuesday workout could easily become a Wednesday workout and my long runs just had to be done sometime on the weekend. However, I soon found out that it was very easy to miss workouts this way. Things would come up. Sandy and I would head into town for a while, a favorite TV show would be on, guests would come over, etc. Life happened and I would miss workouts. That’s why I decided to start getting up early.
I’ve been at it now since the beginning of the year, and I’m happy to report that so far I have not skipped a single workout. I am finding out that “life happens” in the morning too, but when I start my day early there is still plenty of time left to find the time to complete my workout.
For instance, last week I had the privilege to watch my parent’s dog, Porsche – an 80 lb yellow lab—for a few days. He’s technically my dog and lives with my parents but that’s another story. The problem is that Porsche and I have very different schedules. While we both get up early he is accustomed to being fed and walked first thing in the morning while I am looking to get on the treadmill or stationary trainer.
On the day in question, I woke up at 5:30 and got out of bed. My feet hadn’t even hit the floor, and Porsche was already up from his bed in the corner and raring to go. On his own, this would not have been a problem as he is a very compliant dog. Enter Gus, our 13 lb Yorkie. Unlike Porsche, Gus has a stubborn streak in him and can be quite difficult at times. This was one of those times.
The boys followed me into the workout room, begging for food and the chance to go outside. I told them they would just have to wait; I would be done in 40 minutes and then I would feed them. I gave them each a small bone to keep them occupied and started my workout.
Within 30 seconds, they lost interest in the bones and began barking at me. I managed to get 2:30 in before I thought the barking would wake Sandy. I stopped the workout, fed the dogs, let them out and by the time they were all taken care of, it was time to get ready to go for the day. Fortunately, I was able to finish my workout later that day.
While I have managed to complete all but one of my workouts in the morning, I’m finding that I tend to push things as far back as possible and end up rushing for most of the morning. I need to get back to waking up at 5:30 and build a little bit of margin into my mornings. That way I have plenty of time in the morning to get everything done, and I don’t end up rushed. This reminds me of a clip from one of my favorite comedians, Brian Regan.
On a side note, thanks to PowerTri.com for their awesome 12 days of Christmas contest. Each day leading up to Christmas they posted a question on their Facebook page. The first person to find the answer from their website and post it won the item of the day. I am happy to say that I won 3 of the 12 days and was awarded a sporty red Suunto T3c, a pair of Zoot Ultra Race 2.0’s, and a whole box of Nuun. Amazing!
So, once again, join me as I Tri To Be…Consistent.
