Tuesday, January 24, 2012

How fast can you...

START your workout in the morning??

So I'm usually not a morning person.  I like my sleep and lazy mornings.  However, I've decided to do early morning workouts most workdays for the following reasons:

  1. Some days I have two workouts... and it is much more manageable to do 1 workout before work, and another one after.
  2. Even if I only have one workout scheduled, I would prefer to only shower ONCE per day.
  3. MOST IMPORTANTLY... the gym is EMPTY!
I work out at the Campus Recreation center, and with the new year/new semester/Spring Break on the horizon, the gym and pool are jam-packed with college students in the afternoon and evenings. There are only FOUR lanes in the pool, so waiting is inevitable; and the strength areas are super busy so there is MORE waiting (and students likely to laugh at me in spandex looking like a hot mess)... no thanks.

So, early AM it is!!  It is a GHOST TOWN in there... when I get emails from students dated 1:45AM, I wonder why ;)

YES, early morning workouts are great... it's just a matter of being ready and STARTING THEM!!

Here's how my morning went:

5:15 AM: Alarm goes off.  I hit snooze.
5:23 AM:  I get up, hem and haw about going to the gym or not.
5:28 AM: turn coffee on, heat up oatmeal (prepared last night)
5:35 AM: grab gym bag (pre-packed last night) took 20 minutes to leave the house??  I had EVERYTHING ready!!

5:45 AM: Arrive at gym.  Dawdle in the locker room... check email on phone... etc....
5:52 AM: Push Off!!
... it took me 7 minutes to start my workout, when I already had my swimsuit on, goggles foggled, and workout written and plastic-bagged?  WTH was I doing??

6:49 AM: get out of pool.
6:51 rinse off in shower
6:55 take my time changing...
7:00 start strength training (8:00 AM finish)
... 11 minutes for this "transition" - really? My T1 at IMAZ was < 5 minutes with about a 1/4mi run!

If I love sleep so much, I could have slept for THIRTY more minutes and finished my workouts at 8AM!

My total alarm-->start swim time was 37 minutes.  Pathetic, but like any training plan, I have to establish a baseline...

And next time I am going to SMOKE it!! :)  


Jennifer Harrison said...

OH that is not bad and I am so happy (you know I am!) to read this post...early AM workouts are the way to go with crazy life issues every day!!
The answer to your question DEPENDS on the workout. Don't laugh, but running that quickly in the early AM in our cold temps (10 degrees, etc) takes me longer to go....but, I do wake up at 5:25am - and am swimming by 30 min up, out the door and swimming...and my pool is about 10 min away. I do not hit snooze though. IF I told you I never have, you would probably believe me. LOL
And, for the bike, I can get on in 20 minutes...
I do like to relax a bit in the AM but it is MY fav time of the day, so If I am not working out, I am up working that early b/c I like my quiet house!!!!

Tim Andrus said...

My record is 12 minutes from bed to in the pool including coffee and the two mile drive. Normal time is about 45minutes. Keep It up!

Alisa said...

I cannot dawdle in the morning during the week. IF I can get myself to the gym in the AM everything is set out the night before, clothes packed, lunch packed, sometimes I'll go as far to put my gym bag in the car so all I have to do is get up, put on workout clothes, brush teeth and hair (sometimes I skip the latter) and go!

Kacie Darden said...

It's all about the night before prep! I agree with that!

GoBigGreen said...

Im like Jen, I never hit snooze bc that is a never ending cycle. I love the early AM's bc I know how happy i am to be done with #1. I totally have to have it together the night before tho. And my husband is not a good sleeper so i get up A TON EARLIER than i used to before i was married to him!
You did smoke it!

Cathy said...

You are a madwoman! Pre- foster dog, I could be up & out the door in 15 min, heading to gym. But my T1 time at the gym is horrible!! I have to shower all the chlorine off, dry my hair, etc. That is why when I'm doing more than swimming, I swim last, if possible. But yay, morning workouts rock!

Jill Poon said...

You crack me up! Seriously it takes me forever to get going in the morning and I'm usually just running out my door or riding in the basement!

Colleen said...

You are so funny! No matter how much prep I do the night before, I'm so pokey in the morning. I always end up asking myself "what the heck did I do that took so long to get going". I think it's just a lag in getting the body going!