Today was the second Tuesday in a row that I got up early to spin on the bike. The previous week just sort of happened. I laid my clothes out just in case I woke up early enough but didn’t set an alarm. Luckily I was awake so I managed to get my workout done.
This week I actually set an alarm to wake me up, though I didn’t need it because I was awake before it went off. In fact I woke up a few times in the middle of the night, anticipating it was time to get up. I have become one of those types of people that if I know I need to be up at a certain time I’ll almost instinctively wake myself up when the time is right. I attribute that to old age.
These few early morning workouts came about after a friend invited me to spin with her in her kitchen at 5:30 am. She had room for 5 or 6 people and she was kind enough to include me. However, I need to be at work by 7:30 so getting done at 6:30 or 6:45 doesn’t allow me enough time to get home, shower, dress and be to work on time.
So I thought I’d try to work out a bit on my own in the morning. So far Tuesday mornings have worked perfectly. I usually take Mondays off, workout Tuesdays, Wednesday night is now a spin class outside the home, Thursdays is yoga at Yogave, and Friday is another day off, followed by two days of work on the weekend.
Because it’s my only early morning to get up and work out it doesn’t seem like a dreadful thing to be up that early. I think if I got up early many mornings throughout the week then I might dread the workouts more. My only problem is that when I get up I only have time for a 60-minute workout. I might have to eventually start get up earlier to accommodate a 90-minute spin.
Last night I was also smart in prepping everything I needed for the morning spin. My computer seems to take forever to boot up and bring up those initial programs so I left in on, sitting in front of the bike, with the selected workout up and ready to go, saving myself some early morning aggravation. My water bottles were filled and on the bike, along with the bike computer. I also laid out my clothes and heart rate strap so I didn’t have to fumble around for them in the morning with the possibility of waking my husband. Due to my few minutes of preparation my spin went off seamlessly.
These last two weeks I have managed to get in some of the best workouts. As I crawled onto the bike each time at 5am I felt like it was going to be a pathetic workout. By the time I was done I felt like I had actually had a productive workout.
There is another reward for spinning early in the morning – and that’s time spent with my husband in the evening instead of by myself, in the basement on the bike. I spend a fair bit of time out of the house for training and at yoga that I appreciate the times when I can relax with my husband.
Maine Velophile 