Like lemonade, thanks for asking.

Today was my fourth and final attempt of the week to get up early and exercise before work. My workout was a swim, which is the discipline I take the least seriously, so I'm a bit less motivated to get up and get the whole thing done. Once again, I had a morning appointment scheduled, which meant this morning's timetable left little wiggle room.

I made two tactical errors last night that affected this morning's wake-up:

• I failed to build snooze-button time into my routine when I set my alarm last night. Why? I guess I was overly optimistic, but deep down, I know I didn't care too much if I slept in a few minutes and had to cut my swim short. Truth hurts, but it will set you free.
• I didn't go to bed early enough. Why? Because I was playing around with settings for metrics on Training Peaks. (Exciting news! I discovered that I can track the color of my urine. YES IT'S TRUE! Holla if you're as excited about this as I am!)




Training Peaks, you had me at "Urine Color."

 

Although I haven't conquered it yet, getting up early has gotten easier. I don't know if I'll ever be a morning person, but I'll take what I can get. Nevermind the fact that I accidentally put chocolate milk in my coffee, and for the first time this week, I am craving a nap. 8 points

Since I was slack and didn't get up right away, I only had time to complete 68% of my workout. So, both swims were too short this week. I see room for improvement. 68 points

I arrived at my appointment 10 minutes early. (Damn, I could've stayed in the pool 9 more minutes.) 10 points

Grade for today: B

Overall, this week went much, much better than I had anticipated. Having most of my evenings free to spend with JC and Beanhead has been wonderful. I even had dinner with my mom and attended my niece's dance recital last night - just like a normal person!

Now, off to check my urine color.



Attempt #3

Today was attempt #3 for getting up and working out early in the morning. (Yesterday was an evening long run, so I got to sleep in. And what a wonderful run it was! Six effortless, easy miles in the 50 degree darkness. Ahhhhh.....) I also had an appointment scheduled for 9am today, so I had to get up and start the trainer ride at a certain time if was to get the entire ride done; no dilly-dallying, lolligagging or otherwise screwing around.

I only hit the 5-minute snooze button one extra time. ("Extra" is defined as hitting it more times than I had planned; I build in a certain amount of time for snoozing when I'm calculating my wake-up time.) JC was a little surprised when I mumbled coherently to please turn on the lights - and I didn't use bad words. 10 points!

I completed 102% of my planned trainer ride. YES! I rode ONE EXTRA MINUTE! 102 points

I arrived to my appointment on time. (Used here, "on time" means within 7 minutes of the actual scheduled appointment time, and 10+ minutes before the other person arrived. Booyah!) 8 points

Today's grade: A-

I am quite pleased with today's performance. I have to admit, it was a little easier to get up today. I hope that's a sign of things to come. I'm a bit nervous, though, because starting next week, I will have to be at work much earlier than usual. I'm hiring a few people for a short-term project, and I'll have to be there early to train them. That means I'll have to get up SUPER early to get my workout done and get to work at an inhumane time. And I probably should not wear running shorts their first week, so I need to build in extra time to put on actual pants. And make-up. And hair product.

I can do this.

Attempt #2

Today was attempt #2 for getting up early and working out before work.

I got up "soon" after my alarm went off. (This is a relative term.) JC helped a lot - he talked to me, turned on the lights, and asked me if I want to be an Ironman. He is awesome. 9 points

I completed 100% of my run (it was only 2 miles; I'm being careful about adding an extra day of running to my week). I also completed 100% of my core workout (blech). 1,000,000 points

I arrived to work a few minutes later than usual, which is much later than I should arrive. -999,923 points

Things that helped:

• I got my clothes ready last night and laid them out.
• I went to bed early again.
• Beanhead slept in her bed all night for the second night in a row. (What a great kid - all we had to do was ask her, and she obliged.)

Grade for today: B.

Attempt #1

Attempt #1 to get up early and exercise before work: I give myself a C.

I did not get up as early as I had intended, but it was at least an hour earlier than normal. 10 points

I only completed 59% of my planned swim. However, had I left it until later in the day, 0% would have been completed today. 59 points

I arrived to work a few minutes before my usual time (still later than I should). 7 points

As JC (my dear hubby) said this morning, it would suck to have to say, "I would've done an Ironman, but the only thing holding me back was an inability to get out of bed."

Tomorrow is another day. I can do this.

This Week's Challenge

It was a pretty good week of pre-training (training to get ready for the real training to begin). I ran four times, including a long run which I was able to keep properly slow. I had two good trainer rides and am starting to feel comfortable on the bike again. I hit my goal for total hours of exercise. The best part is that almost all of the week was pain-free.

The bad news is, I neither swam nor did any strength workouts. It's easy to blame the weird holiday schedule and a short business trip, but I know if I had managed my time better, I could've gotten it all in. It's not detrimental to let some workouts slide while I'm not truly in training, but I still feel guilty.

My fear is that I will continue to be lax when the real training starts. I don't really think that'll happen, though. I plan to get as many workouts done before work as possible. This is THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD for me. But... If I want to be an Ironman, I have to get these things done, and to get them done, I have to fit them in around the rest of life: family, work, and music. I will find a way.

I plan to exercise before work 4 out of 5 days this week: two swims, one run and a trainer ride. It's going to be tough, but I have a plan: I'm going to go to bed earlier every night, and I asked my kid to please stay in her own bed all night so Mom and Dad can get good, quality sleep. I also told her of my plan to get up early. My hope is that the added pressure of setting an example for her will be enough to get my ass up.