I get home from work at about midnight. Unconventional hours come with the territory in the news business, and that's fine with me. I knew what I was getting into.
BUT... it makes morning workouts not my favorite, while sleeping in continues to be not not my favorite (I know it's a double negative, but it's also not not my favorite way to rank things).
When the alarm goes off in the morning, my bed suddenly becomes fluffier, I realize I am in the most comfortable sleeping position that I've ever been in, and my pillows seem to call to me: "Libby! It'z cold outside. We are comfortable, no? Stay weeth uz!" My pillows are also apparently French. This has often been enough to kill my workout motivation. Even now that I'm in training mode, it's still a struggle to get out of bed.
So... these are my "Get Your Lazy A** Out of Bed Tips" (patent pending):
-I like to drink a little bit of coffee before a morning run. So, I'll program our coffeepot to start brewing 5 minutes before my alarm goes off. It's a lot easier to wake up when there is fresh coffee ready and waiting.
-This one is kind of self explanatory, but "just do it". I've always found once you just throw the covers off and get up and walk around a bit, your pillow's siren song is a bit muted. It's like a rip the Band-Aid off type of thing, and the more you do it, the easier it gets.
-Turn on a light right away. I read somewhere (sorry, no reference) that your wake up response is directly linked to light. Turn on your bedside lamp right away, or go into a bright bathroom and brush your teeth right when you get up.
-When you are in said bathroom, wash your hands under the coldest water you can stand. It's surprisingly refreshing.
These are all just dumb little tricks that work for me some of the time. Really, when you start a new routine, it's not always going to be easy. But I've found that the more I plan out my runs and know what time I need to be up, and the more I actually adhere to said schedule, it does get more manageable.
As for running, it's amazing to me how much easier it gets week by week. I can now truck over hills that I had to walk a mere month ago. It's a little personal victory every time I hit a new milestone. The other day I also realized that I'm starting to THINK like a runner. I was driving through an unfamiliar neighborhood. My first thought? I wonder how far that road goes. It looks like a nice place to run.
Check out NBC29 HD News at 11 on January 2nd for Marathon Monday. We talk to a nutritionist about food as fuel... and finding the right dietary balance for you. You can also always go to NBC29.com for more tools to help get you across the finish line... including my weekly run schedule, as designed by trainer Dan Bayliss (http://bestinhealth.weebly.com/about-dan.html). There's a new one posted every Friday for the following week! Just go under the "news" tab and click on "newslinks".
Here's wishing you all a VERY merry Christmas, sweet dreams... and even better awakenings!
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