Week 7 of Ironman Training - Rise and Shine!

I wrapped up week 7 of training and so far one of the only significant gains I'm seeing are on the scale, which makes little to no sense but that's a separate blog topic altogether.  I guess the other gain that I'm seeing is my tolerance for boredom on the bike trainer and treadmill.  Even though I've setup a TV and stereo in my workout room I still just can't get used to indoor workouts.  Jess is able to throw on a good TV show or movie and hit the treadmill for hours, but I'm overwhelmed after 15 minutes.  I need to get outside!  The problem to overcome is the lack of daylight so early in the morning...speaking of early mornings.

The book I'm using to facilitate my training dedicates some significant print space to time management and the importance of it while training for an Ironman.  Last week's post focused on breaking down the hours in the week, which came directly from the book (Be Iron Fit by Don Fink).  One of the main points of this book was that in order to dedicate the necessary amount of time needed to train for an Ironman, you have to get your workouts done in the morning.  I cringed when first reading this, much like all of you are right now.  The book describes all the scenarios at play throughout the day and how each of those will inevitably impact your ability to workout in the afternoon.  The concept is simple; commit to getting up early and working out to start your day for 1 month.  No excuses, every day for a month get up and first thing you do is knock out today's workout.  Then at the end of the month, it will become a habit if you can appreciate all the benefits.

I have taken this approach to my training and I have to admit it's spot on.  Don't get me wrong, there are more days than not that I don't want to do it, but I do.  I sleep better at night (out before my head hits the pillow), I'm wide awake when I'm done with the workout (saves money on coffee), I feel much less stressed at the end of my workday because I don't feel annoyed that now I have to squeeze in a workout (Jess appreciates this).  Start little and build some momentum, wake up 30 mins early for a quick run.  After time you can build that up to 1 or 2 hours early to get in a larger workout and even get some other things done before heading off to work.  If you're reading this blog hopefully you're open to learning a thing or two from my experiences and this would be a great takeaway for you, trust me.  I hated the idea at first but have really grown to appreciate (not love) the morning workouts.