Creature of New Habits

The fall time change is my least favorite event of the year...I'm a summer girl. I love the heat and the sunshine that lasts until late in the evening. And, functioning as it progressively gets dark earlier and earlier is always a challenge for me. When I finish work and it's already dark, something inside me says it's time to climb into pjs and eat comfort food. This is a bigger concern for me this year, 1. because I want to stay on track to reach my goal weight (17 lbs to go!) and 2. because of my desire to run outside.

Even if I finished my work day at 4 p.m., which is iffy on most days, by the time I got changed and on the road, it would be well on its way to dark. So, the solution? To avoid the soul-killing treadmill for as long as possible (and to make sure I'm not too sluggish to workout in the first place), I simply have to work out in the morning before work. I work from home and have a huge amount of flexibility in my hours. I'm not a morning person in the least, but I'm even less of a treadmill/gym-going person.

So, this morning, I got up at 6:30, threw on my gear, and hit the pavement running. It wasn't terrible really. Sunrise was at 6:29, so it was bright out. There were very few cars. The temp was chilly but doable. And, best of all, by 8:30, I was showered and in my home office eating breakfast over emails. And when the day ends at 5:00 or so...I'm DONE!

I only run every other day (to keep knee/hip issues at bay), but I think the best way to make getting up earlier a habit is to get up at that time every day. I can do my strength training at that time too (check back later in the week for a review of the two Jillian Michael's dvds I bought last week). My downstairs neighbors are going to HATE me and my cardio circuits on paper thin floors at 6:30 in the morning, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!