how to become an early riser

You have to develop the mental will to overcome the desire to stay in bed.

Some tips to help with that:

• Go to bed earlier.  Develop a routine everynight so your body/mind knows when it is time to sleep.
• Lay out all your clothes/gear for the morning workout.  If you can mindlessly wake up and get dressed and out the door, it's easier.
• Don't make excuses, just do it.  Stop telling yourself you can't.  Start telling yourself you can.

Even though I am more of a morning person, I'm right there w/ ya.  In order to get my workouts in before work, I generally have to be up by 4 am, so I seem to miss quite a few workouts.  Setting the coffee maker to brew some joe at 4 am seems to help and so does sleeping in my workout clothes.  If I do it right and have all my stuff ready to go next to the door, I can wake up, brush my teeth, put in my contacts pour a cup of coffee and be out the door in 15 minutes.

 It's definitely tough to say the least.

I am currently fighting the same problems.  I have small children that either don't go to bed or get up stupid early.  I try to get to bed before 10 most nights, but when the alarm starts getting pushy at 4:30 it is way too easy to just turn it off.  Sometimes I actually wake back up in time to get out the door and get a run in.  It is getting better though.

IT IS EASY....

get a job in construction (either in an office or the field) and you'll become an early riser..

(our jobsites BEGIN swinging the hammer at 7:00am)

Getting to bed earlier is the best suggestion (you may want a TiVo to record all the great shows that come on after 9:00)

Good luck with it..     

caffinated gu will help you once you are actually out of bed, but to get there ... put on workout clothes the MINUTE your alarm goes off. Harder to crawl back into bed with running shoes on.

And... just... do it. I know if I don't do a workout that I've mentally slotted for the morning, then I won't get it done. So when I'm lying in bed thinking about staying there, I remind myself of how much a slack-ass I will feel if I don't get up and do the workout. I think about how I will feel all day knowing I blew it off, and how stressed I will be if I try to cram it in anywhere else. You just have to do it. The same mental discipline that it takes to keep going in a race when it's 100 degrees and all humid and you're tired and you've flatted twice and you stomach is cramping and blah blah blah but you still keep going cause that the deal or to push through that fourth interval when three is all your body wants to do --- it's the same type of discipline that gets you out of bed in the morning when you'd rather sleep. It's a good thing to practice. I don't always want to get out of bed in the morning ... but I do want to get better at this sport.* So ...

*Of course, I slept in today. (cough)

Sometimes you just gotta do it....

It's like Chippy said. I wanted to get better, but I started out this sport not knowing how to swim.  The swim coach that I had could only see me at 7 in the morning, at ASU, so I got up to see him at ASU.  Then I switched to masters, which was at 6.

Then I wanted to get better on the bike.  In the summer, as you know, if you're not up and out the minute it gets light, it will be too hot.  Ditto on running in the summer.

For me, when I first started the early workouts, I had a full time job and one child still at home.

Before I took up this sport, I was not a morning person.  I never knew a person could sleep and swim, but I swear I've done it.  I don't really like it, but I do like the fact that the workout is done.

Lay out your stuff, have a quick coffee and get out of the door before you have time to think!

I have gotten out of bed more often in the last 3 months to go swim than I have for any other reason in the past 5 years.

The pool I swim in has lap swimming from 6:00 AM - 8:00 AM, 11-2 and then again from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.  If I want to see my wife and kids I either get up or not see them until who knows when.  If I swim until 9:30 at night, kids will be LONG asleep by the time I get home.  (Pool is 30 minutes from the house on the way home from work.)  So I have elected on several occations, to get my tired butt out of the soft warm bed and go swim.

Now that it is getting light sooner, I can bike but even that is pretty hard.  6:00 - 7:15 AM shower and hit the road.  Work starts at 8:00, and it is a 45 minute drive.

Now don't get me wrong, but coffee prior to a workout is a BIG no-no.  It drys you out, and limits your ability to get the hydration you need.  Water first THEN coffee after the shower.

I discovered that my run times are better in the AM.  I consider myself a night owl, so this was a huge revelation.  I agree with the above.  Set out clothes, brew a pot of coffee, and just walk out the door without too much himming and hawing. 

Did you ride in the heat last summer?  If you have to make a drive with your bike, could you make it the weekend to make it easier.

I can't stomach gu in the morning.  And I know about the dehydration effects of caffeine, but I have to get things going in the morning and a little cup does the trick.  I then make sure to start drinking once out on the bike.

You've gotten some good advice, I'll be checking in on you from time to time to see how it's going.

Good luck, you can do it and a year from now, you'll wonder why you ever thought it was hard ;-)

Good luck! There is something SO AWESOME about getting to work and having your w/o in the bag. I also really like it cause it gives me time first thing in the AM that is all for me ... something gets done before I get to work, so work doesn't feel like it monopolizes my whole day.

We'll be checking in ...

Edited to add:

Heh. I just looked at my log for this past week, and here is an entry from Tuesday:

reasons I love working out in the AM: That shocked mind/body delay when you start moving and your mind is "Whaaaa? We were sleeping? Can we still be doing that?" but by the time your mind convinces you to stop, it's too damn late and you're halfway through the workout so you might as well finish.

How fitting

I agree with what has been said.  I'll just give you a point of reference...

One station  here has a 9pm nightly news CST that lasts an hour.  I RARELY see more than 15 minutes of the 9PM newscast.  I've seen the Tonight Show/Letterman COMBINED probably less than 20 times IN MY LIFE.

My "night owl" neighbor's 3rd grader goes to bed later than I do.   They're barely eating dinner by 8pm.  I don't know what time you go to bed, but please realize that this is a lifestyle adjustment on both ends.  You can't just fart around until midnight and expect your morning effort to be successful.

I also don't want to pass judgement on things I don't know for sure, but I gotta believe with this site/inspires, etc., you could find someone else in Phoenix freakin' Arizona that is into tri training.  Again, maybe I'm wrong but have you explored that fully? 

I'm in the "get a training parter" group.  This has helped me make the transition.  Knowing someone is waiting for me get's me up and going.  Especially if they're waiting on me for the ride :-)