Getting up early

I think part of whether this will work for you had to do with your body's natural rythm.  I have always been a 'morning person'.   The morning had always been my favorite time to work out and after about 2pm my productivity at work experiences a sharp decline.  I have been getting up at 4 am for 4 years to exercise.  I drink a diet Red Bull and work out.  By 1 pm I usually need a nap, and sometimes I lay down for 20 min.  I am in bed by 10 or 11 at the latest.  One day a week I try to 'sleep in' until 6 am.   This schedule works for me because it is moving with my body's cycle.  I don't know if you can 'train' your body to be on a cycle like this.  One option is that if you are more of a night person, I know people who are doing their workouts at 11pm at night.

Good luck!

I have gotten up as early as 3:30 in some training phases to get my workouts in and still do everything I needed to do in a day. Part of it is struggling through the first bit till you do adapt and figure out what works best for you.  After awhile you get used to it, and sleeping in is 6 am!  A few things that have worked for me at different times:

• Get up immediately when the alarm goes off - if I allowed myself anything 'thinking' time before getting out of bed I knew I could find all sorts of reasons to stay in bed.  Also, initially I would make my alarm loud as added incentive to get up and shut if off before it woke my kids. 
• Have everything ready the night before - put on w/o clothes and get out the door - lol sometimes I would be on the my way before i really was even aware I was no longer sleeping!
• Plan ahead - have easy to eat things if you need to eat before w/o's, or bring them with you.  I don't like to eat when I first wake up, so found if my w/o was around an hour I could wait till after. If it was longer I would eat on the bike, or bring an extra gel for a run. I save my favourite flavours for those early mornings so it's a 'treat'.  
• Go to bed early - there is no long- term way around that if you want to stay healthy.  We need the sleep to cope with life and training - so yes, sometimes bed was at 9pm , but usually it was 10. 
• I sometimes now will get up with an extra 15 min to have a coffee first. Other times it's my prize at the end of the s/b/r!

 Good luck - you do whatcha gotta do to get them in!

I consider myself a morning person, but I don't consider anything before 5:00 a.m. to be morning.

That being said, I go back and forth between morning and evening workouts. I have a long day at work that starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m., so I am at either end of the spectrum: either getting up at 4:00/4:30 a.m. to get a workout in or starting my workout at 6:00 p.m. and having a late evening because dinner's not until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m.

When I work out in the mornings, I try to have everything ready to go the night before. As soon as that alarm goes off, I have to roll out of bed because I have animals to take care of before I can even think about starting my workout, so that has to get done. Then, I must have a few sips of coffee. Once I get going, I am fine. I tend to crash a bit around 3:00 p.m., but I do like the feeling of going home, relaxing for a bit, and being able to have an evening meal at a decent time.

I think if I did it more consistently, I would get more used to getting up that early. I certainly know plenty of people who do, and they function quite well.

Bottom line, I think if it's important enough to you, you will make yourself do what you need to do to get it done.

I don't bike outside in the dark at all any more - so use the trainer A LOT.  I had only a bike for most of my 20's and used it day and night - had front and back lights, wore a reflection vest, had reflection tape on my helmet, my arms and legs ... and STILL got hit a few times (fortunately only one resulted in an ambulance ride and still minor compared to what it could have been) ... it is sooo not worth the risk for me. 

Oh, and someone mentioned having the coffee ready in the morning .. I consider a timer on my coffee pot part of my training gear! The smell/thought of it gets me up many early mornings in the dark!

3:50 am - alarm/hit snooze button
4::00 am -  yawn, coffee!
4:15 am - out the door w/ dog for wake up/warm up walk
4:45 am - in with dog (dog doesn't run)/back out for run (or off the Y for swim)

I eat the bulk of my calories early in the day and keep it light in the evening.  I go to my room by 8:30 or 9:00 with tea and good book.  Good book lasts about two pages before it falls from hand and I'm out cold.  But I love, love, love early morning workouts!  As someone else mentioned, I too pop awake as early as 3:00 or 3:30 a.m. and get up.  Evening workouts on the other hand...

I happily run in the dark but do not bike in the dark.  I save that for about 6:30 p.m. and weekends.

I definitely agree with what others said about having everything packed and ready the night before!  I think the main thing is to give it a long enough chance to let your body adjust and make it a habit.