OT: Your morning ritual?

[stephenmarklay]

This is a topic I have read about but never really adopted.

I get up super duper early and am not as productive as I want to be for much of there early part of the day.

I know one thing is that some sort of exercise fairly early sets me up. Even a 4 minute interval of burpees gets my head on straight.

Two other things I want to get very strict about are meditating in the AM and also writing down what I want to accomplish that day.

What things work for you and set your day up for productivity?

[Llewellyn]

What things work for you and set your day up for productivity?

A pot of coffee.

[Louis]

Do you REALLY want to know?

[bking]

4:20 alarm goes off if I don't beat it. This is Mon-Friday, year round.
Bibs, jersey, socks, water bottles filled, bike room where bike was prepped the night before; shoes, helmet etc, and out the door by 4:35, 4:45 if it's a slow day.
I ride anywhere from 25 to 85 miles these days. 25 there's still morning left, at 85 it's pretty much shot. On my return it's about 22oz of milk, mixed with chocolate syrup and strawberry Recoverite--breakfast and I'm out the door for work.

[bking]

Do you REALLY want to know?

Yeah I left that part out. But we all know that.

[vav]

I know one thing is that some sort of exercise fairly early sets me up. Even a 4 minute interval of burpees gets my head on straight.
What things work for you and set your day up for productivity?

Same here. Get up at 4:30 AM 3-4 days a week. Hit the gym at 5 AM and lift weights for 45 - 50 min, then a shower at the gym and catch a 50 min train ride to Boston and a 20 min bike ride to my job. The days I dont do it I feel more tired

[Louis]

More seriously, I once tried rowing (I have a Concept2 erg) first thing in the morning, but I was so tight it was brutal, and I felt extra-sore for days.

[teleguy57]

If you haven't checked out Tim Ferriss's interviews/books/blogs, he talks with most of his guests about morning rituals. Here's a quick search on his blog about the topic. (http://tim.blog/?s=morning+rituals)

My personal ritual is somewhat boring, and I'll I'll be the first to say it's lacking. It may sound pedestrian, but I take pride/sense of accomplishment in making my bed first thing immediately upon rising. I'm inconsistent but working to develop a morning meditation practice using the Calm app.

Being retired from the corporate world and having my own consulting practice I have a fair amount of flexibility, (although I have 7 or 7:30am meetings several times a month) so I'm able to hit the gym (right after making the bed) at a decent hour vs the O-Dark Thirty time when I had to be in the office early. I get there just as the desk warriors are wrapping up and finish my tie before the arrival of the soccer moms.

Breakfast (if not playing with intermittent fasting) and shower upon return home. Then into the plans for the day.

[Llewellyn]

A more serious answer:

Most days I'm usually up and around by 5, sometimes a bit earlier. After that it depends on the season. In summer and while the mornings are still light enough I'll be out riding as early as possible after the cat's come back in from her patrol of the grounds. I'll ride as much as I can fit in or I feel like before I need to start work.

As the days get shorter I might do a bit of work while it's still dark (I'm most productive in the mornings) and then I might go for a ride or walk once it lightens up, but it's always much harder to get motivated when it's colder.

Then I brew up a pot or two of coffee.

Edit: I go to bed anywhere between about 9 and 10.30 depending on how tired I am, when I need to get up, whether there's anything worth watching on telly etc. But I frequently fall asleep on the couch before that.

[Tickdoc]

5:30 wake up
Double latte
15-30 min internet news and emails
Iron clothes ( yes, I iron my own:)
Dog walk
10-15 min resistance stretching
Shower
Off to work

Same damn ritual 4 days a week.

[stephenmarklay]

A pot of coffee.

Yeah me too. But I am getting a hand pump espresso maker. More of a mainline kinda experience :)

[stephenmarklay]

More seriously, I once tried rowing (I have a Concept2 erg) first thing in the morning, but I was so tight it was brutal, and I felt extra-sore for days.

No poo stories please.

[stephenmarklay]

Same here. Get up at 4:30 AM 3-4 days a week. Hit the gym at 5 AM and lift weights for 45 - 50 min, then a shower at the gym and catch a 50 min train ride to Boston and a 20 min bike ride to my job. The days I dont do it I feel more tired

If I try to schedule a workout in the morning (trainer ride for instance) I slept poorly and get up earlier than I want.

Ideally I would sleep until 5. 3:30-4 is actually normal and wrong at every level.

[Louis]

No poo stories please.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fd/b6/3d/fdb63dc06dbeb6ea2031a2a74c4df801.jpg

[AngryScientist]

4:20 alarm goes off if I don't beat it. This is Mon-Friday, year round.
Bibs, jersey, socks, water bottles filled, bike room where bike was prepped the night before; shoes, helmet etc, and out the door by 4:35, 4:45 if it's a slow day.
I ride anywhere from 25 to 85 miles these days. 25 there's still morning left, at 85 it's pretty much shot. On my return it's about 22oz of milk, mixed with chocolate syrup and strawberry Recoverite--breakfast and I'm out the door for work.

that's impressive. seriously.

curious, what time do you typically go to sleep at night?

[AngryScientist]

actually, to expand on the above - can those of you who post here also mention what time you go to bed at night? curious how many hours nightly sleep other paceliners are getting.

i have NO routine in my life. too many variables to call anything "regular"

[ceolwulf]

Man some of you guys.

4:30 a.m. is an excellent bedtime.

[stephenmarklay]

actually, to expand on the above - can those of you who post here also mention what time you go to bed at night? curious how many hours nightly sleep other paceliners are getting.

i have NO routine in my life. too many variables to call anything "regular"


I am in bed by 8:30-9:00. That is my kids bed time and we all just go to bed. My wife stays up until midnight everyday. She always has and she likes her alone time which I respect.

Ideally, it would be 9:00 to 5:00 for me but it is closer to 9:00-3:30-4.

I just can’t sleep longer and if I go to bed at 10 I still get up at the same time.

[RFC]

Mine is much different. Up 5ish. Read the WSJ and NYT online. Eat, shower and get to work. I much prefer late afternoon and early evening cycling and weight workouts during the week. But come the weekend, I'm totally into morning workouts. It's the happy weekend party.

[Tandem Rider]

I check the weather the night before, up at 3:45 if it's rideable, 5:00 if not. On ride days, I drink 1/2 cup of coffee, dress, and go for about an hour with lights. I get back when I would normally get up without a ride so I just drink more coffee, make breakfast and lunch and out the door at 6:00 for work. The day just goes much better with a ride. :)

I'm usually in bed 10:30ish.

[Tickdoc]

9:30-10 pm bedtime. 7.5 to 8 hrs sleep.

I ride mornings on saturday group rides only usually. I also prefer the evening rides, even when it's hot out.

[JAGI410]

10:30-11pm bedtime (set timer on coffee pot)
6:45am alarm
6:55am out of bed/get dressed
7:05am drink coffee/make breakfast/pack lunch
7:20am walk dogs while walking son to bus stop
7:45am bike commute to work
8:00am work starts

[CaptStash]

My wife and I met a a rowing club, so we've both spent the better part of our adult lives starting the day very early with some sort of exercise. We also both are usually sound asleep by 9:30.

CaptStash....

[d_douglas]

10:30-11pm bedtime (set timer on coffee pot)
6:45am alarm
6:55am out of bed/get dressed
7:05am drink coffee/make breakfast/pack lunch
7:20am walk dogs while walking son to bus stop
7:45am bike commute to work
8:00am work starts



Yay !! Someone whose schedule is similar to mine. Man, you 500am guys are keeners. I sometimes go to bed at the same time as my kids, but generally stay up until 11pm reading, wrenching, watching a movie with my wife or wasting time on the internet :(

[paredown]

Yay !! Someone whose schedule is similar to mine. Man, you 500am guys are keeners. I sometimes go to bed at the same time as my kids, but generally stay up until 11pm reading, wrenching, watching a movie with my wife or wasting time on the internet :(

I know right! I had 10 years of 4:30am wake-ups so I could make my 5:00am shift stocking shelves as I worked my way through a couple of degrees. I have avoided really early mornings ever since...

I'm up with the light--so around now that means 6:00 am or so--feed the cats, make the coffee--on a good day I will try to read a little while the house is quiet. No daily work for a while, but when I'm working I'm there by 8:00 or a little earlier. Bedtime is around 10:30...

The best routine I had (although it didn't last all that long) was working 7-3:30 for a construction materials company. I could easily sleep 'till 6:30am, then pell-mell there, and wake up at work (early calls were lost delivery trucks)--and finishing at 3:30 gave me lots of gym and bike time before dinner. It kept me on a similar schedule to the nine-to-fivers so I could socialize and just leave a little earlier.

[AngryScientist]

The best routine i had was when i was single and working for Electric Boat in Connecticut. For a long stretch I worked the back shift as a test engineer.

1500 - 2300

i'd go out after work and party with by buddies until 2 AM, come home and crash for a few hours, then go surfing at the beach in RI (where i lived at the time), shower and head into work for another day.

it was a wild circle of great surfing, hard drinking and brutal hangovers with some real work thrown in the middle of it all.

man i miss those days.

[Black Dog]

I have to get two kids dressed, fed, and one out the door for a school bus and the other on foot to school with our dog in tow then get myself to work. This activity focuses the mind like combat.

[Bob Ross]

I don't have a morning ritual, but this thread reminded me of something I read in Interview Magazine 35-some-odd years ago...don't even remember who they were profiling, I think he was a painter, but he said that every morning he wakes up and sits down naked in front of his ARP 2600 analog synthesizer, and doesn't get on with the rest of his day until he has created a brand new sound.

I remember thinking I wanted to be that guy.




fwiw I go to bed between 10PM and 11:30PM most nights.

[stien]

Asleep by 9PM, awake 5AM, riding out the door with the two dogs and the wife by 5:45AM. Breakfast at work. (A :banana:) Ride home, workout on the bike, cook, repeat!

[benc]

Am I the only one that sleeps past 6??? I wake up 7:15-7:45. Coffee, morning news and work starts around 9. This isn't an everyday routine but I work from home ~60%. On the field sales call days I'm often up at 6 and out the door before 7.

If I don't have to wake up, I don't.

[etu]

this post makes me feel more part of a community, or does this mean our demographics are skewed toward middle aged/older men? ;)
can't imagine younger guys in their 20's with this type of schedule.
early to bed (9pm), early to rise (4:45am)
coffee, stretching, light core exercise

[biker72]

Bedtime 9-9:30pm
Up by 4:30am
Out the door riding by 5:30am at the latest.
The days I work I'll go in at 9:00am.

[stien]

can't imagine younger guys in their 20's with this type of schedule.

We are only 28!

[johnniecakes]

5AM Get up
Purge
Do daily devotions for about 45 minutes
Start breakfast while taking shower
Finish shower and get dressed
Finish getting breakfast ready and enjoy it while reading local paper
Pack lunch and head out for work at or before 7

[kevinvc]

Monday - Friday:
Bed at 10:00. Work clothes for next day already packed, commute clothes on top of pannier, lunch ready in the fridge. Alarm at 6:05. Let the dog out and in, brush teeth, get dressed. On my bike and out the door at 6:30. Reach office at 7:10. Shower, get dressed and at my desk at 7:30.

Everything works like clockwork, but it's all on auto-pilot. If one tiny thing disrupts the system, it all falls apart. That's why a couple of weeks ago when the dog didn't come back inside the first time I called her I was completely thrown off my game and showed up at work without my pannier, which contained my work clothes.

[kppolich]

29 here, work at 7:00am, in bed between 10-11:30pm. Work Schedule is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 7-5:30


Up at 5:00-5:30 but never workout before work. Will commute about half the time with a nice 3 mile ride and change into work clothes there.

Alarm at 5/5:30
Coffee on
Breakfast started oatmeal or eggs/bacon/veggies in the skillet.
Check paceline, theradavist, twistedsifter, and work email (only check 3x a day)
Make bed, pick clothes for the day and layout workout stuff for after work or setup bike on the trainer.
Shower
Off to work by 6:30(pedal commute)/6:45 if driving

Thursdays
Up at 4-4:15a on for group trail run and usually catch a nap from 9-noon after
Fri/sat- up and around at 8, coffee on and group ride or long run on the schedule.

[d_douglas]

29 here, work at 7:00am, in bed between 10-11:30pm. Work Schedule is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 7-5:30


Up at 5:00-5:30 but never workout before work. Will commute about half the time with a nice 3 mile ride and change into work clothes there.

Alarm at 5/5:30
Coffee on
Breakfast started oatmeal or eggs/bacon/veggies in the skillet.
Check paceline, theradavist, twistedsifter, and work email (only check 3x a day)
Make bed, pick clothes for the day and layout workout stuff for after work or setup bike on the trainer.
Shower
Off to work by 6:30(pedal commute)/6:45 if driving

Thursdays
Up at 4-4:15a on for group trail run and usually catch a nap from 9-noon after
Fri/sat- up and around at 8, coffee on and group ride or long run on the schedule.

Wow, you work Sun-Wed? That would be awesome! I would LOVE longer days and have an extra day off per week.

Hearing all of these early morning rituals, I have to assume that many of you folks either have no kids or an SO that manages kid duties. My wife and I are 50/50 on this so I couldn't possibly get to work at 7am most days. I delivered kids to school for start at 845am, then drove to where I park my car and zip into work by bike for 915am.

I thanks my wife for taking the brunt of the child delivery responsibilities, as I actually hate doing it (though I adore my kids!). Four days a week, I commute to work by bike only, getting there by 830am.

[batman1425]

More seriously, I once tried rowing (I have a Concept2 erg) first thing in the morning, but I was so tight it was brutal, and I felt extra-sore for days.

My worst overuse injuries during my rowing years were at morning practices. I always had a hard time getting loose after rolling out of bed. Pulling my groin at 5:15AM during the warmup and making it 15min into the steady state in excruciating pain when the coach finally took pity on me and let me go to the trainers office was awesome.

Almost as awesome as when the really cute PT assistant that worked in the trainers office jammed a bag of ice down my unisuit because she was mad that I hadn't shower before coming over. I apologized and explained that I was A) in serious pain, B) my dorm, shower, and clean clothes were 15 flights of snow covered stairs away from the erg room which in my current state were impossible for me to navigate and the trainers office was across the street, and C) everyone I knew with a car was finishing the workout. She was not sympathetic. Busted groin and no chance of asking her to dinner. Bad day.

[stephenmarklay]

this post makes me feel more part of a community, or does this mean our demographics are skewed toward middle aged/older men? ;)
can't imagine younger guys in their 20's with this type of schedule.
early to bed (9pm), early to rise (4:45am)
coffee, stretching, light core exercise

Actually, in my 20’s going to college I opened the school with the janitors. I have always been an early bird but now it is even earlier.

[stephenmarklay]

Today was a really good day as I took care to address the things that help my set the right mental and physical start. I started a journal today to keep me on the straight and arrow.

Woke about 4:00.

Got the coffee going while washing a few seconds on the computer.

1. 4:45: Body and brain UP from the coffee I did 1 set of tabata burpess 20seconds on 10 seconds off 8 rounds. That 4 minutes gets the right chemical milieu going and gets my head on straight. It also serves to loosen me up.

2. I did a little work and then at 5:30 meditated to focus on the day ahead.

3. During the gaps I wrote down the things I want to accomplish today.

4. 6:30: Went to the gym and did a sauna and a cold shower after. This is a great way to start a day.

I am going to do these 4 things every morning.

[benc]

I went to bed at 2 am last night and woke up around 8 today. Started working at 8:05.

What are daily devotions?

[Louis]

What are daily devotions?

Same thing as ablutions.

[etu]

Actually, in my 20’s going to college I opened the school with the janitors. I have always been an early bird but now it is even earlier.

no offense intended.
you guys are a lot more disciplined than i was in my 20's. :o
never thought I'd end up being a morning person.

[stephenmarklay]

no offense intended.
you guys are a lot more disciplined than i was in my 20's. :o
never thought I'd end up being a morning person.

No offense at all. My point was that I have always been a little “off”

I did treat college like job however. I was already married and my wife was supporting us in Seattle. I was studying Physics and it was hard for me.

[YoKev]

4:30 Alarm

4:32 Start kettle for water

4:33 Feed Lucky the cat

4:34 Bathroom

4:35ish Hand grind 17g of coffee beans

wait for water to boil....

4:40 put coffee and water into AeroPress and wait a min

4:41 Coffee is served

4:42 to 5:10 Read news, email, ect

5:11 Start cooking breakfast

5:13 Eat breakfast

5:20 Gather things for the day and get dressed

5:30 Out the door

Arrive at work at 6:45 for 7AM clock in, Audi 5000 at 3:00 for the drive home

[stephenmarklay]

4:30 Alarm

4:32 Start kettle for water

4:33 Feed Lucky the cat

4:34 Bathroom

4:35ish Hand grind 17g of coffee beans

wait for water to boil....

4:40 put coffee and water into AeroPress and wait a min

4:41 Coffee is served

4:42 to 5:10 Read news, email, ect

5:11 Start cooking breakfast

5:13 Eat breakfast

5:20 Gather things for the day and get dressed

5:30 Out the door

Arrive at work at 6:45 for 7AM clock in, Audi 5000 at 3:00 for the drive home

Reading this made me laugh.