For those of you who don't know me, I'm not a huge morning person. I'll do it for the right reasons/motivations, but it's never my first choice to be up before the sun is. I'll leave that to you crazy bastards. But this morning was to be the start of my personal training, to help push me past these doldrums I seem to have moored myself in (shout out to those who get the little nautical references there).
Second Jilly factoid of the day: If I'm meeting someone, if they're counting on me or made time for me in some way - I absolutely can not stand to blow that off. I consider that inexcusably rude. If something comes up, reschedule ahead of time or at least let them know as soon as possible but even then I feel apologetic for doing that. So setting up a workout buddy - like swimming with Ashley - has kept me faithful to the pool for a few years now because I picture her waiting for me in the parking lot, having gotten up early to do so. A morning appointment with a personal trainer works much the same way for me - someone made time in their schedule to help me with my goals, so it's easier to swing my feet out of bed.
Which is redonkulously hard to do in the winter.
I find that getting myself out of the bed to be key (...no, really). Not just sitting up, but ass out of bed. Otherwise, the war between the cold air and my blankets is a lost cause. Whatever it takes to to motivate you to that stage, do it. Experiment but keep trying. For me, it's having my bags packed for the gym, my clothes laid out the night before, enough sleep, and keeping the air temp pretty toasty so I'm less tempted to stay curled under the covers. And it has to be me that gets me up. Nobody else should be held accountable for my ass achieving my own goals. There's a difference between supporting (good, yay!), enforcing (bad, booo!), and detracting (to the bastard who orders pizza at home when I'm dieting).
Well this morning I had everything ready. Getting to the gym wasn't a problem, even if it was on less sleep than I'd like. But after 10 minutes, and no sign of a trainer, I checked through the emails on my phone and I realized I had confused the names of the two branch locations that I normally attend. I was told that the one near my house was my home branch, and they'd set up a trainer through there for me. So naturally, even after the trainer and I got in touch and set up the meeting and they did use the name of the other branch, my tired brain just overrode it this morning and drove to the branch near my house - not the one by my office and clear across town!
As soon as I realized my mistake I texted her and she was very gracious and understanding but I still felt like a heel, not to mention disappointed that I didn't have the session! Sitting there at the gym and decided...fuck it, I'm going to work out anyway. Didn't get a hard one in (as I was tired and still incredibly sore from bootcamp the day before) but I hopped on the Elliptical, set it to level 8, and huffed for half an hour.
The cool thing about the Kentwood location is that the windows face the east over looking a lot of farm lands (across the parking lot and road). Getting to see the sky change colors and glow as the sun came up on a fricking FREEZING but crystal clear morning brought me right back to all those early morning workouts over the last year where I had gotten to do the same. How had I forgotten about all those sunrises, and the extra boost & joy they'd given me while running like a hamster in the otherwise depressing cold gloom? They were a highlight of my workouts and something I came to look forward to. Me, the non-morning, sunset-preferring person.
All in all? It's about attitude. And caffeine. I still got up, I still stayed there, I still worked out. And I'm getting round two at Starbucks over lunch but I will make it through the day having met at least that goal...even if I did sneak in a bagel and sweets for breakfast. Damn holiday treats.
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