Waking Up To A Marathon

There I was, trotting along the asphalt at marathon pace. I felt great. It was going to be just like this. I pictured myself crossing the finishing line, raising my arms and beaming ear to ear, just like you are instructed to do in marathon crossing line instruction videos.

Fast forward 45 minutes.

When is this bloody run going to end? Good god I'm tired. Wait, wait, positive thoughts. Ah yes, I will finish this run and then have a nice hot shower followed by dinner. That will make it worthwhile. I thought on the way up this leg seemed much shorter? Why is it taking me forever to run now? Just five more minutes...

That was last night, my first long training run - at around 10k.

Rewind 36 days.

It all started 36 days ago after a culmination of research on sleep, with especially this article by Steve Pavlina proving to be helpful: How to Get Up Right Away When Your Alarm Goes Off. As one of my previous posts mentions I had terrible habits of laziness or slothness. I would often not wake up unless it was absolutely necessary, if I had a pressing engagement to get to. Usually even early morning classes my sleepy self could talk myself out of with such arguments like:

1. Just five more minutes. Five more minutes is the time you need to shave, so just don't shave today!
2. Ah, this class isn't important and the teacher's lecturing is dryer than a sand gecko's nose on a July evening in India.
3. I could just go late, the teacher normally doesn't mind.
4. Ahh blarh bo no skohl agh. Snore. (That's a more accurate rendition of my early morning talk)
   

Later on my wake and conscious self would throw hissy fits with my sleepy self: What kind of logic was that?! I needed to be there! I should have gone to class! The arguments would rattle between my ears and reverberate down my spine and into my toes. It was a terrible cycle to be in. Something had to change.

I had tried out every method you can imagine.

1. Setting multiple alarms.
2. Trying different alarm sounds.
   
3. Asking others to wake me. Sometimes to call me to wake me.
   
4. Drinking tons of water before bed.
   
5. Telling myself, tomorrow you will wake up early!
6. Leaving the blinds open to allow the morning sun to shine onto my eyes.
   
7. Only using a thin blanket to freeze myself into waking.
   

Well, you get the point. And none of it was working, none of it even came close to working. Then I tried a few things from the aforementioned article. The thing that worked the most was to practice waking up. To train your subconscious self (and trick the sleepy self) into naturally wanting to get up. It sounded silly but after trying everything else I figured it was worth a try. So during the day, several times a day I pretended as if I was going to bed - setting my alarm, brushing my teeth, tucking myself in, hugging my pillow (I'm a huge pillow hugger) and wiggling my toes (toe wiggler too).

My alarm would start blaring and I'd spring out of bed, stretch, stand on the balcony and look out onto the world. That is how I viewed my perfect morning.

36 days and 36 viewings of my perfect morning later I am a new person. I get up every morning at 6AM (as opposed to 8,9,10 or sometimes 12) and go for a run by the ocean. I arrive home at around 7AM and make a healthy breakfast (also something new for me). I check my emails, play guitar, do my memory exercises, language study and blog posts. I have between 3-6 more hours of time everyday to do what I am passionate about. I used to complain I had no time to do what I wanted, I was stuck in the cycle of school or work - well this has been a major solution.

I also made and wrote down a specific goal to run for 30 days as 30 days is less daunting than saying "I will wake up and run at 6AM," where the unsaid but understood meaning is "I will wake up and run at 6AM for forever." There is something scary about the word forever. If you run for 30 days and you feel that this new habit doesn't work for you then you can scrap it. If it does then make another goal - 50 days.


Some FAQs:

1. When do you go to bed?

Whenever I feel tired. If I don't feel tired I don't go to sleep. If I sleep less one day I naturally want to go to bed earlier the next day. However, usually it works out that I get to bed between 11 and 12 at night.

2. But I like to party! What if I get home half in the bag and my alarm goes off at 6AM and I'm covered in puke and feeling awful. What then?

Good question. Get up, clean off the puke and splash some water on your face. The way I see it is that it's all or nothing on this one. You may get different answers for this question depending whom you ask. What has worked for me has been consistency. So I guess it means changing some other habits as well. It's like if you want to quit smoking but take a day off and smoke a pack. The next day you are back at day #1.

3. Do I have to "run" every morning?

Of course not, but I'd recommend an activity that could draw you a fair distance from your bed. Maybe writing in the kitchen, taking a shower or going for a walk around your neighbourhood. Whatever makes you happy and works for you.

4. Do you spring out of bed every morning now with a spring in your step and feeling fresh?

Not really. I still feel rather groggy. I however naturally get up, like I consciously don't have to think about it. Sort of like I'm being pulled by strings from above. After returning from the run I feel fresh. It's made a major difference waking up early, I feel more passionate about everyday as I get everything I want to get done early. I don't feel rushed anymore. There is something to the saying "Getting up on the wrong side of the bed." Before, I'd wake up late, in a rush and in a terrible mood because I didn't have time to do anything that I had originally wanted to do.

5. Your questions here. 


Once I hit 30 days I felt ecstatic. This feat stood as testament for a HUGE change I had made in my life. I had single handily given myself renewed passion and vigor, 120 more hours a month to do what I wanted and I was part of the "elite" morning crowd.

Simultaneously I had been hearing about the Xiamen International Marathon, held every year in January. I thought to myself, well I could do a 10k race, after all I did a few of those before in Canada. But, somehow 10K didn't feel right, so I bumped the idea up to a half-marathon. Yep, I thought, a half-marathon - just the right distance. That is realistic. But, my inner voice starting screaming "Do the marathon!" "Do the marathon!"

I fought for days with that voice, trying to reason with logic:

1. Lets build up, we can do the marathon next time.
   
2. A marathon is 42 kilometres!
3. Haven't you seen those videos of marathon runners collapsing at the finish line?
4. I'll give you a cookie.
   

But my inner voice was not going to back down, even for a cookie. And then and there I decided I that I would run the 2010 Xiamen International Marathon.

Please drop me some questions or comments. What this post helpful? Interesting? Missing something? Filled with grammatical mistakes?

Have you experimented with changing your waking habits before?

Ou.yang.