7 things only early morning triathletes understand

The early morning workout can be a tough sell for triathletes who aren’t accustomed to a 5 a.m. wakeup call. Frankly, even if you are an early riser, getting your body going can be a little bit challenging that soon after waking up. However, once you’re on the schedule, most people wouldn’t trade their morning swim, bike or run workout for the world. Here are a few things that you’ll only understand if you’re accustomed to waking up before everyone else.

You take bedtime very seriously

An early morning run really starts the night before. The successful 5:30 a.m triathlete knows that it’s lights-out by 10 p.m. at the latest. This person is not ashamed to leave social gatherings early because, as they’ve probably mentioned, it’s almost their bedtime.

You don’t need an alarm anymore

For many people, a 5 a.m. wakeup means one of two things: you have very young children or you’re going to the airport. However, for the morning triathlete, around 5 a.m. is when their body naturally wakes up.

If you’re working out, you know you have to warm up really well

Even if you’re used to waking up early, a hard workout requires way more warmup than if you were heading out around 5 p.m. As you move through your day, your body will naturally loosen up from a walk to the coffee shop or even doing some household chores. The right-out-of-bed workout can lead to a hurt hamstring or shoulder, or just a good-old-fashioned bad day. The early morning triathlete has their warmup routine down.

You feel very connected with those you see running

On your before-the-sun-is-up workout you’ll only see a handful of people, but you’ll exchange knowing nods.

You pity those who run midday

While you’re eating lunch or running errands, you’ll see someone suffering through a midday summer run, questioning if they even like running, and think, “That doesn’t look fun.”

It was hard to get used to, but now it’s totally worth it

When you have multiple workouts to get done, starting the day off with one of your sessions makes life much easier. Many masters swim programs run early morning workouts, which means you can get that workout done before you head off to work. In the summer months, getting your run done before the temperature ramps up can be the difference between nailing a hard workout or simply surviving. Taking advantage of the longer days allows you to enjoy a bike workout with less traffic, too.

There’s nothing like the early morning quiet

Enjoying a workout listening to birds rather than traffic can make a world of difference to starting your day. You also get the satisfaction of knowing you’re getting your training done while the rest of the world is sleeping.