Wee-Hour Workout

I'm a recent convert to Team AM - those of us that wake up at ungodly hours to get our sweat on.

I assure you it hasn't always been this way. If you asked me 2 years ago if I wanted to go to a spin class at 5:45 AM I would have laughed in your face and/or struggled to stifle my vomit. Today, I roll myself out of bed at 5 AM to be out the door and on the road by 5:20. So what gives?

Oh Sleep, how I love thee.

Honestly, the only reason I wake up so goddamn early to get to the gym is because the pros so far outweigh the cons. I am not any more of a morning person now than I was 2 years ago, I just have a new found appreciation for getting my workouts done as early as possible.

So what's so great about working out in the AM? I am SO glad you asked!

1. The gym commute at 5:30 PM: 20 minutes.
   The gym commute at 5:30 AM: 4 minutes.
   There's nothin' sweeter than flying down a street that's usually bumper-to-bumper with tourist traffic during the summer. Oh, and did I mention that every stoplight is green? Yeahhh baby.
   
   
2. The radio is SO much better when it's still dark outside. I don't know about you, but I hate morning shows with a fiery burning passion. I feel like I'm listening to my (imaginary) little brother laughing with his idiot friends about things that aren't funny to anybody but themselves. Plus, I have yet to run into a radio commercial when driving to the gym in the AM.
   
   
3. I am still half asleep until 6:45 or so. This means that I don't feel the full torture of my workout until it's pretty much already over. By the time I come-to, I'm pretty much finished and ready to stretch and hit the showers.
   
   
The gym aka Ladies Cigar Club of Monterey
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4. The locker-room gossip is AMAZING. The most popular water aerobics classes start from 7-8 AM, right around the time that I'm prepping for the day. And let me tell you, these ladies are like their own little senior citizen social club. From Roberta's cruise to the Bahamas to Michelle's son's recent burglary arrest, there is never a dull moment.
   
   
5. No kids in sight. Need I say more?
   
   
6. My day isn't consumed entirely by working and exercising from 8 AM to 8 PM. During a time that I would usually be sleeping, I'm already entirely finished with my workout for the day. That leaves 5 PM to 10 PM to do what I please without feeling guilty for skipping a workout.
   
   
7. I look like a real person for the entire day. If I don't go to the gym in the morning, I snooze my alarm until the last possible moment. When I finally spring out of bed, often yelling profanities, I only have time to throw on some ugly business casual attire and run out the door. Needless to say, I tend to resemble some sort of swamp monster on these days.

Questions:

Are you on Team AM or Team PM? Why?

How was your weekend?? Anything as exciting as mine?

I had to work on a Saturday. Cue the "wah-wahhhhh"

Random Fact #19: I actually liked The Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I pretend it's because I like to stare at James Franco (that too), but it was actually a pretty touching story. Monkeys just hit a soft spot, I guess.

Hi, you're pretty. Call me?

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I Deserve a Medal

Izzy really picked a bad evening to weasel her way into sleeping in my bed. In a moment of ambition, I decided to go to a spin/abs class at 5:45 AM, meaning a 5:15 wake-up call for the both of us. When my alarm went off, she gave me a look that probably mimicked mine to a T.

"I knew you were crazy but this is just ridiculous."

The thing I like about working out in the early AM is that I'm usually half asleep the entire time so I'm not truly aware of how much my workout sucks until it's already over. My spin instructor noticed that my hips were too high on the bike and that I needed to lower it a touch (shocking considering that I was blessed with the shortest legs in the world) and OH MY GOSH did it make a difference!

Me before the switch. Except for that whole not being a man thing.

When I got home I had enough time to shower for the first time in like 3 days so I decided to whip out my newest 99 cent CVS purchase:

VO5 Moisture Milks Strawberries + Cream Conditioner!

I think I'm obsessed. I spent my entire morning smelling my own hair like a crazy person. Hey, at least I wasn't going around smelling other people's hair.

Mmmm...the best 99 cents I ever spent.
P.S. Told you I had man hands.

I was feelin' the strawberry theme this mornin' so I topped my regular plain yogurt/granola mixture with sliced strawberries. I think my Tupperware container was manufactured around the same time that our blender hit the shelves.

Everything looks better in turquoise.

When I was getting dressed I kept getting those really attractive foot cramps that make you look like you spent the last year experimenting with Japanese foot binding. I decided to hit the local 7-11 to pick up some electrolytes in the form of low calorie Gatorade and added that to my repertoire of liquid receptacles. Guess who's spent her entire morning power walking between her cubicle and the ladies room?

Liquid overload? It's a definite possibility.

Random Fact #14: I get really irritated when people call me by the wrong name. Ex. Julie, Juliet, Juliana, Sharea (which I have been getting a lot recently...) See my twitter for details.