The Early AM Expedition

The quiet parking lot, cardio stats, and breakfast afterwards. The whole point in am cardio is burning calories on an empty stomach and forcing the body to turn to fat as an energy source to burn. This stage takes far longer to get to when your tummy is full and you're adequately fueled.

Ironman Prep Day 14

You know what is not tasty? A shot of RedLine and a grape berry glutamine chew before you’ve brushed your teeth. It flashed me back to the very first time I ever got up for morning cardio. I had been trying to be super sneaky and get on my machine as quickly and quietly as possible so I’d decided brushing my teeth could wait. Yuck! By day two I’d decided the extra few minutes of running water was worth the risk of waking Charlie. Now I have my routine: I set out shoes, clothes, my iPod, and water bottle the night before so that I can get up and get going as quickly as possible. I know the creaky spots in the wood floor by his room to avoid when heading to brush my teeth. Most mornings I estimate too conservatively and am up and done with cardio 30-40 minutes before he wakes, but on occasional mornings he’s up early and sneaks up on me in the middle of it. He finds it especially funny if he catches me doing abs because then I’m on the floor oblivious with a blaring iPod, he’s taller than me, and he likes to take advantage and sneak and growl like a big scary Charlie-saur.

Charlie was at his dad’s house last night though so I had a rare opportunity to try morning cardio the way most people do it, at the gym. Sunday is rest day on my current schedule which means no weights and 45 minutes of cardio. I ran off to Gold’s arriving by 7:20 am with fewer than five cars in the parking lot. Abandoned! I was definitely more awake than usual which was both a blessing and a drawback. I was trying harder to keep up my RPMs, but I was more conscience of being tired. In the end I did 50 minutes instead of 45 because I wanted to cross the 500 calorie threshold and then I did three sets of shoulder crunches, reverse crunches, and mini crunches with some brief stretching before heading home. I love the little elliptical I have at home, but it isn’t the greatest for longer bouts of cardio so it was nice to get my longer session done on a gym machine. I’ll definitely do it again given the opportunity.

P.S. I haven’t had any coffee today. I do, however, have a quart and a half of coffee creamer in the fridge. What in the world am I going to do with it if my coffee hiatus turns out to be permanent?