Yep - I did, and I am not a morning person at all. My main reason was that at 6pm or so, it was dark and cold and I was tired from the day and had little motivation to train. At 6 am, it's still cold and dark but put a little caffeine in you and the tired-ness isn't too bad.

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Due to family obligations (new Dad), and work, I am pretty much exclusively an AM trainer now.

The positives: I'm more consistent, since I have more control over that time, and no distractions. Also, I've read that working out first thing in the am on an empty stomach supposedly causes you to burn more calories overall (this may be a combo of both during and after the workout), such that it's as if you worked out for 2-3X the time.

I do know that on substantially reduced overall workout time, I've achieved my best-ever results this year, and also my lowest BF%, so while YMMV, it has worked for me.

The negatives: I'm not a morning person. And, you (or at least I, given my schedule) can't just decide that ya feel good and want to go for another 20 mins or whatever. If I want a longer am workout, or want to go to a track, etc., it means I have to wake up that much earlier... <shudder>

Also, am workouts have been the end of it being a social activity. I go solo, 100% of the time. When I used to ride lots in the PM, the majority of the time it was group rides, and the comeraderie and competition is nice - I miss that.



Doing anything for 21 days is long enough for it to become a habit, so that is a good idea for this (or any) sort of training or self-improvment program.

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float , hammer , and jog

I'd love to do this, but I am not a morning person. I run with my wife at 6 am every morning (a slow 4-5 miles, she's trying to get back into shape) and it's torture getting out of bed. I wish I could re-wire my body to be an early riser ... too long, I think, as a cop working graveyards. It's hard to re-train your bio-rhythms!

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*****
"In case of flood climb to safety"

When I started training for IM's, I switched to mornings. And, as the workouts grew longer I found myself getting up earlier and earlier. My target every morning is to be done at 6:30 AM, right when the 3 kids (4 and under) wake up....this includes weekends. It was brutal at first, but after close to two years of training this way - getting up at 4-4:30 AM is easy. During the last big push to an IM, I'll get up as early as 2:30 AM on Saturdays so I'm still home by 9 or 10 AM.

The pros: training has almost no impact on family time as I'm usually home by the time they wake up; I can easily get in 3 workouts a day (if I wanted to, I usually just do long sessions in the AM and swims at lunch); No traffic on the roads - and what traffic there is, is much more visible because of headlights etc. I actually feel safer riding at this time then during the day.

Cons: You learn to live on very little sleep; absolutely no social life at night - I go to bed when our newborn does at 9 PM; I'm not used to training during daylight hours; no one wants to train with you (which isn't always a bad thing...); drunk drivers to be wary of (esp. on Saturday and Sunday mornings)

I augment the lack of sleep by taking an additional recovery day every other week.

Yes, 26 days in a row when I started w/Molina. Consistency is key. Since then 4 PRs in a row--2 IM PRs and 2 HIM PRs.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Yep, used to get up around 8.30, now my alarm goes off at 6.30 every morning except Sunday. Takes a couple of weeks to get used to it, but after that it's all the same.

The first time I took the 21 day challenge I was working for my uncle. He made me get up early every morning and exercise. His name is Sam.

That helped me learn to get up and train. I don;t do it all the time, I don;t always like it, but I do it more often than not.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Did it all last winter to get my swim in shape for this year. worked great I am in the process of trying to retrain myself for that right now.

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Jim

**Note above poster works for a retailer selling bikes and related gear*

I don't have the book so I am curious what his motive is for the 21 days of AM training. Looks like most of the people it's a time commitment issue, does he feel it makes you stronger or more commited?

Time Managament. That's the primary reason given. As the day goes on more things will pop up that can interfere with training. Get it done. Go to work.

I got up at 5:25 this morning (yeah ... I snoozed button a coupla times). Ran for 36 minutes. I need to wake up at 4:45 to get in a little longer session. I stayed up last night to watch Jeff Kent beat my damned Cardinals. I'll swim after school for 30-45, then strength train and be done with training and pick up my kids by 4:30. This'll be a pattern I want to adopt.

I do rather well on 5-6 hours sleep, 7-8 is closer to optimal. More than 8 and I'm groggy.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --