It's Just Past 4:00 AM...what are YOU doing?

I’m sat here having breakfast just past 4:00. The bike is loaded, the bottles filled, sunblock almost applied. This got me thinking-what is the earliest you have ever had to get up for a race? Both in absolute terms (time) and relative to when you normally get up (so if you get up at 4:00 every morning, getting up at 4:00 isn’t early for you)?
But I did realize I like 4:00 a lot more than 11:00 at night, which is probably why I never go to parties…

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Got up at 4am to feed the 2-month old terrorist I have living in my home, and now researching solutions to my 2021 Emonda / Whaoo Kickr compatibility issues and subsequently shopping for a new trainer.

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5am here. Drinking espresso and making oatmeal. Will do some openers on the trainer and then head out to the local crit downtown (only 1.5 miles away, so that’s nice).

Wife is hungover after a girl’s night out and fast asleep and the cat is begging for food. :rofl:

5am is about as early as I get up, but I’m lucky most races are within a 1hr drive tops.

I basically wake up at 4am everyday. It definitely makes getting up at 2:30-3am for races easier. Currently getting ready to knock out a century on the gravel bike and be home for lunch with the kids.

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I’m usually on the bike at 530 am it used to be 430 am.
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Nothing worse than an early wake up call that gets derailed by young kids waking up at night—I swear it’s like they know you have an early ride planned.

Pre-COVID/work from home had me doing 90% of my rides before 6 am, now not so much. I do mis those early rides. Foggy, cool, the sun rising, no traffic, quiet, nothing better.

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I was up at 5:30, had oatmeal and was all excited for an early ride. I sat down on the couch to have a cup of coffee and next thing I knew it was 9:00 :grimacing::grimacing::grimacing:

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I was up at 4:30 this morning to do a short recovery ride on the trainer before the wife and I headed out on a longer training ride. But she woke up exhausted so I bailed on the outdoor ride and fiddled with the spare bikes that needed fiddling.

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I think 04:00 also. One of the Ironman races. It’s okay when you’re used to being awake before 6 anyway, eg a parent.

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4 am is my normal wake up time during the week. In my younger days I did some pretty crazy early morning runs (before I picked up biking) when on rotating shift work. One schedule was a typical days/swings/mids (8-hour shifts) that rotated every week. The other was 6-hour shifts with three crews (e.g. midnight-6am, 6am-noon, noon-6pm, 6pm-midnight), so basically every day was different. That became a little brutal after a while, especially when working the midnight-6am shift, awake for the morning and afternoon shifts, and then working 6pm-midnight. Lots of 2am runs.

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Ride finished. Glad we started early-got super hot.


Screenshot_20210717-124409

Note I don’t have a PM on that bike so it’s an estimate

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I’m a college student and shift worker, so I think I’ve ridden at every possible time of the day/night and felt awake for none of them.
My races do tend to be early and require a bit of travel, so probably around 4am there. Sometimes I haven’t been to sleep yet though :joy:

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4am is normal wakeup for me. Coffee and pb toast about 10min afterwards. Out the door anytime between 4:30am and 5:30am depending if I’m solo or joining another person or group.

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Standard wake up on weekdays and weekend is 4:45am. Enough time to cram in a metric century or a long run before the first Zoom calls.

Unfortunately today I have to swap my planned outdoor ride for a basement session due to torrential downpour and thunderstorms. :frowning:

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The earliest start for me is probably 3:30a for a 5a ultramarathon (70k in Mauritius, in May, 32C, 80+% humidity, 7900’ ascent) start. For a triathlon, and a few other ultras, wake-up was likely no earlier than 4a.

There was this mountain bike race in Big Bear several years before the end of the previous century that had me waking at 4a to drive (eating in the car) 2.5hrs(?) to the 8a start… at altitude. That didn’t turn out well for me.

Back when I was serious about training, and I worked full-time in an office job (with the requisite uniform of a shave, coat, and tie) 30-40min away, I would get up at 3:55a twice a week to put in a 30-50mi road ride so I could be in the office by 8a. I had a hard time mentally getting up before 4a because to me night went until 3:59 and morning started at 4, but I needed those additional 5min.

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Nice to see fellow early risers here. I was an Army guy, so early hours come natural to me. When we were deployed, and I was freezing my a$$ off in the middle of the desert, doing the night shift in the operations tent, the rising sun was the most beautiful thing to me. Natural light and warmth deep in my bones. What more could I ask for, except a canteen cup of nasty Army swill/coffee substitute. Nowadays I’m usually up before 4, get in a walk (lost my dog last week, I’m trying to keep up the routine in his memory), some core work, a swim (depending on work schedule) and TR workout on quick motion rollers or Kickr. That’s pretty much 7 days/week. Even if I wanted to, I don’t think I could sleep much past 4:30 or 5. earliest I’ve been up for races (Ironman distance) is around 2:45 or 3. Have to cram in food and fluids early for those

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Was pouring rain earlier at 4am. I think I brought the right bike to Belgian Waffle. I’m riding the 71 mile wafer course which is dirt (mud?) heavy.

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I am getting to the point that ay race that starts early, before 10, I have to second guess if I actually want to do it.

I have been getting up early virtually my entire adult life, and I have always hated it. I still get up early now, my bike commute starts at 5:30. I struggle to get up by 5:20 to get out the door on time. Getting up for a race? Ugh

Active duty for 10 years, then working in contract work doing HVACR, then an early start job to accommodate east coast people, now working at a factory. I hate getting up early!

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20210719_051731
I get up in order to see the dawn most days of the week. Here’s this mornings when out for a run. Not optimal for training but I feel happier for it.

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