early to bed...

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

I am not the typical college kid. Well for many many many reasons, but one of them is that I am a morning person and enjoy waking up early. I told Jeff why I like waking up early, and its because I get a sense of "I win!" for the rest of the day. I feel like I have accomplished more things throughout the day, but especially when I think that I am up and about before the sun rises, or anyone else is out around town. Normally I would wake up early to get a workout in, so by the time I am home, showered, dressed, and eaten breakfast I am already done with things I would have done later, and before most anyone else wakes up. Like I got a head start.

I also feel like waking up early I get to see the best part of the day. When everything is slowly waking up and coming alive. I get to enjoy the beauty of ice and frost everywhere on these cold winter mornings, which usually melts by the time everyone else is up. There is also a nice quiet peace about being outside, and seeming like the world belongs to you.

I took all 8 am classes this semester, which for some reason in college is a huge bummer. Thinking about it, not really. I had to get up at 6:30 everyday for high school, because we lived so far away and were stuck in traffic driving to school. Now I can get up at 7:30, change, brush my teeth and wash my face, grab some juice and a granola bar and be out the door ready for class.

I was thinking last week why I was so tired off 4-6 hours of sleep a night. I realized it was because most people who need that small amount of sleep have no where near as much activity as I do in a day. Thinking about all I do in a day, made me feel really active and healthy, and made me understand why I need a solid 8 hours of sleep to fully function.
On average for a week I spend:
a little over 300 min cycling (teaching 3, taking 1 90 min class, plus the extra time I need to wait around before and after class)
run around 15 miles...which is super light running because of my knee
cross train 4 hours
practice yoga 6 hours
weight train 1 hour
pilates 2 hours
and cycle to and from campus around 3-4 times a day = 45 min to 1 hr of cycling a day.
*around 25 hours in a week, I am impressed by myself.

looking at all this, no wonder I need so much sleep. I also feel really accomplished, and happy to be almost fully healthy. I am trying to be better about icing my knee.

Yes, it is Friday night and I am in bed. And I will have more fun sleeping, than staying up to hang out with friends while be tired out of my mind.