Waking Up Early

Dawn on the Charles River Basin

It’s hard to miss getting up before 5am until you try it again.  I didn’t realize how badly I was missing the routine of gradually becoming a human being pre-dawn until this morning.  At 4:55am Alex was already out the door, I had promised to be team photographer for pieces in the Basin.  I was surprised the coffee grinder (excellent recent purchase) hadn’t woken me, and that the French press (excellent recent purchase) was still clean.  The feeling of coffee and sweat on empty streets while most of Boston sleeps cannot be matched.  Of course, no matter what, there is always going to be someone on the water earlier than you, even rowers docking as you pull into the boathouse and lock up your bike at 5:30.  

Hash shoves and spins.  All business.
No slowness.

Docks were busy, some shoving, even a few landing, Alex waiting patiently in his borrowed racing single for the Riverside scullers to emerge from the bays.  Time?  There’s a sense of all the time in the world at 5:35am.  Dawn breaks pretty quick in the summer, but this morning the mugginess threw warm gray over the sun-bleached wooden dock.  The cloud cover comfortably bright, it was already 70+ degrees.

Jake: more jacked than necessary

I watched the first 2 of 4 1500m race pieces from the finish line by the Boston University boathouse and Mass Ave Bridge, then headed upstream to CRI to do my own lifting routine.  Easy weights today, in tune with this “rest” week.  For each of my standard exercises, I either reduced repetitions by half, or reduced weight by 40% and kept the reps high, focusing on rhythm and smooth technique.  

Paddling to Pedaling

Leaving the boathouse, the fifty steps of heat between CRI and my locked bike drove me almost to my knees.  It must have been 90+ outside already at 9:30am.  The air conditioning within the Harry Parker boathouse made it clear right then and there: Alex and I would be carrying home a new fun cardboard box to play with.  The window AC unit has already made a massive difference in the infrequently sub-100 temperatures in my apartment.  Going outside seems, well, way less appealing.  So does the prospect of not having to hydrate ourselves four times a night.

Well into a 1500-meter piece, coming under Mass Ave Bridge, tailwind.

It felt fantastic to be essentially done with my day by 10am.  I encourage any and all of you to try it out sometime if you can.  Doesn’t matter if it’s even exercise-related, just wake up too early and start right into your day.  Lurch from the bed, stagger to the kitchen and rummage for food, pour the coffee over ice (do you even remember making it?) slam it down and roll out the front door.  Pick your spot, set up shop.  Watch the rest of the world wake up… while you finish up.

"Were you pulling? Yeah me neither."

Spot the Mike Farry

Twist at the finish