Aug
20
If necessary, call in the artillery to beat back the snooze button
Photo credit: Armed by Flickr user Cimm, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license.
No invention as spoiled as many predawn runs as that of the snooze button. Whoever not only thought of such a device, but convinced alarm clock manufacturers that it is an essential feature on every product they offer, certainly had a reservation upon his demise in that place down below (and I don’t mean Australia). I can’t tell you the number of updates I’ve seen on Dailymile where the snooze button has emerged the victor, thus delaying, shortening or, in the extreme, outright obliterating a planned workout. Therefore, I think it’s time to provide some tactics for beating back this avowed enemy of the early-morning start.
Now, I am referring her to “tactics.” The best way to beat back the snooze button is to have a “strategy” that doesn’t allow it to become a temptation. This means committing yourself to a goal that requires serious dedication and training, and having a sense of urgency regarding the importance of every workout. The fear of falling behind on your training and missing your goal can be enough of a motivator to feel no desire whatsoever to hit the snooze button, especially if you believe in what you are trying to accomplish and have committed to do so publicly.
Nonetheless, even in this ideal world, a rough night, mounting fatigue, or occasional lack of willpower may set in. In such a case, here are some ideas for making sure you still have little desire (or ability) to hit the accursed button.
Share your goals with whomever you sleep with. Wait, that may not have come across right. I’m not promoting rampant promiscuity here. I mean that your spouse or significant other should recognize the importance of what you are doing and be willing to remind you at 4:30AM. On the few instances where I have felt a temptation to go back to sleep, my wife has helpfully chimed in with the “weren’t you going to run this morning” line. I am so grateful for her willingness to do that – though it may not have seemed so at the time. Also, you should feel a bit of guilt at waking your partner unnecessarily, especially if you do so repeatedly by hitting snooze over and over.
Turn it up. This is related to the idea above. The louder your alarm, the more likely it is to wake you up – and the more irritated your sleeping partner will get (Coach Jerry also points this out). Thus, you better make every instance of the alarm going off worth it. Your miles-to-alarm-noise ratio should be maintained at a high level.
Move it away. What if you actually had to get out of bed to get to the alarm clock? This may be especially helpful if you don’t have a sleeping partner. The further you have to move, the more awake you will be by the time you get there. At the most extreme, perhaps your partner could actually hide the alarm clock in a different place every day – but this would take an extremely tolerant partner (and, in some cases I’ve seen, one who is willing to risk physical harm over your frustration not to be able to turn off the alarm clock). Hat tip to Brian of Couch to Boston for suggesting this in a comment on an earlier post.
Set your alarm for as late as you possibly can. I proposed this in an earlier post on how to get out the door faster. If you only allow yourself the time you need to prepare for and get your workout in, you will feel less flexibility about being able to hit the snooze. Of course, you could still choose to shorten or skip your workout, but you would not be able to fool yourself into believing there is no penalty for pushing the wretched button.
If all this fails, you may need to resort to drastic measures and invest in a more rigorous alarm clock solution (I’m a particular fan of #5). What tips have I missed here? What helps you defeat the snooze button scourge?
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