I set out to break as many personal records I could in one day.
4:00am
I began by miserably waking up to make breakfast. I am not a morning person, and this is the earliest I have ever been up recreationally. It is at this point that I am not sure why I picked this time as the sun would not rise for another 2 hours. I got up anyway and decided to make myself breakfast. Waking up at this time is something that I have never been able to accomplish before, and although I was devastatingly tired, it was a really great experience for someone who has never been up before 6 a.m.
Since I had so much time to kill before the sunrise, I was determined to maintain the personal goal by not falling back to sleep. I decided to mainline 300mg of caffeine and go for a run. I would not recommend doing this in the winter,as the February morning air is absolutely and unforgivably cold.
Around 5:00am
I began my run with the goal of beating my previous personal best run time for one mile (6 minutes and 50 seconds). I have not attempted to run for speed since the summer, so my goal was extremely out of reach. After reconciling with my insane goal, I opted to at least run 1 mile in the freezing darkness, and then walk for 30 minutes. Although I was miserable during the run, I felt accomplished once I finished.
This ended up being one of the most productive days of my life, as after my run I decided to begin homework for my classes before getting ready for work and watching the sunrise with my dog at 6:00 a.m. I then finished my daily/weekly assignments before heading to work. After work I attended class and then headed to the gym.
Around 7:00pm
Without going into great detail about my previous personal bests at the gym, I attempted a bench PR today and I was able to successfully get 110lbs for a one rep max. I was extremely proud of myself as the bench is my weakest exercise and because I am a female of relatively small stature, this is a major accomplishment.
Overall this has been one of the most productive days of my life. I was able to accomplish a lot before the sun came up, and although these achievements are simple and small, I am still very proud of myself for being able to accomplish as much as I did. Some of these accomplishments (mainly waking up early) have given me a new mindset for achieving my goals. I recommend implementing a day of personal bests into your week in order to understand your limitations and surpass them.
