Morning Routine dives into the most personal of all habits - the morning routine. Skaters of all different lifestyles share their routines here so you can learn how to wake up refreshed, deal with a hangover, or avoid sleep altogether. Read on!

Explain your morning routine in detail.

I try to get out of bed as soon as I wake. There is nothing worse than the groggy feeling that comes from falling back to sleep. So I have to shun my beautiful fiance and get myself out of bed without cuddling.

I try to get up around 6:30-7:00 as this leaves me lots of time to do my whole routine without feeling rushed. That said, I try not to use an alarm unless I am deliberately resetting my sleep cycle. The very first thing I do is drink a few glasses of water and brush my teeth.

I take a short run through the woods to get outside and get some light in my face, then come home and lift weights for around twenty minutes. I try to focus on my arms and core as skating generally provides all of the leg workout I need. After lifting weights I take a shower, usually with a cold blast at the end to try and get my adrenaline going.

After I am showered I sit zazen (seated meditation) for 30 minutes, sometimes outside if the weather is nice.

After I've sat zazen I handle a bit of work, especially any writing projects. I will organize my tasks for the day and take care of any small quick wins right at the start - emails, messages, small code fixes, etc. Going straight to work from zazen makes it a little easier for me to start the day with the intention of only working on one focused task at a time and not jumping around between things.

At around 9:30-10 my partner and I have breakfast together (almost always oats and fruit and a protein shake), followed by a cup or two of coffee. Then it’s time to take Jack, our new puppy, for his first walk of the day.

By this point, I have already run, worked out, meditated, and done some work, so I will feel energized and ready to have a productive day. I love feeling like I have already done a lot with my day before it is even ten in the morning.

What is the most important part of your routine?

Meditation. This is the one thing that I always prioritize, even when traveling, as it is the cornerstone of my mental health.

Coffee or tea? Why?

I'm in coffee mode currently, but every now and then I will take a break and switch to matcha/green tea or drop caffeine altogether. The ritual of coffee is what makes it addicting for me - the smell of it, the process of making it, the whole event is the highlight of the morning. It is the first thing that I always try to do mindfully. That said, I try to avoid overdoing it and will rarely drink coffee after noon. If I notice that I am craving caffeine or crashing, that usually means I need to take a break from it.

What ABOUT traveling? Do you manage to maintain the same routine at skate events? How?

This is something that I am learning to be flexible about. I used to be more strict on my meditation practice and would beat myself up for missing even a single day, but I eventually realized this was counterproductive. Everything should be designed and evaluated in context.

Depending on the trip situation, I prioritize getting up early and spending some time by myself in the morning, taking a walk, and doing some workouts if I can, even just a few pushups. I will meditate if I have the space. And as I mentioned, I try to stick to not drinking caffeine until I've been awake for 90 minutes. Luckily most skaters sleep late so I usually have a few hours to myself in the morning, even in the most crowded skate house.

How did you develop this routine? Naturally or by design?

I used to work for a coffee company where once a week I had to be at work at 5am. I was freshly sober at the time and interested in things I could do to improve my life. I read that Haruki Murakami would wake up at 4am and write. I began trying to wake up early even on days when I didn’t have an early shift. I’d get up at around 4 and sit meditation (I was new to Zen at this time as well - I chose Buddhism over AA) and then write for an hour or two before heading to work.

I remember finding that the whole day felt better after that. There was something about the stillness of the morning, the silence of it, that felt special to me. It also made waking up on those 5am days easier. Most of all, I felt that I was disciplining myself, which was something that I had always lacked. In a way, that simple change of forcing myself to wake early and write made me realize that I could change other things about my life. It sounds cheesy, but it gave me hope for my life overall.

Everything I do is based on my mental health. Because I don't take medication for depression/bipolar disorder, I need to be vigilant about how I take care of myself. Waking early and following this routine is a key part of that. And while it started somewhat naturally, it is now something that I design based on the latest science around how the body works. This was why I started running and getting light in my eyes in the morning. So I definitely try different things and see what works.

How does this routine affect your skating?

It's hard to say. We have all had days where we skated great after drinking all night long. I will say that this routine has helped me with stress and anxiety, both of which negatively affect my skating. Having some time to myself in the morning and doing everything I can to make sure that I rest and rise properly definitely makes it easier for me to handle the stress of skating, especially on trips where I am working with a limited timeframe and my body needs all the help it can get.

Any last notes or tips for our readers?

Just do what works for you and be open to trying new things. Small changes like avoiding caffeine for the first 90 minutes after rising and getting some sun in your eyes as soon as you wake up can make a huge difference in how you feel all day. I still hate running, but the effect of being outside and getting my blood pumping as soon as I rise is so beneficial to my day that I find myself wishing I had done it on the mornings I skip it. So just experiment and see what makes you feel best.

Meditation can also change your life - it certainly changed mine. But that is a topic for another time.