When Do You Get Your Best Ideas?

For the past three weeks, I have set the alarm for 5:28am (so random, I know). I usually peel myself out of bed around 5:35, put on socks and sneakers, splash water on my face and head to the gym (after fetching a cup at Starbucks of course). At the gym, I have been doing a solid hour on the elliptical while reading some kind of writing book. The first five or so minutes are hard. I am sluggish and my limbs are stiff. But then the coffee starts working and my legs and arms start grooving.

And so does my mind.

It is amazing how many ideas come to me during this painfully early hour. And they are good ideas, too. I jot them down on my iPhone and keep going, spinning away. And then when my hour is up, I jog the short distance home, making it there before the girls are up.

{In case you were wondering... Yes, I have been sleeping in my gym clothes. Hey, whatever works, right?}

When and where do you get your best ideas? Does working out tone your mind as well as your body? How early do you rise?