the dark is still bothering with "our time"

I refuse to let my dog down and last year my schedule was super early for work so we had a 40 minute walk in the morning partially by street light. I had no choice but, to get up and walk in the dark. It was disciplined by my job and because I don't really have my own discipline I am having trouble adjusting this year. My schedule changed at work and I have trouble getting up in the dark to push myself into a walk with my dog in the dark before I hit the gym. I either will skimp on the gym or not go at all and thet is not good for me. I need the confidence it brings me and like how healthy I feel when I push myself.
How do we adjust to the winter months? It is hard. It is important not to compromise on your time with your dog. You can bring some training into the system. My current solution is I force myself to get up by 7am and that way I can walk about 40 minutes before I go to the gym for an hour class and return home for a half hour or so of play before getting ready to go to work. The night time is difficult. After being alone for hours my dog really wants to get out of the house but, I return when it is dark and we only have so many routes around the neighborhood which make it boring. The answer. When I get home put the leash on and hop back in the car driving a few minutes into another neighborhood like I do when the neighbor dog is in heat. We can walk 30 minutes or so and get a ride mixed in for added interest. The downfall of this plan is more eating on the go with less time at home to relax. Since my schedule has changed I miss the evening classes I used to attend with my dog and he misses his daycare which I can't pick him up from anymore. It makes things difficult. I wish my work would justify my schedule returning to as it was but, we are not busy enough and with the economy it makes me feel lucky to have a job at all.
The winter brings with it the cold and the cabin fever on those cold windy snowy or wet days when we can't play ball in the yard because then we would have not yard. So we play indoor games more. We use commands to dance. My dog knows "spin,through the legs, come, around, back, stretch" and when combined to music it makes a fun little work out. sometimes I add other commands and treats to mix it up. He loves it.
We also play a game called find it. My dog uses his nose to sniff out treats I hide one by one around the house while he is in a stay command. I walk up to him and let him sniff my hand with part of the treat and say find it he starts sniffing. If your dog doesn't sniff start with several pieces of large smelly treats and keep them close to the starting position. let him/her sniff your treat and point to the treat saying find it" they pick up quickly. You can branch out to article "find" like setting a treat in a piece of cloth and keep a small section with you then let sniff, etc. eventually they will only get the treat when they carry the item back to you. We also do a variation on this game with "find me" where he is on a stay and I hide behind a door or next to a bed and yell find me, and he comes running following my scent, and he gets a treat and praise when he finds me successfully.
We play tug and ball some but, mostly after dinner he has a chew toy and lies down to work on that while I relax with some tv or a book until bed. My dog is very high energy and sometimes that makes it tough but, I also really like that he is ready for doing things when it comes time. I really like the long walks because they are almost meditative for me and we get our connection time then too. My dog had an injury late this summer and was on exercise restriction for 3 weeks and he was like an insane dog. I realized why people get rid of their dogs due to lack of exercise because they blame it on the dog when really the dog just needs to run, run, run and then run some more. Really don't we all need a good little run now and again too!