I'm not a morning person, and have also always been somethign of a night owl, so I find the 5:30am sessions a challenge. I'm usually okay once I'm up and moving about, but the getting out of bed part is hard.
I generally go to bed at 10 if we're going to an early morning session. I know that sounds like it won't be enough sleep, but I've found that if I go to bed any earlier it will take me forever to get to sleep, which is counter-productive, so I've basically found a happy medium. Even so I sometimes find myself waking up in the middle of the night, very aware that I have to be awake again in a couple of hours time, but we haven't been doing the early session for that long, so I hope that might pass after a while.
We get up at 4:40am, and leave the house at 4:55am. At that time of the morning, it generally takes 15 minutes to get to the rink. That leaves time for off-ice warmup (essential at that time of morning) and putting on skates.
As everyone else has said, everything is prepared and packed the night before so it's ready to go, including work clothes when necessary. So all I have to do in the morning is get up, stick the kettle on, get dressed and fix my hair (makeup can happen at the rink after the session if going on to work), then I make coffee in a travel mug, get my water bottle from the fridge and we're ready to head out the door. Husband drives and I sip coffee on the way - I do need to have something on my stomach. Proper breakfast waits for after the session.
It's worth it for that first 30-45 minutes when there's almost nobody else on the ice.
(Edited for clarity)