Training before work - what to eat

RickyG

Hi Guys (and girls),

I'm going to start training on the turbo before work as training after work often means I can't get to sleep at a reasonable time.

I'll be doing about an hour and as I've never trained early in the morning I was looking for some advice or opinions on what to eat before and during the session as I obviously don't want to get up and shove 5 Weetabixes down my throat before training.

Do you eat a little e.g. banana before/during or maybe just drink an energy drink during?

Any thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance!

Bronzie

Don't think you NEED to eat anything before doing an hour on the turbo - in fact if you plan on doing a hard session, eating immediately before hand would be a bad idea IMO.

Can't you leave brekkie until after your session or are you always ravenously hungry at 5am?

RickyG

No, I wouldn't be hungry when I woke up but I was wondering if by the end of a tough hour session I might be running on empty if I didn't eat anything after getting up?

By the sounds of it you think probably not? I know some advocate training before breakfast to increase fat metabolism but I'd more likely be doing reasonably hard intervals so would be more concerned about running out of energy.

As I said I've never done any training early morning so apologies for the newbie question!

patchy

i'd try it with and without on different days and see what works for you.

Jeff Jones

You have to experiment. For an hour, you should be OK without brekky, but I'd still eat something.

I used to go out and do 2hrs with intervals on nothing but a piece of fruit and a glass of OJ, then eat a lot when I got back. It was a rubbish way of doing it. I gradually got used to the idea of a bowl of porridge before training and now don't get out the door unless I've had it. Even for an hour at easy pace.

I'd also consider how late and how much you're eating the night before. A huge dinner might still be sitting in your stomach first thing in the morning, but your blood sugar will be low nonetheless. So you need a small carbohydrate kickstart but nothing that would cause discomfort.

Wooliferkins

Depends what you want to achieve, a bit of weight loss don't eat do it on water. Any longer then you'll need food, I'm presuming warm up/down in that hour.

sagalout

I go out for a 7am morning ride which is usually slightly longer than an hour. I don't eat anything before, just get through a water bottle.

Never had that 'running on empty feeling', but I do really feel like I've earned when I get back

woody1545

Hi,

This article might be of interest.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/running-on-empty

ut_och_cykla

Girl here !
personally if you were looking at doing some serious stuff prior to work I'd consider a bottle of energy drink, a bar & some coffee or jam sarnie & tea as you go and certainly a sensible breakfast afterwards.
The harder & more often you train the more important it will be to get nutrition right to get the best out of your sessions. i.e once or twice a week sessions - eat normally but nibble some of your brekkie on teh bike? Riding every day - energy drink during & breakfast after.
if your worried about weight it would be better to eat well in conjunction with /after these sessions and take it easy during the rest of the day rather than stinting yourself in the morning and getting 2 mars bar ravenous by after lunch.
Good luck whatever - not my cup of tea at all.....

milese

I used to eat a bowl of porridge, then leave for work pretty much straight away. Invariably i ended up feeling sick on my commute, and therefore not pushing it so much.

I now take the uncooked porridge / milk mixture in a sandwich box, fly to work feeling much better, zap for 2 minutes whilst I get changed and eat at my desk.

That way I'm eatting an hour later as well so last longer before eating lunch and dont pick so much.

Franco_OFFICIAL

Espresso

Franco_OFFICIAL

Espresso

Infamous

Double espresso.

Garz

Infamous wrote:

Double espresso.

tlw1

Garz wrote:

Infamous wrote:

Double espresso.

LOL

thistle_

If I get out riding in the morning (only for 45 minutes) I just have a cup of tea to before I go to jump start the system and I'm fine

Not particularly hungry when I get back, but it usually kicks in around 10:30 when I'm at work but we have a burger van that come around the estate around then.

RickyG

Thanks for the tips everyone, I'll be giving it a go tomorrow morning (hopefully!).