How much diffierence does eating before training make?

mclarent

Previously I was very controlled in managing my eating before training to maximise impact. This year, I've been dieting to try and shed more weight. However, I've noticed a difference in my training which is bothering me.

Last night I was set up for a high intensity session but could only manage 10mins warm-up 10mins close to threshold before I started getting serious muscle pain / fatigue. Best way to describe it is that I felt like I was at the end of my session when I was only 20mins in(!) That wasn't the first time I've had that feeling when pushing big gears, just haven't felt as strong this year. Last night I hadn't eaten for probably 7 hours (since lunch) when I got on the turbo.

I'm pretty sure last night was a combination of factors, including general tiredness and probably pushing myself too hard on my commute, but was wondering if anyone knows how much impact diet could be having?

conceptual_primate

Hi Mclarent,

A couple of observations. I guess it depends on what your 'diet' is. For example, aiming to cut out crisps, sweets and fried foods and replacing this with healthy and nutritious alternatives shouldn't impede training (and probably would greatly help improve your fitness). If you're being quite stringent on calorie intake - say aiming to eat 2000 calories per day, for example - then you might not be eating enough to fuel and recover from your workouts.

Also, if you've cycled to/from work already, your muscles may have already depleted their glycogen store and you may be trying to train on empty. Could rest be a factor here as well - depending on how often you commute/exercise, you could be overtraining?

If you've been focusing on losing weight this year, you will probably have been shedding muscle as well as body fat and hence notice the increased effort to push a big gear.

Time of day is a factor as well; I rarely eat before commuting to work or going on an early morning ride and I don't feel I suffer for it, but I notice the difference when I play football mid-evening, say 7pm, without having my dinner first of all.

The best general advice I can think of is listen to your body. If you feel chronically fatigued/hungry or notice a drop off in performance then you're probably doing too much and you need to cut back, either on the training or dieting.

Hope that helps.

BeaconRuth

mclarent wrote:

Last night I hadn't eaten for probably 7 hours (since lunch) when I got on the turbo.

There is no way in a million years I could do a hard turbo session if I hadn't eaten for the 7 hours prior. Even if I'm the slightest bit peckish beforehand I have at least a small bowl of breakfast cereal.

You can't run a car with no petrol in the tank! (And forget any idea about burning fat - you're probably working far too hard on the turbo for that.)

Ruth

Pokerface

BeaconRuth wrote:

mclarent wrote:

Last night I hadn't eaten for probably 7 hours (since lunch) when I got on the turbo.

There is no way in a million years I could do a hard turbo session if I hadn't eaten for the 7 hours prior. Even if I'm the slightest bit peckish beforehand I have at least a small bowl of breakfast cereal.

You can't run a car with no petrol in the tank! (And forget any idea about burning fat - you're probably working far too hard on the turbo for that.)

Ruth

What Ruth said.

It's always a good idea to eat SOMETHING before training. Even if it's an hour before. 7 hours is far too long to get any meaningful benefit from your training.

Losing weight is a good plan, but if you don't have enough energy to do the exercise, you won't burn off enough in the long run. Eat at the right times and you'll have the energy to burn off a lot more.

Garry H

The only time I wouldn't eat anything for 7 hours would be whilst sleeping!!

sandbag

I advise against efficiently burning your muscle mass, which is what you do on a empty stomach.

How about instead, eat well, with the extra fuel, do a really intense or long moderate workout. With the extra muscle built, you burn more fat calories.

Although, there is training benefits, not relying on immediate carbs for energy, all the time.

The reason you burn more fat with longer moderate exercise is because, fat needs oxygen to burn. Once energy exertion exceeds your oxygen intake, you burn less fat and more carbs. With less oxygen around, more lactic acid is produced.

Why lose power to lose weight?

JimmyK

I wouldnt set my @rse on the saddle unless id eaten enough to fuel a planned ride.

bcss

actually having your glycogen empty and doing high intensity exercises might lead to muscle loss/ damage as your body starts burning protein due to the lack of glycogen

recommend to read this book, it's well written and gives you a great basis to understand what you need to eat in order to achieve a specific goal, nutrition is half the rent if you don't match it with your work out, then you are wasting your efforts

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sp ... 998&sr=8-1

bigpikle

I have lost 40lbs the last 7 months while triathlon training 6 days a week. I focused on eating optimally around workouts eg making sure I was well fueled before and afterwards for optimal recovery, and then reduced calorie intake in other meals. That way I managed to train with zero issues. Admittedly my focus has mostly been easy long endurance efforts to build base fitness, but even training such as 13 mile runs and 2+ hour rides havent been any problem at all, as well as some higher intensity stuff as well.

mclarent

Thanks for the responses everyone, sounds like I'll have to start getting sensible again! :shock:

Crimmey

I tried barely eating at all and losing as much weight as possible whilst doing heavy training, which worked wonders ( for weight loss) however my performance deteriorated so much it set me back 3 months. 6 months later, eating a hell of a lot more, the improvements are nice and steady and losing weight very slowly which I am now fine with.
On long rides, the night before I stuff my face but dont eat anything before or during which suits me great. My body seems to take ages to convert food to energy so eating during has limited effect unless its a glucose drink. I just need to remember to drink enough and don't forget lots of sleep too. Everyone is different but the principle's are still the same.