Reading this post here got me thinking about what others do. I know breakfast is important, but so is sleep. On days where I do no AM workout I eat breakfast but on days with an AM workout sometimes I don’t. If I eat plenty the night before I find this is OK. For example, this morning I did my AM swim (50mins) on some chocolate milk. I had breakfast after.
The main reason I don’t eat is because I don’t want food sitting in my stomach while I swim. I like to digest it a little. It takes me about 50mins from getting out of bed to getting in the pool. Not long enough for me to eat, digest, and for the food to actually make a difference to my glucose levels/glycogen stores. I have chocolate milk just so that I have a little bit of glucose in my blood before I hit the pool. If I was doing a longer workout then maybe I would get up earlier and eat more.
What do others do? do you really eat oatmeal, toast, bagels, drink coffee & OJ then hit the pool 40mins later?
well, if the choc milk works for you, stick with it.
just go light- for an am swim or run, I wake up to the dark roast coffee and have a few fig newtons or a banana, anything more I would taste later.
then of course post-swim, the largest egg-sandwich I can find from a local breakfast spot ( einsteins, etc)
of course for the bike, you can be a bit more liberal.
Cereal for me and sometimes granola bars. Usually up 1 hour before workout, eating 40 minutes before the swim. This morning I had PB and honey sandwich. I’ve never had difficulties with eating before swimming - the opposite is true for me. If I don’t eat, then practice usually goes horrible (weak feeling, stomache in knots).
Wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, drink a glass of water, and head out.
When I come back I take a shower, eat a bowl of cereal and go to school.
I always thought that if you don’t eat anything prior to an aerobic workout, you’ll force your body to use more fat. But that’s just my theory (which is probably wrong).
When I swim in the mornings I normally eat half a cliff bar and a banana about 20 minutes before the swim. I’ll eat a small breakfast afterwards and normally a bigger lunch.
One time in the evening I ate dinner (meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas) 45 minutes before I swam and PR’d a 4000yd swim.
I never eat breakfast before I work out in the mornings, except long bike days. I do drink a couple of cups of coffee. Breakfast afterwards is either an egg on toast, yogurt and fruit or a bagel (long run days only). Up at 5AM, out the door at 6 or so. Coffee, email, wake up in between.
<< Wake up, brush my teeth, get dressed, drink a glass of water, and head out.
When I come back I take a shower, eat a bowl of cereal and go to school.
I always thought that if you don’t eat anything prior to an aerobic workout, you’ll force your body to use more fat. But that’s just my theory (which is probably wrong). >>
Ditto for me, except cross off ‘school’ and replace it with ‘work’.
And ditto on the last part too, I try to do the majority of my training on a empty stomach for much the same reason(s). Rich Strauss (and others) agree with us; that doesn’t mean that it is “proven”, but it works for me. Bill Phillps (yes, the BodyforLife guy - take it with a grain of salt) claims that exercising first thing on an empty stomach gives you the effect of 2-3x greater calorie burning overall (during and afterwards) than if ya trained on a full tank.
I’ve done runs of up to 1:15 (so far) with nothing more than a glass or 2 of water prior, and nada during. Bikes of 1:30 the same - only for them I usually have some water with me, either in the aerobottle or a camelbak. Cheap insurance is to bring a GU or 2 with you in case you start to bonk.
As I get closer to race season and the distances and times increase, I’ll start to incorporate more eating on the longer rides and runs, as this is just as important to train for (if not moreso) as everything else.
I work out almost every morning. Never eat much before a workout. Usually, I’ll drink only a glass of orange juice and the nhead out. If I feel hungry, I might eat some yogurt, but that’s it. I save the real breakfast for the recovery meal.
jeez. I feel like a pig. i eat a small meal every 3-4 hours. I’m 5’10" and 155 lbs and if I didn’t eat like this I’d weight 140 and not have the strength to drag my skinny ass around. I eat before (bowl of cereal or CLif bar and coffee) and after every workout (homemade smoothie) and by lunch I’m dying of hunger. The after noon snack is usually a bar or a peanut butter or tuna sandwich. Dinner. Then a small bowl of cottage cheese with a few peach pieces before bed. I wake up hungry.
Anybody else eat like this or do all you have “just a spot of tea” before your morning workouts?
I get up, eat oats, yogurt and coffee, take a dump, change to run clothes and I am out the door for up to a 2 hour run in a sum total of 30 min after getting up.
If it’s a quick workout or a high-intensity workout, I’ll be sure to eat healthy the night before and just go on a little coffee and a water. It’s not easy to run intervals just 30 min. after eating. If it’s a 2-hour ride at a slow pace, I have to eat before I go. I can run 10 min. miles right after eating a lot, but can’t do anything intense after eating a lot. One hour is a good way to look at it too, maybe: If the workout is less than an hour, food won’t help much. More than an hour, food will probably help.
For me, it’s a matter of timing. I like to have everything ready to go the night before, so I can sleep as long as possible. At 5:00 - 5:30 am, I pretty much jump out of bed and head to the gym/pool within 10 minutes of getting up. So, were I to eat, I wouldn’t have time to digest. I find that a glass of OJ and maybe a piece of toast or some yogurt sees me through the workout no problem. I rarely go more than 1.5 hours in the morning, and then after that, I’m ravenous all day long.
I’ll eat the “real” breakfast right after the workout (usually between 8:00 - 9:00 am). I usually have a bar or something at 11:00-11:30 am for the mid-morning snack. Then, if it’s a double workout day (which it usually is), I do my 2nd workout of the day around noon or 1:00 pm and eat a “hearty” lunch right after that. Another snack around 4:30-5:00 pm sees me through to dinner at 7:30 - 8:00 pm.