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My current goal is tempo / threshold training to increase my power and endurance. At the moment the only realistic time I have to do this is early morning, i.e. getting up at 5:30 and getting on the turbo for an hour before all the usual family morning routine.
Am I going to get much use from these sessions if I haven't had breakfast? I've had a search and can't find a lot of useful info on this - there's loads on fasted training for losing weight, and long low-intensity sessions to burn fat make sense, but that's not my training goal at the moment.
Do any armchair coaches have any tips on this? I'm wondering if I'm going to have to rise at 5 and make a smoothie or something quick to digest... obviously I'm asking The Internet before actually going ahead and trying it out!
As long as you can get through the session, its not necessary. If you're time poor a gel mid warm up, or even a high carb meal pre bedtime will help - bear in mind your glycogen - which you'll need some of but not a lot of for the tempo - will be low first thing.
As your goal isn't to burn/fat lose weight and is to increase power which means a change in mitochondria build & efficiency I'd be fuelling before and fuelling after with a good carb/protein balance.
I think an hour would be your limit without food. Have a substantial evening meal and hit it in the morning.
Personally, I would have a large bowl of porridge with fruits after the session to replace what I had just burnt off.
You will be fine. Have a energy drink, some gels or some jelly sweets in the workout if you need it. I have been doing it for a couple of years now and do sweetspot, threshold and vo2 max sessions without eating before hand.
What do you mean by tempo because an hour out tempo prob isn’t the best way to increase power if you are time limited.
I have an energy drink pre- and during workouts that I start around 5.45. Its a homemade mix with bulk maltodextrin and fructose (so vastly cheaper than branded!)
Been doing it for a couple of years now and it really works for me.
A few bananas next to the turbo are a cheap and handy way to fuel. Don't overly think about it to begin with, you'll find your way in time. Trick is to just get on that machine and do something, anything. Do it regularly and you'll find some massive improvements in your fitness.
This is an excellent appraoch to adopt; it's called 'fatigue training' and is recognised as an excellent way to traing the body to burn fat; since your glycogen reserves will be depleted the body will more readily turn to fat as an energy source.
A cup of good strong coffee also helps that process (apparently it's the cafeine that stimulate the fat burn).
For the winter of 2014/15 I was training for a race season and would ride into London from Horsham (about 100km round trip, 60km in and 40km back including Box Hill). My ride in was always on an empty stomach but a good cup of coffee. I’d leave around 6am and get into London by around 8am.
Trick is to just get on that machine and do something, anything. Do it regularly and you’ll find some massive improvements in your fitness.
Definitely this. Exercising first thing in the morning before eating is definitely the way forward with weight control and fitness. More gain than exercise at any other time of day.
This is an excellent appraoch to adopt; it’s called ‘fatigue training’
itym "fasted training"
I'm not a proponent of fasted training btw. It's just a fact of getting up early that often a cup of coffee is all you can be bothered to have before riding. Eat if you're hungry, ride easy if you're tired. Just ride for at least an hour/day and you'll be amazed by how fast you get three months down the road.
Hi - thanks for the advice.
I'm thinking of sessions like Zwift's "Garmin UNBOUND Recipe for Grit", profile below:
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/garmin-unbound-gravel-training-plan/week-3-recipe-for-grit
which I did first thing yesterday morning and it felt... surprisingly easy. Perhaps I need to up my FTP setting. Basically I'm aiming to up my FTP and stamina, so sessions like the above or the old favourite 2x20 or 3x20min.
I'll keep giving it a try. I guess as people have said, the main thing is Just Doing It.
Pierre
which I did first thing yesterday morning and it felt… surprisingly easy. Perhaps I need to up my FTP setting. Basically I’m aiming to up my FTP and stamina, so sessions like the above or the old favourite 2×20 or 3x20min.
If you haven't done one already, I would do some kind of FTP test so you have an idea of where your FTP should be. Workouts won't be as effective if you just stick a number in that seems right.
FWIW, I find the ramp test to be the most bearable.
The number might need to be tweaked a bit around the value given from the test, but it's a good starting point.
Regarding food - I tend to eat a banana & have a cuppa before a morning workout.
I think the banana is more psychological than anything - if my stomach is rumbling, I tend to concentrate on that rather than the workout 🙂
Thanks @stumpy01, yes I did the full FTP test and I _think_ I gave it everything over the 20 minutes but of course there's always that doubt... I'm going to try the ramp test in a week or so. I actually set the FTP five points higher for the tempo session but I'm wondering if I've just overestimated how hard a Zone 3 workout should feel.
I've definitely found the coffee useful, if only to help me... feel a little lighter before the workout. 😉
FWIW, I find the ramp test to be the most bearable.
There are things worse than a ramp test? What cruel, barbaric device could be worse than a ramp test? 😳
but I’m wondering if I’ve just overestimated how hard a Zone 3 workout should fee
You should be able to ride at tempo for the best part of a day, it should feel comfortable but not easy. To give an example, my HR Max used to be about 191 (at age 46) and I could maintain 150 or about 80% (Zone 3) of that for five hours.
I am also of the banana and a cup of coffee camp. I went through a phase of getting up at 5 to allow me to have a small breakfast before a 6am work out but it didn’t make work outs easier.
Interestingly, I heard (I guess on TrainerRoad podcast) that even a cup of tea with milk in stops a ride being fasted.
I did the full FTP test and I _think_ I gave it everything over the 20 minutes but of course there’s always that doubt…
FTP tests get more accurate once you've done a few of them - you get a feel for how hard you should set out to be able to give it everything over 20 minutes. They're horrible things, but it's worth doing them regularly (say every 8 weeks) to keep an eye on progress.
As to the original question, I'd probably have a smoothie/banana/juice or similar, and a coffee. Something easy on your stomach that you can get down your throat without having to piss around preparing food at that time in the morning. If it's only an hour you won't exactly need it, but if you don't eat beforehand you'll be starving after, and you'll quite possibly overeat to compensate.
I like to start with black pudding X2 and a Megapint.