kevmk81

I usually ride on a trainer in the morning for 30 to 45 minutes. On nice weather mornings I'll ride outside for about 20 miles... my question is, since I am doing this in the morning after I wake up, should I eat before I ride, after I ride, or both? For the past couple weeks I've been eating breakfast afterwards... a bowl of cereal and a bottle of water. Any suggestions?

kevmk81

Or is 20 miles not even significant enough to worry about it? It takes about an hour. I do try to bust my arse.

timmhaan

some people get away without eating much (or anything) before AM workouts. other people, like me, have to have something in their stomachs. 30-45 minutes isn't too much time, so i think you could really go either way.

however, most people would agree that eating afterward is important. i would recommend always eating and hydrating after.

kevmk81

Thanks for the input! Anybody else have any ideas? What about riding for an hour with a pretty good effort? I don't really feel like I'm pooped afterwards or anything. I'm just afraid I might be losing a lot of muscle if I'm not eating before going on the trainer or outside.

caloso

For an hour's hard effort I'd definitely need something in the tank. Usually that's a big bowl of oatmeal with honey, dried fruit, and skim milk. And a little espresso, in honor of Fausto.

kevmk81

So say you did this right after you woke up in the morning, would you eat before also? Or would you just ride, then eat your oatmeal and other stuff?

caloso

Oh, no. I mean that's what I'd eat first thing. Of course, with all that caffeine and roughage I have to schedule a little time in the library before heading out.

kimmer99

Anything less than 50 - 60 minutes and I don't need to eat before I ride first thing in the morning. Over 60, I definitely need to eat and I usually eat oatmeal - i've tried lots of different things and that seems to work best for me.

ericgu

If you work out right away, you probably can't deal with much in your stomach. I like to eat a couple of clif bloks right away to get something in my stomach if I'm going to work out right away. If it's going to be 30-60 minutes, I'll eat a clif bar but that means I need to ride a bit slowly when I first start out.

If worked out without doing this, and I don't have the energy I want.

babydee

+1

I usually eat whole-grain cereal before a long morning ride, and I'll mix some protein mix into the milk. Chocolate protein shake over Kashi Cinnamon Harvest is a pretty good tasting power breakfast, and the whole grains with the whey/casein protein blend releases macro nutrients over time.

Richard Cranium

Call your Mother, she'll know. If she won't tell you then you'll just have to experiment.

kevmk81

Thanks for the advice everybody, and I will call my mom, not for nutrition advice though :-]