rumrunn6

I dated a dog with crabs once but soon discovered my mistake and broke up with her

Heathpack 

I agree with your disagreement.

Up at 3:40 this am, on the bike by 4. Twenty minute warmup on the bike, then I'm good to go.

Sometimes if I'm running late, I'll put my cup of coffee in a bottle and take it on the bike. I almost always do this for trainer workouts and drink my coffee during my warm-up.

Good thing I haven't read the exercise physiology texts because if I had, I'd only be able to ride 3 days a week. For me on days I work, I've got to be done riding by 6:30am or there's a good chance I don't ride at all.

Wylde06

Ive filled my bottles with iced coffee mid ride before. Cant say ive had coffee while on the trainer though

gsteinb

I used to but not any longer. Down to business too quickly.

gsteinb

A lot of 'I can't do this or that' is simply the stuff of excuses. There are volumes written about champions who made the best of what they could do. The mind and body will adapt to almost anything. And still there are preferences. But when our ideals don't work we're left to do what we can, and there's the nuance of setting the conditions in motion to create the best possible circumstances for ourselves. For many years I got up at 3:30 so I could meditate, have time to train, and then get into the city for work. I knew that training in the morning kept me more on task then leaving it for the evening, when my mind would be some combo of burnt and distracted from work. Everyone has to find the circumstances that work best for them. I need 90 minutes before training. Even for early morning races I'm better served getting up extra early so I can have my morning routine before heading out the door.

Enthalpic

Yes, it's normal. Caffeine, as mentioned, helps.

Effect of time of day on performance, hormonal and metabolic response during a 1000-M cycling time trial. - PubMed - NCBI
Our findings suggest that performance was improved in the evening, and it was accompanied by an improved hormonal and metabolic milieu.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24476482
time to exhaustion was 20% greater (P < 0.01) in the evening (329 ± 35 s) than in the morning (275 ± 29 s). Performance in the evening was associated with a 4% higher (P < 0.01) maximal oxygen uptake (54 ± 7 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1) vs. 52 ± 6 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1), for the evening and the morning, respectively) and a 7% higher (P < 0.01) anaerobic capacity (as reflected by maximal accumulated oxygen deficit: 75 ± 9 mL·kg(-1) vs. 70 ± 7 mL·kg(-1), for the evening and the morning, respectively). In addition, oxygen uptake kinetics was faster in the evening, which resulted in slower utilization of the anaerobic reserves.

Is there a diurnal variation in repeated sprint ability on a non-motorised treadmill? - PubMed - NCBI
Distance covered, peak power, average power, peak velocity and average velocity all showed significantly higher values in the evening compared with the morning (a range of 3.3-8.3%, p < 0.05), with peak power displaying a statistical trend (0.10 > p > 0.05).

Caffeine ingestion reverses the circadian rhythm effects on neuromuscular performance in highly resistance-trained men. - PubMed - NCBI
These results indicate that caffeine ingestion reverses the morning neuromuscular declines in highly resistance-trained men, raising performance to the levels of the afternoon trial.

Improvements on neuromuscular performance with caffeine ingestion depend on the time-of-day. - PubMed - NCBI
The ingestion of a moderate dose of caffeine counteracts the muscle contraction velocity declines observed in the morning against a wide range of loads. Caffeine effects are more evident in the lower body musculature. Evening caffeine ingestion not only has little effect on neuromuscular performance, but increases the rate of negative side-effects reported.

Ygduf

I give legit answers and people never believe me.

carpediemracing 

Back in the day, for a while (6 months?) I rode at 5:15 AM, because girl. We did 2-2.5 hour rides, I don't remember how many times a week, maybe 3 or 4. I struggled like mad for the first couple months, but after a while I got used to the early hours, warming up a bit, and finally feeling like I could ride an hour into the ride. I felt like, yeah, I was acclimating to the bizarre-to-me hour.

A sis-in-law, who worked third shift for many years, said something pretty insightful about 3rd shift after working a normal shift job for a bit. "I thought I was getting used to working 3rd shift, like my body adapted to it. What I realized is that I was actually just getting used to feeling like s**t."

I'm so not a morning person, even when I was getting up super early (to me) for Junior. In the old days, when the shop was open 10-7, I'd get up at 9 and think I was doing well. Nowadays I rarely sleep past 6:30, and often am up at 5-5:30, but riding? Forget it. Even if I didn't have a slew of things to do I wouldn't want to get on the bike.

Hermes

I believe you. Some of my best high intensity track workouts are on an empty stomach and coffee. Sardines seem just wrong.

TheKillerPenguin

I mean, he did mention eating crabs.

More seriously, I prefer working out in the afternoon, but I workout in the morning when I have to. It's just annoying, power numbers are typically the same.

gsteinb

also an empty stomach and caffeine.

why insecure?

mike868y

I'm a morning person when it comes to training. In part because 9 times out of 10 some unexpected BS keeps me at work later than I'd like. That being said, similarly to G I can't do the wakeup and hop on the bike thing. I need at least an hour to go through the routine (coffee, breakfast, etc. riding fasted just isn't for me) and will happily sacrifice an hour of sleep to go through that. in the winter i'm up at 4:45 or so and on the rollers by 6. When commuting/riding outside I usually get by pushing that back to a 6:30 departure.

Ygduf

I'm very secure. Everyone should feel more secure about my replies.

gsteinb

it's the etc. that's important to me!

If I eat I need another hour to digest and more etc.

I don't train very long and since I'm done before 9am I can hold off on eating.

mattm

this

Enthalpic

There are surprisingly few papers on bowel movements and exercise performance. Mostly about "runner's trots".

caloso

As soon as I win the lottery and can quit my job, I'll be doing all my workouts at the optimal time. Until then, it's O-dark-thirty on the way to the office.

TMonk

^
ain't that the truth!

therhodeo

I've ridden on empty, full, and all points in between and outside of bonking or some duration related issue having food in my stomach does very little to me.

nemeseri

Wow. Thanks.

Racer Ex 

Not in my house.

aaronmcd

I guess it depends. On ride days (and often other days) I make it quick, so it's a bowl of cereal. Anyway, bacon and eggs isn't the best pre-training meal.

Coffee requires boiling water, steeping for 4 minutes, drinking slowly, and waiting for caffeine to kick in.

revchuck 

I've been adaptable. My pre-retirement job was pretty much 7-4 and I could train fine after work. My post-retirement job is at an LBS which opens at 9:30, so I train before work. My preference is to train before work due to less traffic on the roads and the chance to watch the sun rise as I ride, plus my wife feels less animosity towards the bike when I ride while she's still in bed.

cmh

When I commute to work in the morning one of my bottles is a contigo with coffee. I drink that during the first 20 minutes or so while I'm warming up, then switch to the water and ride hard after that. From wake up to out the door is 15-20 min with a very quick, small breakfast.

ZippyThePinhead

Bad form to resurrect the thread, I know. Even worse form to assume everyone is like me, getting up a few times each night to pee. But I'm usually a bit dehydrated when I get up and if I'm not careful to hydrate sufficiently before going out to ride, I find it elevates my HR and is much harder in terms of perceived suffering. A coffee isn't enough; I need a big glass of water or milk, maybe two.