Breakfast timing for endurance rides?

Training
21

You have an impressive digestive system.

22

I eat a bowl of cereal with almond milk. Cow milk blows me up like a Ballon. The almond milk is pretty much just for stamps.

I try and get 60g of carbs in that serve. More if Iā€™m going over 3 hrs

On the bike i get 45g of carbs in drink form per hour. I am testing eating a Nutella sandwich ATM so I can reduce the liquid sugar. Itā€™s all sugar in the end but leave me to my neurosis. Lol

The cereal for me has worked a treat and I have tested no carbs during for rides under 2 hrs and the above for those lasting over 2 hrs and Iā€™ve had no issues.

Specifically this relates to easy endurance laced rides and not anything with intensity

23

Likely a very individual thing. Iā€™m with you, I could eat a big greasy cheeseburger and fries for breakfast and go knock out a few hours of Z2. Iā€™d actually feel better riding my bike after that vs. just sitting around with a heavy gut. But I wouldnā€™t want to push beyond the top of Z2 or low Z3 after a meal like that. I donā€™t like a full stomach if Iā€™m pushing at all. But Iā€™m still good with throwing down a PB&J and a thing of yogurt (common early breakfast for me) and immediately jumping on the bike for just about any type of effort. Race mornings I like to have a couple hours to digest, do my business, etc., but I donā€™t get up early enough for training rides to do that.

24

If you are just doing an endurance ride, drink a smoothie and just get on the bike. It shouldnā€™t upset your stomach if youā€™re hustling endurance miles and itā€™s better than an empty stomach for the reason youā€™re concerned about.

25

Just watch your energy levels, especially on interval days. Eating bananas during the ride can help. Fasting rides might affect recovery, so keep an eye on that with your weekly hours. Test it out and adjust as needed.

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26

Toast and honey or marmalade is my go to for early starts, nice and light and quick.

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27

I have a 90min commute (one way) to work, and been commuting quite a lot the past 2 years.

My short takes (with food coach):

  • You should end up with two breakfasts regardless
  • I found out that smaller breakfast before and larger after works best for me
  • Itā€™s enough with a glass of juice, a piece of toast and a coffee.
  • You can have the breakfast before the ride, right before you head out
  • I love to sleep, so from when I wake up, to when I leave is max 45min, so I go up, have a toast with honey or jam, glass of juice, and a coffee, then hit the loo, then change.
  • Once I get to work, Iā€™ll have my proteins, more carbs
  • The most important thing is to eat a big lunch, and not forget the snack before commute back home, having lunch at 12, I usually eat a packet of haribo 90min before my commute back home. Night and day in energy levels going in having carbs before the commute back home. Those days where I forget Iā€™ll feel like crap on the way home.
  • Iā€™ve also found that having some snacks the evening before helps with general energy levels if I am commuting multiple days in a row
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28

One other thing Iā€™d add: for long (3+ hours, out by 5am) early morning rides where I donā€™t really have time to settle in and drink enough coffee before I head out the door, Iā€™ve been bringing along caffeinated energy chews. Iā€™m currently using Bonk Breakers (100mg caffeine, about the same as a cup of coffee). They help with a bit of a pick-me-up when Iā€™m starting to feel a little sluggish from being insufficiently caffeinated during times Iā€™d normally be on an IV drip to my coffee machine.

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29

On my Wednesday endurance rides which are 90 mins planned then 20 min ride to work. All outside. I eat two sandwiches with jam/jelly and a cup of coffee. I wake up around 5 and am
On the bike around 6:10

Usually burning 1200-1400 calories.

I donā€™t eat on the bike only drink water. If I was doing 2.5 hours I would have a drink mix. 16g Powerade and 30g malto.

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30

For a 75 minute AM ride, commute/endurance style, I. (me, my two cents with no science behind it) would probably eat an apple or a honey stinger waffle on the way out the doorā€¦ Probably take a small bottle of low-dose gatorade. Bowl of instant oats when I get to the office. Pop-tarts would also work, but theyā€™re dry, and maybe the only thing crumblier than a honey stinger waffleā€¦

Double everything & triple in-office breakfast if Iā€™m going over 2 hours or any intervals over about 45 secondsā€¦ I even picked up some caffeine and electrolyte mix a couple of weeks ago, not for performance enhancement, but just to avoid the headaches of not having coffee if I happen to start really early and go long on the way in.

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31

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