I’m relatively new to Trainerroad and the forum especially so if this has been covered before my genuine apologies. Due to a fairly busy work and family schedule most of my training is first thing in the morning. Start time is usually 4:30 or 5:00am. I don’t normally eat before training and won’t eat during unless it’s a longer block in which case I might take in a gel. Afterwards I take a BCAA recovery drink and eat plenty of carbs throughout the day.
My question is, is doing all of my training fasted hurting me? I’m able to complete my training most days without a problem but would I see better gains if I ate something before I trained? If so, should it be something light or full on bowl of oatmeal?
If it helps, I’m 5’10” or 178cm and 137lbs or 62kg. Current FTP is 218 and currently on the Olympic triathlon mid volume specialty plan. Will start the 70.3 low volume base plan on Sept 16th after my A race the prior weekend.
I would start preparing for the session the night before, so making sure you’ve taken on enough carbs knowing you need to fuel the mornings session. It does depend on how long your trainer session is, anything up to 90 minutes and you should be fine on nothing but water.
However, if you feel you’re lacking then sipping on a sports drink or something along those lines should help.
I don’t think it would effect your training but just make sure you’re taking on enough fuel afterwards and throughout the day. You’ll soon know if you haven’t eaten enough.
For years I used to lift weights first thing in the morning with a bit of cardio work chucked in for good measure.
I then switched to the bike but I’ve always struggled with anything other than tempo/endurance work. I’m not sure if it’s psychological but my heart rate seems to pin at 170+ and I just feel crap, even doing sweetspot stuff! Eating on the bike doesn’t seem to help either as I usually only have time for an hour or so as I have 2 kids (4 and 7month!!) so if I eat it doesn’t really kick in!
Usually I smash an espresso and keep the gels on standby!