Eat more, and late, the night before.
This has happened for me as well… generally when NOT taking on some fuel at some point before and/or during the ride. I also get what you are saying about the “losing weight” bit. As a cyclist that is carrying around some extra weight, it’s basically a balancing act and finding the proper amount of fuel to get you through that “burn” of a hard session, but keeping the daily calorie consumption at a point that you are in a “deficit” for the day overall.
For me, I have no issues with weight gain when hammering carbs during my TR sessions. I typically will take in 80-90g carbs/hour on the bike (dependent on intensity of the current session, of course) in the form of energy gels generally, have a good post WO recovery meal, and make sensible choices throughout the remainder of the day, keeping my overall caloric intake where it needs to be to maintain and/or lose some of the excess.
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Don’t you get a struggle survey when that happens?
Thanks, @Will_Peters , that’s encouraging. I bought the SiS gels and make a Gatorade bottle with half of what’s recommended and see how it goes. My post WO is solid so no concerns there.
@ArHu74 - I haven’t marked ‘failed’ yet so assume that’s why I haven’t seen a survey yet.
This was a big concern of mine as well. The biggest thing that fueling my workouts has done is cut down on any binges I have later in the day. I have not gained any weight because I fuel at 60g/hr+. Do not diet on the bike and you will feel much better in the long run.
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I’ve heard a lot of people say this, and I agree that he should fuel his workouts, but I’ve never experienced the “fueling my workouts cuts down on my desire to eat the rest of the day”. I wish I could and I’m jealous!! But…for me, the truth is that hard or long rides make me want to eat everything in the house for the rest of the day, and that’s with taking in 90+g per hour.
Mmmmm… maple syrup Gatorade mix aye. 
OP,
Some are morning people, some are not. Some become morning people, some force it, some never do. Personally I am best in the afternoon or evening. Getting going before 7 am is REALLY difficult for me so I am amazed and impressed you are doing what you are at 4 am. Keep grinding!
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Coffee Untapped Maple with a 12 oz of matter 15 minutes before I hop on the bike. If it’s a 90 minute workout, a have a second one around the 30 minute mark.
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I suffer through this too. Not sure if it’s because I’m not awake, not fed, or what. I usually back off the intensity 5-1% and just figure these are the conditions I have to train in. May as well make the most of it.
Eat eat eat, you’re not going to get fat or ruin body comp from fueling training and sweetspot is especially draining on glycogen. I do all my indoor training at 530 am, and am usually up at 5 or 5:10. I have a cup of black coffee and a banana drizzled in honey and then use Flow Formulas drink mix on the bike. When I do outside weekend rides during the afternoon I can fuel pretty easily at 90g/hr but in the mornings I do 70-80 g/hr depending on how much I’ve trained my gut.
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The first time I did morning intervals at 5am I did them fasted. It was a game changer actually fueling the rides properly.
I also get up and stretch, move my body with some dynamic stretches to get everything warmed up before the warm up. Then I need about 15 minutes on the bike to be ready for the first sets of intervals. This morning I added 5 minutes to the beginning of the workout, if not first set of intervals started around 10 minutes. Endurance rides I do the same body movements and fuel the rides but don’t need an additional warmup.
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Thank you @Cavasta for the SiS double espresso gel (contains 150mg of caffeine and 21.5g of carbs) recommendation. These have worked great. I then take Gatorade on my ride and then a gel before I switch to the run.
I have to admit doing the Sweet Spot Base Mid Volume and getting in 20+ miles running a week has been a lot. I’m a few weeks in and still holding on!
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Nice work. Glad you find the gels beneficial. They certainly pack a noticeable punch don’t they? So much better than the standard caffeine gels.
i have the same problem, up at 445am on the bike at 5am sharp.
Can do 120g/hr of carbs and start with a shot of espresso and the RPE for SST and threshold workouts is still a lot higher for the same work if i were to do it at 10am.
I’ve tried extending warm ups a bit and it helps, but its still a slog.
I can do 3x40min SST workouts at 10am on a Saturday after a Friday night of drinking, but give me 3x15min SST on a tuesday morning after going to bed at 9pm on Monday and its a struggle.
Sucks…
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Yes - no way to sugar coat it. Most the SST/Thres rids I can do easier in the afternoon, but I don’t have 6 hours of afternoon time to squeeze in a ride. 4am 90 min SST/Thres rides are the worst.
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Hello,
I also drive very often early in the morning. I already found some tips here on what and how to eat for training so early in the morning. Thank you !
Now I’m interested in one thing about which I’m always in a dilemma…
Training is, say, 2 hours long. My CH intake during training is approx. 70g/h. = about 140g of CH consumed during driving alone
If I eat breakfast 15-20 minutes before the start of training (100-120g of CH), is this intake also counted in the total intake of how much we eat on average per hour?
In this case, the average intake per hour is 70g or 130g per hour, depending on how we count the food intake just before the start
Does it count only what we actually eat on the bike?
I have my doubts because there is such a small time difference between breakfast and the start of training