In mylast column we discussed proper meal timing around evening training. Many cyclists also train in the early morning hours with little time to eat and drink before heading out on the road.

Let’s take a look at some nutritional strategies that address the food and fluid challenges of early morning training.

One of the biggest dilemmas confronting morning training is that you wake up in the morning with low liver glycogen stores. A major function of your liver is to maintain a steady level of glucose in the blood. Your liver releases glucose into your bloodstream during exercise and between meals. It also performs this function at night after your last meal or snack and well into the night while you are sleeping. After an overnight fast of 8 to 12 hours without food, your liver glycogen stores may be as much as 50 to 80-percent depleted.

You have likely had the experience of eating a good meal or snack before a ride and noting an improvement in your energy levels and mental focus when training. A pre-ride snack can also take the edge off of any hunger that you could experience during a longer ride. This pre-ride meal also helps to maintain blood glucose levels, staving off a performance impairing bonk.

Of course early morning training usually makes a hefty pre-exercise breakfast or snack a tricky endeavor. You simply may not have time to eat before training, or cannot tolerate food that close to exercise. So what are your options?

Chances are that you will have a better quality workout if you can consume some small serving of carbohydrate in the 30 to 60 minutes before training. Training on an empty stomach and with low blood glucose levels does little in the way of training your body to do a better job of burning fat for fuel, and in fact this practice can decrease the quality of your workouts.

Before early morning rides, aim for a snack that provides 50 to 75 grams of carbohydrate. Of course, you would want to choose foods and fluids that are easy on your stomach and tolerated so close to training. Keep your fat intake low, and have only small amounts of very lean protein, if any. This might also be a good time to keep some of your choices lower in fiber, with whole grains rounding out your carbohydrate choices later in the day. Some carbohydrate choices include juice, with 8 to 12 ounces providing 30 to 45 grams of carbohydrate, yogurt, with 8 ounces providing from 25 to 40 grams of carbohydrate, and a medium to large serving of fruit containing 15 to 30 grams of carbohydrate. Some other carbohydrate choices include a wide variety of easily digested cereals, bread/toast, bagels, energy bars, and even gels. Check labels and try to push up the total carbohydrate amount as much as possible within your tolerances. If only liquid carbohydrates are appealing early in the morning, aim for a light smoothie recipe, or even a high carbohydrate sports nutrition supplement.

Even if you can stomach something in the 30 to 60 minutes before training, make sure that you start to consume a sports drink as soon as you get settled on the bike. This is especially important if you do not have the advised carbohydrate amounts before training. The sports drink provides carbohydrate and helps to boost and maintain early morning blood glucose levels, as well as replaces your sweat losses during exercise. As training continues past the 60 to 90 minute mark, depending on your training intensity, your muscle glycogen stores become depleted, and the sports drink provides an outside carbohydrate fuel source. Having ample carbohydrate (and fluid) on the bike becomes even more important when you go out for longer rides.

Meal timing strategies for early morning training don’t stop there. Recovery nutrition is very important. The thirty to 60 minutes after training is a great time to have the real and satisfying breakfast that you missed before training. Have at least half a gram of carbohydrate for every pound that you weight (75 grams for a 150 pound cyclist), though there is a leveling off of glycogen resynthesis when nearing 100 to 125 grams of carbohydrate intake at one meal or snack. Cereals, bagels, fruit, fruit juice, yogurt, and milk all contribute to your carbohydrate intake. Solid and liquid carbohydrate are both effective in restoring muscle glycogen, but you should also focus on rehydration (20 ounces of fluid for every pound of weight loss). A mid-morning snack, or early lunch helps to continue your fuel and fluid replenishment. Eating in the 6 hours after training is especially important if you also plan to train in the evening, as this ensures that you have higher muscle glycogen stores for the evening workout.
Monique