Early Morning Eats

Today I got an email from a friend asking about the best early morning workout fueling plan. This sure brought back memories of packing up my PB and J and brewing my coffee in my dorm room at 5 in the morning in college!





Before my junior year in college, I never ate before morning workouts. I thought I'd be slower, feel sicker, and lose my breakfast. But after a severe dizzy spell and a trip to health services after practice one day (to be diagnosed wit hypoglycemia and "cured" with a coca cola!) I realized how important pre-practice fueling is! And so I tried eating a powerbar before practice... And hated it for the first couple of weeks. I just wasn't used to having anything in my stomach before rowing. It felt weird and uncomfortable. But by week 3, I was hooked. My performance was improving and recovery was faster. Plus, I wasn't as tempted to overeat at breakfast because my blood sugar was stable! I lost 3% body fat and improved my 2k time by 10 seconds that season!



Think about pre-morning nutrition rationally: would you EVER work out in the evening after not eating anything since 6am? Because that is basically what you are doing when you work out at 6am...you haven't fueled your body for 8-12 hours! You probably are a less than efficient machine. The American College of Sports Medicine has recommendations for pre-workout fueling. I've translated them from "nutrition geek" language to "real food" language and also included some recommendations for people who just can't stomach the amount of food recommended!



ACSM recommendations: Eat 1g Carbohydrate per kg body wt per hour prior to exercise. Go for low glycemic index foods.

Translation: For a 115-130 lb woman, this would translate to 25-30g complex carbs 1/2 hour preworkout. Some options include:
1. 1/2 bagel with tsp peanut butter,
2. 1/2 power bar,
3. glass skim chocolate milk,
4. 2 cups gatorade,
5. 1 gu,
6. 1 slim fast shake or instant breakfast
Also, drink about 1-1.5 cups water within an hour of exercise.

"Real life": Eat what works for you. Something is always better than nothing. My favorites in the morning are 1 cup steamed soy milk and 1 cup coffee mixed, or a banana. Bananas seem to settle well with most people. Mike swears by blueberry frosted poptarts. It's not necessarily the type of complex carb meal I'd recommend, but it helped him run a pr marathon (2:35!) this year.

I also find that people can "adapt" to eating more over time. You can start with a bite of a powerbar and make a goal to increase number of bites every week or so.


Try making a SMART goal to increase your food intake pre-exercise. It may just be the thing you need to bring your performance to a new level!