I have been a night owl most of my life and recently shifted my schedule to early mornings. Lots of good information above, and I concur with the recommendation to have your stuff set up the night before.
These additional pointers have helped me tremendously:
(1) Sleep X hours before you want to wake up. Your natural sleep needs, X hours, are non-negotiable. You will crack eventually if depriving yourself too long, so this takes some HTFU and maturity to sleep early. Yes you can survive a week or 2 on 4-5 hours each night. Just make sure it’s sustainable.
(2) Limit caffeine intake to before 1pm. The half-life of caffeine is 8 hours.
(3) Limit alcohol. This one sucks but it’s well known alcohol doesn’t help sleep quality.
(4) Have riding snacks stashed within reach. I have 3-4 snacks in the toolbox next to my trainer at all times. If I’m feeling wimpy, I’ll pop a Clif blok.
(5) Wear a jacket to start, and have remote controls on your fans. So you can warm up and undress, and turn the fans on when you are ready.
Some great advice in here. I have only started the early morning workouts this year after the arrival of my first daughter and posted a couple of weeks ago, above. Now I enjoy them so much I do them at the weekend too. Something very satisfying about finishing up your spin and knowing that everyone else is just starting their day.
I was never a morning person until now, but it has been a revelation!
That said I am only doing low volume traditional base so 3 workouts/week, but in the new year hoping to start adding a fourth.
@mathieurrr
I make a pot of coffee, dump it in a quart container or big cup. Set that in the fridge over night, and it’s iced coffee; Flavor it how you like.
If you like hot coffee, find a coffee maker that has an alarm on it. That way you can wake up with the pot of coffee hot and ready to go.
Drip coffee maker with a timer on it. Mine is normally halfway through brewing by the time I get downstairs to pour a cup. As long as “coffee maker loaded” is in your list of “bike on trainer” and “water bottles ready” type of stuff to do the night before an early trainer ride, coffee can’t be on your list of excuses to skip.
I think this is completely normal, and even more so during the winter.
I measured my blood glucose over time for workouts over different timeframes, and more often than not, my body took really quite a long time to ramp up and feel “warm”. Talking about 45 mins at least.
Some interesting themes here but what interests me here are people who tend to eat something with bulk before these morning rides.
Personally, it is either nothing (for easy rides) or something that has no fibre content to then digest quick. As I see it, I just need fuel and the extra bulk is just added time onto getting me warmed up… this was the help of the CGM testing at least.
I was wondering, is it better to eat a little breakfast (usually a banana and a small cereal bar, both together around 200kcal) around 30 minute before jumping on the bike (where I consume a high carb drink, also around 200kcal) or should I just consume all my calories on the bike?
I mean, it is working, but so are the fasted easy/receovery rides I do once or twice a week. Anybody knows if the science have something to say about it?
Some research will suggest that having to digest food during a hard workout can draw physiological resources away from where you need them (your legs/brain). If anything, eat that banana before bed and fuel your workout during.
I grind my coffee the night before otherwise I would wake up my wife and that would not be a good thing. I use drip during the week. I am up at 4am so get workouts done, otherwise it just wouldn’t get done.
Yes I feel that way sometimes, I use Chex cereal for my morning workouts to curb the empty stomach feeling, plus have a sugar drink for quick absorbing carbs. If I wake up hungry that means I didn’t eat enough the day before. So I try to make sure I’m matching my calories I’m burning from activity with food. Also if I feel hungry during the day I’ll have a snack usually something like a banana with peanut butter or some toast with butter.
only when rides start getting to 90 minutes or more, and not all the time. Oh, or when I can smell breakfast my wife is making while I still have 30 minutes left on the bike.
2 years later (posts above), still working out early mornings during the week. Needing to be on the bike by 5:15 or so with changes to school schedules. I still really enjoy it. Similar routine - big dinner on the early side the night before. Coffee on wake up, bathroom, bike. Usually no food unless particularly intense or longer weekday ride, then toast/jam/banana or a 1 scoop tailwind drink on the bike.
