Commuters: what do you do about breakfast?
Discussion
I tried this whole breakfast lark this morning. Well sort of. In a nod to Ted I actually ate a slice of cold chicken and bacon pie from the other day - hardly green tea and a protein shake. I gave it a good 20 minutes after that before setting off (something I don't usually have time to do) and the results were less than spectacular. For whatever reason I really wasn't on it this morning - felt like I was permanently cycling into a headwind! I could swear my stomach muscles were complaining on one of the climsb too.
Now, sat at the desk, I don't feel any different to normal.
I realise this is a bit different to having a proper balanced breakfast, and for that matter eating after the ride, but my first experiment with breakfast has been a little underwhelming.
On a completely unrelated note I seem to be getting cramp a lot more at the moment. I think now some of my fitness is returning I'm able to push my leg muscles a bit too hard early on in the ride (in my defence there are a lot of hills!) and hence knacker them for later on.
Now, sat at the desk, I don't feel any different to normal.
I realise this is a bit different to having a proper balanced breakfast, and for that matter eating after the ride, but my first experiment with breakfast has been a little underwhelming.
On a completely unrelated note I seem to be getting cramp a lot more at the moment. I think now some of my fitness is returning I'm able to push my leg muscles a bit too hard early on in the ride (in my defence there are a lot of hills!) and hence knacker them for later on.
Mine's 6.5 miles and I try to have a small bowl of cereal before I leave as I feel really ill cycling on an empty stomach. Generally have a couple of glasses of water and a banana 10mins after I get to work, then a cup of tea about half an hour later when I've cooled off a bit. Only average about 15mph though as it's uphill overall on the way in!
Chris71 said:
I tried this whole breakfast lark this morning. Well sort of. In a nod to Ted I actually ate a slice of cold chicken and bacon pie from the other day - hardly green tea and a protein shake. I gave it a good 20 minutes after that before setting off (something I don't usually have time to do) and the results were less than spectacular. For whatever reason I really wasn't on it this morning - felt like I was permanently cycling into a headwind! I could swear my stomach muscles were complaining on one of the climsb too.
Now, sat at the desk, I don't feel any different to normal.
I realise this is a bit different to having a proper balanced breakfast, and for that matter eating after the ride, but my first experiment with breakfast has been a little underwhelming.
On a completely unrelated note I seem to be getting cramp a lot more at the moment. I think now some of my fitness is returning I'm able to push my leg muscles a bit too hard early on in the ride (in my defence there are a lot of hills!) and hence knacker them for later on.
You'll find as you get fitter your body gets in to the groove faster as it realises it's performing a regular exercise... as a result with the mind knowing how hard it remembers the exercise you push harder than you would and can knacker yourself earlier! Now, sat at the desk, I don't feel any different to normal.
I realise this is a bit different to having a proper balanced breakfast, and for that matter eating after the ride, but my first experiment with breakfast has been a little underwhelming.
On a completely unrelated note I seem to be getting cramp a lot more at the moment. I think now some of my fitness is returning I'm able to push my leg muscles a bit too hard early on in the ride (in my defence there are a lot of hills!) and hence knacker them for later on.
It's all good.Breakfast... I maybe didn't clarify but I eat brekkie AFTER the ride and definitely not before. Early morning exercise before brekkie followed by a good nutritional breakfast to feed the muscles back up is the way forward. Brekkie before the ride isn't useful unless you leave about an hour before setting off.
swerni - true
Only time I'll eat in the morning pre workout is a race... London Triathlon last year I was up at 05:00 to eat porridge and have time for it to be sitting in hte energy reserves before a 09:30 start.
The theory is that as you are still "fasting" it convinces your body to use fat stores first. However, once the body has finished working out and glycogen levels are low you need to provide a good brekkie to feed them up - not doing that will not give the body what it needs to repair muscles, fill their reserves and recover before the next session.
Brekkie wise something with a low GI like oats is good - I tend to have museli or porridge in the morning as it keeps you full for a good while too
Only time I'll eat in the morning pre workout is a race... London Triathlon last year I was up at 05:00 to eat porridge and have time for it to be sitting in hte energy reserves before a 09:30 start.
The theory is that as you are still "fasting" it convinces your body to use fat stores first. However, once the body has finished working out and glycogen levels are low you need to provide a good brekkie to feed them up - not doing that will not give the body what it needs to repair muscles, fill their reserves and recover before the next session.
Brekkie wise something with a low GI like oats is good - I tend to have museli or porridge in the morning as it keeps you full for a good while too
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