Morning training

[Bigfatbangers]

This might be completly ridiculous but whenever I opt for a morning training session I am not able to hit the same pace or time that I would training later on in the day. Heavy legs and lungs, tightness all over and a general lack of energy are the key symtoms. Any thoughts? Should I just wake up earlier?!

[simondo3333]

Are you overtraining perhaps?!?
Symptoms sound familiar to when I overdo it, so some recovery may be in order.

[cjay85]

I have tried training in the morning in the past but it just doesn't work for me. If I can get up, have some breakfast and then train a couple of hours later I am fine but to get up and go I just can't get into stride.

Just think it is what suits each individual.

[Bigfatbangers]

Glad to know it's not just a product of my imagination!

I'm doing the Paris Marathon in April which starts at 8.30am (I think), so part of the morning training plan was to get my body used to exerting itself in the morning. So I guess I'll just have to prepare the body clock to get up at 5am to give enough time to get in condition for the start.

[Oranj]

I also find morning training harder/slower, but I stick with it because for the same perceived intensity I'm going a bit slower and pushing my body a bit less, so less likely to get injured. I often dial in a 30-60 minute steady session in the morning, and this just adds nicely to the number of miles/hours I'm covering every week (if I'm conscious of needing to increase those). The hard stuff can wait until evening.

[rush1884]

There is a few factors that will be affecting you.

Firstly you will have just slept for say 8 hours without taking fluid or food on therefore you are guarnteed to be in a mildy dehydrated state when training early. Having not eaten your muscle glycogen stores will not be sub optimal and your circulating blood glucose will also be low. Even if you eat and then train an hour later your body will still not have optimal energy stores for training.

Secondly the optimal time for our body to train is between 3-5 in the afternoon as this is when our bodyclock (for some evolutionary reason) is ready for action hence your bodies responses (most notably body temperature) is at an optimal state during this time. In the morning we aren't dead but the body is not fully prepared to exert itself.

Thirdly you may not be psychologically ready for the challenge of training first thing in the morning as evening sessions allow you to mentally prepare for the rigours of the day.

You are probably asking yourself why we would train in the morning at all? Well the benefit is that we are in a pre-fatigued state which we often come across during competition. The low muscle glycogen and blood glucose replicates what we would experience half to 3 quarters through a race therefore why not train at this level? Also low blood glucose will stimulate or bodies to utilise fat as an energy source more - this means that although we may not be able to produce high intensity training as much in the morning we are actually working competition specific and developing desirable traits such as fat utilisation.

One word of warning though - try to avoid high intensity training in the morning as performance will be low and effective adaptation will be low as the nutrients in the body are not as available as in the evening.

[Bigfatbangers]

Thanks for that... really interesting stuff.

In light of that, when needing to rise for an early race start, is the only way to combat the effects listed above to rise say four hours before a race start time?

Also, would eating a high carb meal just before bed help?

[rush1884]

With an early morning race start say 8.30am you are trading of a good nights rest with ensuring full carbohydrate stores. Yes eating a couple fo meals before a race would be ideal but it is not practical and the quality of rest will suffer. Typically eating a hearty breakfast a couple fo hours before the start of the race is sufficient.

And certainly eating a high carbohydrate meal say an hour before bed will help the night before a race, however I would advise against this for training as energy levels could be improved for morning training but your body composition couldn suffer for it.

[phil.cotter]

Hi, I train every morning at 5.30am. I live in Brunei and it's the only time cool enough to train!

If it's a light session , says a fast 25 on the bike then I have a light B'fast ( 1xweetabix & peanut butter on toast at 5, when I wake) this seems to work ok for me.

If it's a long/hard session, I'll have a rice or pasta meal about 9 in the evening and top up in the morning with a smoothie mixed with oatmeal in it!

I completed the Singapore marathon in December 09 and the start time for that was 05:30 so I went to bed at 9pm and woke at 3am for breakfast and continued to 'top-up' untill 45mins before start time. Managed to completed it Sub 4hrs, the temp on starting was 25C and on finishing was 34C

The early training starts worked well on race day
Hope this helps!

[Petab]

I had the same problem but realised it was just the fact that my blood sugar was really low.

Never had the problem before but tried some calories pre-training and suddenly it was much easier.

I now use a Multipower carbo boost sachet (or 1/2 of one depending) http://www.multipowerukshop.com/shop/ac ... rbo-boost/ but a bit of the CNP Pro-recovery powder does the job as well http://www.cnpprofessional.co.uk/all-pr ... very.html/. You only need enough to bring up your sugar levels.

Everyone is different though, so could be too much training or something else but maybe worth a try.