I need to get up and up be on the turbo by 5am some mornings to get a good session in (something like the Sufferfest’s Blender) and then turn it around for work in time.

When doing high intensity stuff like that is it necessary to eat, or is doing it fasted safe enough (from a not overly cannibalising myself PoV)?

How do you fuel for early morning sessions?

I’d normally fuel an intense session. Otherwise I get tired without actually being able to push myself that hard. Doesn’t need to be much – just enough to raise the blood sugar. Small bowl of cereal, banana so I don’t see it again. Eat something proper afterwards.

If you’re trying to loose weight then probably fasted. If you’re trying to go faster then fuel up.

IMO

Coffee one sugar. All the fuel you need for an hour’s training.

I wouldn’t have thought it mattered for higher intensity sessions? You’d be burning muscle glycogen, it’d take till the end of the session to digest your breakfast even if you did eat one.

I read somewhere (Racing Weight?) that fasted training is supposed to be for long/low intensity sessions e.g. going out for the Sunday club run on an empty stomach for 5 hours.

Everything I’ve read about fasted training says it’s for low intensity, higher Intensity is too catabolic so you do as much harm as good.

Ah, the early morning training session, a topic close to my heart!

I do one fasted session a week, 45mins to and hour on the turbo in zone 2, which for me means keeping my HR between 120 and 145.

For all other training I’ll eat something pre training, but only something very light like a digestive biscuit or a little bit of fruit.

It does seem eating something is the smart thing. Blender, for example, is 1h 40hrs and pretty high intensity, so snackage is looking like the way to go…

Do any of you have encouraging weight loss stories from early morning training?

The latest I’ve read on it is adding fasted training sessions into your week builds more mitochondria. These are the energy supplying cells. Have a look at fasted HIIT on google and there’s quite a bit of useful info. I prefer fasted runs first thing. See what feels best for you

For a turbo session, you won’t be riding long enough to need food. I ride 90 km on Sundays, leaving at 06:30 am.. I’ve done this fasted and fed. A bowl of porridge really helps with the endurance. I eat a small natural date bar after two hours. This morning I drank about 300 ml.

When travelling for work, I’ve done two hour sufferfest sessions fasted at 5 am (jet lag works for me here!)