Early Morning runs

StaggerLee

I want to start running first thing in the morning. at around 7am. Looking at doing 10-12 miles runs. I dont fancy getting up at 5am to eat prior to the run. Would eating a high carb meal just before I got to bed be advisable?

Dragan

Not at all to be honest. YOu take in high carbs and go to sleep and they won't cicuit the body endlessly until you wake up and need them, they will pretty much just get stored as fat.

If you want, i would suggest you have something like a way shake, and maybe some Liga or some other similar fast digesting carb in the morning before you go for your run, they should be digested within about 30 mins of eating them.

I'm getting the impression that you are not even remotely worried about running for weight loss, but are working on your endurance and speed over distance, correct me if i'm wrong here?

StaggerLee

Cheers. I was going to get up and eat some fig rolls/jaffa cakes... now Liga.

No I'm not running for weight loss. Just finding it hard to find the time and energy in the after work in the evening to put in the 2 hour runs.

Dragan

To be honest, jaffa cakes rocks for some long term non spiking energy dude!

StaggerLee

Quick question about Whey. I eat meat/fish most days of the week. I also eat eggs regularly. I take an A-Z vitamin with Cod Liver oil. Do I need to take a whey supplement? I thought that was more for weight training... which I dont do a lot of, few pushups now and again..

g'em

If you're not weight training, and already have a diet that's high in protein, I wouldn't say there's any real need to take whey. Lifters need to take whey to supplement a diet so that its very high in protein, as its needed to repair muscle tissue broken down in training.

Brooks

hi,
is it ok to do a 5 k run in the mornings on an empty stomach?
i cant run with food in my belly and I doubt that I will be getting up earlier just to eat?
will a banana do?

AngryBadger

This is slightly related to the above. I generally exercise in the evening because i find it takes my body several hours to fully waken up. If i do exercise in the mornings, (usually before eating since it takes a god 2 hours or so for food to move through), I find it particularly excruciating, and often I lack energy. I've aways presumed this was due to the lack of readily available carbohydrate in my bloodstream.

Am I on the right track with this at all? It's more out of curiousity than anything else that I'm asking.

Brooks

hmmm...interesting, I just read on "runners world" that if you are running in the mornings you should drink at least a pint of water first to combate over night dehydration and then drink some black coffee to increase your adrenalin levels and maximise your fat burning levels!
sounds like a potential heart attack to me, still its worth a shot, i will let ye know how I get on!

smackers

God, I don't know about that. I get the theory behind both ideas, but sounds like an awful lot of liquid to have sloshing around in your tummy when you're running.
Definitely let me know how it goes. Would be really interested to find out.

GerryRyan

I've been doing the early morning running since the end of the summer.

But just the days I won't be doing the weights. I don't have a big breakfast thought, just a pint of milk and porridge. I don't have problems with it sloshing around in stomach.

I'm not doing the cardio to lose weight, I have to do it for the boxing and hurling. It balances out with the weight training.

Quick question, do long road runs slow you down in the long run. What I want is a mix of endurance and speed. I keep a steady pace just above a jog for most of it (8km). Should I try fast for a bit, slow for a bit type of thing?

This should probably be in the athletics forum, mods move it if you want.