Early morning workouts

[runningwild]

Quick question about ideas on what to eat when if I'm thinking about getting up bright and early to run/train.  I am normally starving when I wake and will eat a decent breakfast, but I find I need at least an hour to digest before I can comfortable run.

I'm looking at getting up in the AM to run before my kids get up, so wouldn't have much time to begin with.  Any suggestions on what types of things I could have that will digest quickly?  One person I know suggested oatmeal.  Ideally I'd like to be able to workout within 30 mins of getting out of bed, otherwise I'll be getting up at 4:30AM (and I'm not a morning person to begin with!!)

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Cheers,
  Stephanie

[Sandy]

Try orange juice or Almond Milk.

[Kate]

I usually get up at 5:45 in order to run shortly after 6:00 a.m.  "Fuel" consists of at least one LARGE glass of water with about 1/4 cup of cranberry juice in it drunk over about a 1/2 hour period of time.  No food.  If it is a longer run (8K), I will make sure there are NuuN tablets in my water. 

I don't usually wake up starving though.  Maybe because I don't usually get to eat supper until 6:00 - 6:30 at night.

[runningwild]

Wow, I didn't know you could run on a stomach empty of food and not run out of energy.  I've never tried to do that.....but maybe I will!  I love almond milk, so I might just try that.

Thanks,
  Stephanie

[Newt]

G'day,

Good advice already posted, Oatmeal will be to heavy in that short of time before the run,  Almond milk is good as I find orange juice doesn't sit well first thing in the morning on a empty stomach, a banana works well for me or if I'm really rushed a heaping teaspoon of honey washed down with some Almond milk, or Soy milk, or Rice Milk or water or Carrot juice.

Play around with it as everybody tolerates different things, it also depends on the intensity and the type of activity, the higher the intensity the workout the lighter you want to eat before hand, I also find I tolerate more food before a bike than a run and even less on a swim. I can eat pretty much anything in any amount while sitting in the recliner watching TV though, go figure.

Peace
Peter

[The Moose1]

If I'm not running more than an hour, I just stick with a coffee (lots of cream and sugar in mine, thanks), otherwise, if I don't have time to digest, I take Gatorade with me, or eat a 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich (one of the few things I can eat immediately before a run).
There's always Tums to give your stomach a little more leeway...

Hope this helps,

Mike

[runningwild]

All great advice.  I'll try some of your suggestions, since they all seem do-able to me!

Thanks,
  Stephanie

[tire guy]

I've been doing all my Mon-Fri workouts at 5am for a few years now & at first I was starving when I woke up but as time went on the feeling of hunger went away.I would have some water when I got up & it either fooled my mind that it was full or my mind said I was hungry but was really just thirsty  . Most of my workouts are an hour or so in length, but in the past few week I have had an 16-20K run & I just mix up some "Infinite" drink & all is good.There is nothing better than going through the day knowing your days workout is done or in the case of some of us half done.