Early morning workouts, and feeling sick...

[SpacemanSpiff]

Took a practice POWER test recently for the department I was just hired with, and it was almost embarressing how I couldn't recover like I normally do. Now, I'm accustomed to working out in the late afternoon and evening once I'm wide awake, and I'm a natural night person so starting my day around 1pm is not uncommon. However, I had to take the practice test in the morning, and afterwards felt sick to my stomach.

I'm hoping that it is only one of the following three possibilities - 1) I'm not used to early morning workouts, 2) I didn't eat breakfast (I know, I know, you should always eat something when you wake up), or 3) I was nervous. I definitely don't want to go through this experience again, so aside from eating a good breakfast, am I doing anything else wrong? I'm well enough in shape to meet the Ililnois standards, and shouldn't have struggled to recover.

Thanks for any input.

[Taz_bb2]

I'm a night owl as well. When it came time for my PAT, I drank 32 oz of Gatorade the night before, had a banana and a Red bull for breakfast about 30 min before the test, and drank another 32 oz of Gatorade after the test. I had no problems recovering, and definitely no problems during the test. :D

[lax854]

Took a practice POWER test recently for the department I was just hired with, and it was almost embarressing how I couldn't recover like I normally do. Now, I'm accustomed to working out in the late afternoon and evening once I'm wide awake, and I'm a natural night person so starting my day around 1pm is not uncommon. However, I had to take the practice test in the morning, and afterwards felt sick to my stomach.

I'm hoping that it is only one of the following three possibilities - 1) I'm not used to early morning workouts, 2) I didn't eat breakfast (I know, I know, you should always eat something when you wake up), or 3) I was nervous. I definitely don't want to go through this experience again, so aside from eating a good breakfast, am I doing anything else wrong? I'm well enough in shape to meet the Ililnois standards, and shouldn't have struggled to recover.

Thanks for any input.

actually probably a combination of all. When i was a trainer at my fitness club, I noticed alot of my clients in the morning would complain more often then clients in the latter day of the afternoon. Really what it comes down to is your carb source is depleted and hence you feel drowsy and sick and probably have a headache. If youre going to have an early morning workout, the best thing to do is to stack up on carbs the night before. Have a big bowl of pasta and this will provide your body with carbs in the morning which will hence give you more energy. However, not having breafast probably also contributed. Your stomach was probably running on empty. With regards to breakfast, something light like a bowl of oatmeal will be sufficient because you dont want to fill up your stomach because this will stunt your performance with physical activities.

[SpacemanSpiff]

Thanks very much for the helpful input, I will definitely implement some (or all) of them!

[mxwelch]

Maybe you're pregnant.:p

[SpacemanSpiff]

Maybe you're pregnant.:p

Ohshi!

[kihun_cha]

When I was in the bootcamp, the Drill sergents told us to drink lots of water before we sleep. That actually helps a lot. It doesn't really matter if you eat breakfast or not as long as you eat after the exersize you should be fine. I think you just have to get used to working out in the morning. I usually work around 4pm after the class and it feels great. Good luck and drink lots of water before the sleep!!

[lax854]

When I was in the bootcamp, the Drill sergents told us to drink lots of water before we sleep. That actually helps a lot. It doesn't really matter if you eat breakfast or not as long as you eat after the exersize you should be fine. I think you just have to get used to working out in the morning. I usually work around 4pm after the class and it feels great. Good luck and drink lots of water before the sleep!!

ehh not necessarily true about not eating breakfast. I took numerous nutrition classes in college and I specifically remember being told that before any tidious activity, you will want to have a light breakfast. Notice I say light, if you eat heavy, you stomach will be full and this will actually effect your performance. Again, different people will say different things. Personally, Ive been working out for 6 straight years now. When i go in the morning, I always eat breakfast because without it, I feel sluggish. Good luck!

[Oscarsjava]

ehh not necessarily true about not eating breakfast. I took numerous nutrition classes in college and I specifically remember being told that before any tidious activity, you will want to have a light breakfast. Notice I say light, if you eat heavy, you stomach will be full and this will actually effect your performance. Again, different people will say different things. Personally, Ive been working out for 6 straight years now. When i go in the morning, I always eat breakfast because without it, I feel sluggish. Good luck!

I feel sluggish despite my breakfast in the morning, it usually takes me a good 2 or 3 hours to get awake mentally and physically...when I took my PAT it was at 8:30AM - I hadn't seen 8:30AM in almost 4 months, so that was a shock to my system, because I'm usually at the gym between midnight and 3AM - I was able to crank out the pushups, sit-ups not so well, but the run...geez! I mean, the work boots didn't help things, but I definately knew I wasn't myself. Had a Met-RX Big 100 bar and a banana for breakfast with about a liter of water.

I've noticed that if I have a medium or large sized meal before a run, I am depleted of energy (from the digestion process I'm sure) and get nauseous.
Not so much before a workout - I've gone to the gym after having a large meal and felt fine...but the run didn't agree with dinner.

Oh, and if you eat hardboiled eggs before your run...well, be prepared for some unpleasant grumblings and mini-upchucks.

But yes, from every nutrition source I've read or heard from, breakfast is very important, because your body has already digested and assimilated whatever you ate before you went to bed.

[lax854]

I feel sluggish despite my breakfast in the morning, it usually takes me a good 2 or 3 hours to get awake mentally and physically...when I took my PAT it was at 8:30AM - I hadn't seen 8:30AM in almost 4 months, so that was a shock to my system, because I'm usually at the gym between midnight and 3AM - I was able to crank out the pushups, sit-ups not so well, but the run...geez! I mean, the work boots didn't help things, but I definately knew I wasn't myself. Had a Met-RX Big 100 bar and a banana for breakfast with about a liter of water.

I've noticed that if I have a medium or large sized meal before a run, I am depleted of energy (from the digestion process I'm sure) and get nauseous.
Not so much before a workout - I've gone to the gym after having a large meal and felt fine...but the run didn't agree with dinner.

Oh, and if you eat hardboiled eggs before your run...well, be prepared for some unpleasant grumblings and mini-upchucks.

But yes, from every nutrition source I've read or heard from, breakfast is very important, because your body has already digested and assimilated whatever you ate before you went to bed.

you might not be a morning person! I agree with you with feeling sluggish in the morning. If i work out before 10am, 25percent of my workouts will feel sluggish. If i go at around 12 or 1 pm, that number decreases to like 5 percent. But all in all, my workouts very important to me and ill do what I have to do even if that means 8am workouts!

[mcsap]

Before I ran a 14 mile run last year, I ate some breakfast ( oatmeal and OJ) 2 HOURS before the run. It was not a problem. If I go out and run on an EMPTY stomach , I don't very good.

[P01IC3M4N]

I'm a night owl as well. When it came time for my PAT, I drank 32 oz of Gatorade the night before, had a banana and a Red bull for breakfast about 30 min before the test, and drank another 32 oz of Gatorade after the test. I had no problems recovering, and definitely no problems during the test. :D

yea i did that once on an agility test. i slammed two red bulls trying to stay awake after pulling a midnight shift. ran the fastest mile and a half ever. i had to pee so bad i booked it on that mile and a half and ran straight to the head.

[oscarmitre]

You might want to get your blood sugar checked, it's probably nothing but you might like to make sure you haven't developed Type 2 diabetes. Ifyour blood sugar is normal then no problems, eat breakfast first