Stopped Training on Empty — and Started Training Properly

angetooleypt

Sep 26

3 min read

For years, I thought training on an empty stomach was just part of being disciplined.

Early morning run? Coffee and go.

Hard session? Get it done before breakfast.

Strength session? Crack on and eat afterwards.

Looking back, I think I had confused under-fuelling with toughness.

Like a lot of endurance athletes, I’d absorbed the idea that being able to train hungry, run on empty and just push through was somehow a good thing. It certainly felt like I was being committed to my training.

But the more I’ve learned about nutrition and performance, particularly through the work of people like Dr Stacy Sims, the more I’ve questioned some of those assumptions. More importantly, I’ve actually changed how I fuel my own training.

The biggest change has been my early morning sessions.

Rather than heading out with nothing in the tank, I now make a point of getting some fuel in before I train. That doesn't mean sitting down to a full breakfast at 5.30am. Sometimes it's something really simple and small. The point is that I'm giving my body something to work with before I ask it to run, lift or work hard, and I can feel the difference.

When I've got a particular pace, heart rate or effort to hit, I'm much more capable of actually hitting it. I can maintain the quality of the session for

longer rather than getting to the final part and feeling like I'm hanging on. For me, that's the important bit.

Completing a training session isn't necessarily the same as training well.

If I've got a tempo run programmed, I want to be able to run at the right effort. If I've got a hard session, I want to be able to execute it properly. And if I'm lifting, I want enough energy to produce good quality work rather than simply getting through the reps.

The same applies to strength training.

I've become much more deliberate about fuelling around my lifting rather than thinking about food as something that happens once the workout is finished. When I'm properly fuelled, I feel stronger and more able to attack the session rather than just ticking it off my list.

I've also changed how I think about protein.

I used to see it largely as something I needed to make sure I'd had enough of by the end of the day. Now I'm much more conscious of getting a decent amount around my training, particularly after harder sessions. It's become part of the training process rather than something I remember to do afterwards.

And interestingly, this hasn't meant I'm doing less.

It's the opposite.

I'm able to train harder because I'm fuelling the work.

I think that's probably been the biggest shift in my thinking.

There is still a place for experimenting with different fuelling strategies in endurance training. Training low, for example, can have a specific purpose in some circumstances. But there's a big difference between deliberately manipulating carbohydrate availability for a particular session and simply turning up to most of your training under-fuelled because you think that's what committed athletes are supposed to do.

I don't want to routinely train depleted just so I can say I did it.

If I've got a hard run planned, I want to hit the numbers.
If I've got heavy lifting planned, I want to move the weight well.
If I've got several demanding sessions in a week, I want to recover well enough to actually get the benefit from them.

That requires fuel.

Eating appropriately hasn't magically made my training easier. It's made it possible to train at the level I actually want to train at.

And that's an important distinction.

I'm not doing this because someone on Instagram told me I should. I've experimented with it in my own training and, for me, the difference is noticeable. Better-fuelled mornings. Better quality sessions. More productive strength work. Better recovery.

Ultimately, better training.

So perhaps the question shouldn't be:

How little can I get away with eating and still complete this session?

Maybe it should be: