Workout #5 – Run 30min

So my physical therapist told me in a session yesterday afternoon that working out on an empty stomach first thing in the morning could potentially be a huge fat burner.

The logic is pretty simple: when you eat before you work out, your body uses the fuel most readily available.

We burn fat when we sleep, and if you wake up in the morning without breaking your sleeping fast, you continue to burn fat, and at a higher rate because of the exercise. The key however, is not to go so hard that your body starts to burn protein stores. Obviously, I’m going to have to work on it to find the sweet spot, but I tried to go out a little lighter than normal.

Still felt great. 3.6mi in a little over 30 minutes. Ran at about 8:30/mi pace, and didn’t run into too much knee pain until the very end. I could’ve easily run for another 30 minutes.

Love being up in the morning. Felt great to come home and have plenty of time with the fam before taking the monsters to school, and to still be able to hang with the lady alone before heading to work.

Slowly but surely, I’m searching out balance with adding training into my life. My family is obviously more important to me, and I’m trying to find ways to minimize the amount of time that I’m away from them. One easy way: wake up early and get it in while they’re still sleeping.

Feeling good nearing the end of week one. Looking forward to tomorrow morning’s swim. I’m going to try the same thing and roll out of bed and into the pool without eating. See if I can handle 2000m without any extra fuel.