Run-Down Forums

[Shaun Fox]

I think i will be training in the evening from now on

[Distance_Guru]

The best time of day to run is when ever you can. Although I generally try to aviod the heat.

It's supposed to get up to 103 today. I thought I moved to the Mid-Western US not to the Sahara!
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Time is the fire in which we burn

[Paul]

I find my best running occurs in the evening or at night. I can never seem to get my act together in the morning. Wow, DG, you are going through some heat wave out there!!!!!
Paul

[Micah Ward]

I'm a morning guy.

Partly for the heat but also because of the unpredictability of my job. If I get it done the first thing in the morning then I don't have to worry about fitting it into my schedule or having something interfere.
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[graeme]

When I'm training with my track team it's always in the evening. But when I'm running by myself I sometimes go out in the afternoon if it isn't too hot. I have the most energy in the evening though. I have a lot less strength in the morning.

[Dan]

I agree it's best to train when it works best for you, but I would add one thing to that: As much as possible, train at the same time and under the same conditions (attire, diet, time of day, weather, etc.) as you will be racing in. No point ducking the heat for comfort's sake if you'll simply be unprepared for it come race day.

Dan

[Hammer]

I can never seem to get going in the mornings. I believe it has to do with the fact that I get out of bed and then take off running within about 30 min. When I race in the mornings I make sure to be up and walking around at least 3 hours before I run. I attribute my sluggish moring runs to lack of blood circulation in my legs.

[Distance_Guru]

I'd have to agree with both of the last posts. I am usually awake a lot earlier on race day than on a typical training day. And that is why I explain the fact that my usual morning runs are a lot more sluggish than either my afternoon runs or my races that are usually in the morning. But I am also a pretty big believer that whenever possible it is important to train in conditions similar to those that you will be racing in. So ducking the heat if there is a good chance that you will be racing in the heat is pointless. Although I wouldn't recommend doing every run at the hottest point of the day for the sake of heat acclimitization, but if you are going to be racing in hot weather you would probably want to try and get in three workouts in the heat a week.
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Time is the fire in which we burn

[Hammer]

I'd also believe that (for me anyway) getting up at 4am so that I can run a quality worout at 7am is not practicle. So what I have done lately is either: add some strides to AM workouts, or run "stepping stone miles" (gradually picking up the pace untill the last mile is run at or near race pace.) This way I do get some quality velocity in the moring.

[Distance_Guru]

Both good methods. I've always liked gradually increasing the pace of morning runs. Where as with my afternoon runs I usually like to hammer out the door. (No pun intended... well maybe just a little )
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Time is the fire in which we burn

[Dan]

[Micah Ward]

The typical warm weather road race in the south starts at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning so that is not significantly warmer than my 6:00 am training run.
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[Hammer]

Going to school also precludes training at 9-11am.

In the summer I do all of my mornging runs at 7am after waking up at 6-6:30. Most of my summer races start @7-8:30, so I think I am training for the weather.

With my HS runners we run 2-3 times a weak in the morning @ 6:15 and 5 times a weak @ 3pm. Most of our races are run between 9-11am. We really don't have the opportunity to mimic race weather.

[Dan]

Your high school races are in the morning? Where are you located? I've never seen anything but afternoon races in HS for all but the big invites.

I neglected to add marathons to the list of obvious early start times...

Dan

[Hammer]

We do not have a dual meet schedule at all. All of out meets are invitationals. Including state and district championships our season is 10 weeks (and 10 invitational meets) long.