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Morning vs evening race performance

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J2R Aug 2015 10:27am, 25 Aug 2015 141 posts	Quote Pin J2R Mrs Jigs - We do, in fact, know each other...Others have spoken of the downhill finish at Wroxham too, but I must say I'm normally too spent at that point to feel much of a downhill, and it's a pretty flat course overall (which is why it's such a fast one, given the right conditions). timaru - Interesting that your friend should say about eating beforehand. As it happens, I did in fact have a very light and easily digested breakfast a couple of hours before the start of the race, but in any case I would have thought that for a short distance like a 5K you have more than enough muscle glycogen stored not to need anything beforehand. My sense is that there is a rather more fundamental issue to do with how your body mobilizes resources, and that for someone who isn't a 'morning person', there is a kind of handicap to do with circadian rhythms (which of course can work both ways). Here's an interesting little article I just came across: well.blogs.nytimes.com
Ceratonia Aug 2015 11:13am, 25 Aug 2015 2,430 posts	Quote Pin Ceratonia Bit of research published here discusses various factors that change through the day leading to better performance in the early evening. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2013- I'd imagine that when you train has some effect? Eg doing long runs on Sunday morning maybe helps with marathons, which tend to be in the morning. People who train in the evenings might find races in the evening a little easier?
J2R Aug 2015 11:33am, 25 Aug 2015 142 posts	Quote Pin J2R Ceratonia, there's a problem with that link: "The requested article is not currently available on this site". But I was just reading something similar here: https://antisensescienceblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/circadian-rhythms-and-physiological-performance-a-runners-perspective/. The guy talks about your skeletal muscles having their own circadian rhythm patterns. "It has been noted that the greatest improvements in performance occur at the time of day in which the highest-intensity training is regularly performed. Therefore, by training at the specific time of day for the event you plan to perform in, you will increase the likelihood of running a personal best time." That's interesting for me, as I do virtually no hard training early in the morning, apart from occasional park runs which effectively work as very hard tempo runs. Most of my speedwork is done later in the day. Maybe I'll try changing this around a bit.
Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs) Aug 2015 11:56am, 25 Aug 2015 22,295 posts	Quote Pin Mrs Jigs (Luverlylegs) Now you have got me guessing! please fmail me so I know who you are