Friday, June 5, 2015

Can I adapt to late day workouts?

Evening elliptical
Today's run (street): 3.4 miles

It wasn't much, but I managed to get in a second weekday workout this week. I decided on Tuesday that I would get back to early morning activity, starting with a 4:00 AM elliptical session. Although I'd laid out my workout stuff the night before, I woke up with a sinus headache and didn't want to deal with additional fatigue before a long drive to my office. I passed on the workout.

There's a lot happening at work right now and the energy of the day (along with a well timed hit of nasal spray) put me in much better shape by the end of the workday. I decided to do my elliptical session when I got home, even though I don't particularly like late day workouts. I had scheduled all my hybrid elliptical workouts in the mid-afternoon, so I was somewhat conditioned to the time.

My concern about doing a 6:00 PM workout was that I'd be too wound up at bedtime to fall asleep. That turned out to be a non-issue. In fact I had a great night's sleep. I may aim for after-work runs and elliptical sessions going forward, rather than return to 4:00 AM workouts. I hope I can sustain the late day energy.

I worked from home today and got out during the time between middle school and elementary school drop-offs. It was nice to have relatively empty streets and the 55° temperature, cloudy skies and moderate humidity made for great running conditions. I wore my Spiras and I'm pretty convinced at this point that I run better in more minimal running shoes. I feel guilty having the expensive, well cushioned Saucony Triumphs because I don't feel that I run that well in them.

Today's run was really nice. Besides the good weather, I felt energized and seemed to be running better than usual. I naively expected to finish my run and see numbers that matched my pre-2015 performance. Compared to how I have been running, I did measurably better, with a :40 per mile improvement over last weekend. At the same time, I'm still over a minute per mile slower than I was in early 2014.

I'm thinking about a Bethpage run tomorrow morning and, if I'm up to it, I'll aim to do my longest run in 2015.

2 comments:

  1. As long as you can get a run in, who cares about the time? I, personally, struggle with the late day runs, but if you can pull it off, go for it! I actually have been waking up early (relatively speaking) for my runs and it had been great. I hope it lasts. I wish I could join you at Bethpage tomorrow, but it's a busy morning. Back to reality. Oh, there goes gravity!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was wondering if you were back from your southwestern adventure. Great pics BTW. I want to hear details. Please do a post about your NM running.

      I've always preferred morning activity, but I've had surprisingly good experiences recently with late day workouts. I think Bethpage may be a bust because it's raining this morning : ( When are we doing the June Runsketeer run?

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