I got up early (0430) again and knocked out my (5-mile) run before work (and before the sun was up). It felt terrible. The first two miles were the worst, after that I warmed up and loosened up. But I was still a good 25-seconds off my pace from my last 5-miler. Not a big deal, the easy runs are just about doing them but a little annoying.
I also think that performance-wise I’m really an afternoon/evening athlete, in that I do better workouts in the latter half of the day than I do in the morning. I’m pretty sure that there is some scientific research to back this up too. I’m not actually going to go and find it and post anything about it HERE (maybe someday I will) but trust me on that. I know a lot of things. And I’m pretty sure that’s one of them.
Regardless, based on my current life situation (long commute, work hours, avaialbe run routes, etc.) it is way more optimal for me to do my workouts in the morning. So I’m going to keep doing that. I hope.