March 30, 2021
Training In The Morning vs. The Evening
Do you train in the morning or evening? What’s better? In this article, we discuss some pros and cons of morning vs evening training.
Sometimes I get asked a direct A vs B training question. Like…
“Should I train in the morning or the evening?”
My honest answer: “I don’t know. You should try both and see which one you like best.”
When it comes to performance, consistency is the ultimate performance enhancer, so optimising for consistency, regardless of what that looks like for you, is best.
If you’re a morning person and like to train in the morning, do that. If you want to run at lunchtime, do that. If training in the evening is best for you, great, do that.
The time of day is secondary to doing the work.
My personal preference is to train in the morning for most sessions because I like to start the day with a win. And, some other benefits come from training in the morning …
- If there is lightning or the weather is otherwise poor, you still have an opportunity later in the day to complete your training.
- I like to do low-intensity training on an empty stomach. Training fasted in this way helps to improve fat burning and is best done after fasting overnight. I wake up, have a glass of water, and go.
- I find myself easily distracted in the evening. If a meeting runs long, or I am invited for dinner or drinks, it’s easy to let training slide away, and with it, your consistency.
Cut Race Times, Not Corners.
Racing at your potential and enjoying training is easy when you’re following the right programme.
For some specific sessions, like interval sessions where the effort required is higher, I will train later in the day. There are two primary reasons for this …
- When you wake in the morning, you’re in a state of dehydration from
not drinking overnight—having time before the session allows me to
hydrate and fuel, so I begin the session with energy in the tank.
- My body has more chance to loosen and warm-up, and my mind has time to focus and hype itself up to give a good effort.
Sometimes you don’t have an option. The training frequency required for athletes training for long course triathlon, for example, requires that an athlete train multiple times each day.
In these situations, careful planning and robust systems are essential to fitting everything in and recovering between sessions. As James Clear says in his best-seller, Atomic Habits, “you don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”
Set up sound systems and let consistency be your guide.
Ben Pulham