Can someone explain what's happening on morning ride?

[HiYoSilver]

Here's the situation. I ride about 5-6 mile commute as often as possible. After a while, I decided to start tracking times and checking to see if there was any change, hopefully positive.

First day, May 9th averaged 12.2 mph in AM and 13.5 in PM. I now at 24 days of tracking speeds and I have
increased the PM time, but NEVER ONCE matched the AM time. No, there was no tail wind, it's slightly uphill in the
am and slightly downhill in the PM.

I expected one of these scenarios:
1. AM low, PM low // lower speeds as upping cadence by about 10 rpms
2. AM hi, PM hi // getting in better shape
3. AM same, PM same // who you kidding, it takes more time than this
4. AM same, PM hi // pm higher because warmer temps and joints flow easiers

I can't figure out why I'm getting:
5. AM low, PM hi.

Any ideas what's going on?

[jameyj]

Could be a number of things:

1.) You are still tired and just slower in the morning
2.) You are going slightly uphill in the morning (could be suttle enough not to notice at first)
3.) You are not eating before you ride so you don't have energy stores but you have some in the afternoon because of lunch

[operator]

Is this a one way time? If so, invalid comparisons.

[HiYoSilver]

Could be a number of things:

1.) You are still tired and just slower in the morning
2.) You are going slightly uphill in the morning (could be suttle enough not to notice at first)
3.) You are not eating before you ride so you don't have energy stores but you have some in the afternoon because of lunch

Interesting ideas.

1. I know I am slower in morning, but base time was from morning also. I get up 60 to 90 minutes before ride

2. but I'm only comparing apples and apples, all morning times are one of two paths and always the same. The second route adds to the first route, and usually I take the shorter route. Same uphills, so I expect PM to be faster than morning.I just don't know why morning to morning is slower.

3. Humm, actually having the same breakfast all year. A full bowl of oatmeal. I'm trying to eat healthy and lower chlosetrol and hopefully drop about 15 lbs. Again same breakfast as base time. Normal meals the night before.


Hummm, thanks for asking. Don't know if this matters. Day 1 was on Tuesday. Day 2 was next Wed and 1 second slower. Day 3 was 7 days later on following Wednesday and 24 seconds slower, [0.2 mph].
Days 4..7 m,t,w,th
Days 8..11 m,t,w,f
Days 12.15 m,w,th,f
Days 16..20 m,t,w,th,f
Days 21..24 m,t,w,th

So I've increase the frequency of the riding. For the last 11 days in the morning the deficit has been level.
Is there some reason why the deficit would hit in the morning and not also in the afternoon?

[HiYoSilver]

Is this a one way time? If so, invalid comparisons.

How so? basically the same one way route in the morning. What's invalid?

[cedo]

it's slightly uphill in the am and slightly downhill in the PM.

Didn't you answer you own question with the statement above? Most people slow down at least 1 mph on an uphill, even if it's slight.

If that's not the answer you're seeking, perhaps your body is not sufficiently warmed up in the AM. Some people need a long time to get the juices flowing. Try doing a 30 minute warm up (stationary bike?) then ride your morning commute. I would venture that you would see higher speed / lower time.

[danch]

That's not the question he's asking. He's asking why his morning time has gotten longer while his afternoon time.

How much better is the PM time getting? Perhaps it's been a matter of motivation?

[Ganesha]

Are there any stops on your way? Stopping once easily drops your ave. speed on a short route.

Maybe the first day, first ride excitement made you push harder.

[HiYoSilver]

Stops are 2 stop lights and 6 stop signs in morning. Afternoon has 2 stop lights and 7 stop signs.

Don't think it was excitement on first day as first 3 days mph was 12.20, 12.19, 12.00

[HiYoSilver]

Thank you all for making me relook at data. There were actually 2 days where I was faster than Day 1.

But still a big difference in the deltas, i.e. variances, differences, between morning and afternoon.

Morning average is -.9 Mph of 1st recorded day.
Afternoon average is +1.6 mph of 1st recorded day.

That more an a 2 mph spread from 1st recorded day.
Morning delta from day 1
positive/increase == 2
negative/decrease == 21

Afternoon delta from day 1
positive/increase == 22
negative/decrease == 0

I'm just trying to get an idea of what's hurting performance/training in the morning ride.

Re the warmup idea. Has anyone tried a morning ride with and without warmups? How much difference is there in performance between a cold start and a warm start after warmups/stretching?