1- yes
2- yes, I'm usually slower
3- I don't know what running bad water is

This is completely normal. I have trained myself to do both over the years. Don't freak out about it. It's not a big deal. Your boy was not ready/used to doing what you did. If you want to be an afternoon runner, start running in the afternoon more. You will see your body adapt.

My training has me running either first thing in the AM (long runs on Sundays) or in the evenings (all <10miles).

When it comes time for my evening runs, I find that there is a bit of a mental battle - my body is tired from the day and wants to relax, and my brain is lazy - so some days I just have to get it done. These runs tend to feel like I am dragging myself over hot coals - things hurt that don't normally, I'm heavier on my feet and my pace is sporadic.

I can't say if throwing these changes in training times in is beneficial - I like to think that if you do the important runs (the long ones) around the same time of day as any upcoming races then it's probably beneficial to your body, but I'm relatively inexperienced and I run when I can because I love it- most of the time.

I always run in the mornings. I have probably ran in the afternoons maybe once or twice ever (trail run).

Yesterday due to family commitment I had to run my long run in the mid afternoon.

I was and I felt
1) immediately tired and totally fagged out (Alright guys, fagged out is a British word for so f**king tired) :grumble:
2) my pace was all over the place.
3) I was running Badwater

My question -
Is it normal for body to react when one does something different than the "body clock" is expecting?
Is it good idea to throw in this kind of "change" during training? (I'm training for my half scheduled in July)
If yes, how often. (yesterday's run was a fluke for me)

Thank you so much for the great response and help as always.

Have a wonderful and awesome day.

I wouldn't conclude that the reason why you had a bad run was the time of the day. Really, our bodies handle things much better than that.

"Eh, ah, what's that? You want me to chase down that gazelle or we'll all starve? Not me man, I'm a morning person!"

Per Noakes, athletes tend to perform better later in the day than they do first thing in the morning. IIRC, his comment was that it might be because, as the day progresses, our muscles a limber.

It's interesting, because I used to run exclusively in the AM, during the dark hours of the morning and thought I ran my best at that time. However, after I started running in the later afternoons and doing a training group during the summer, I found that I was actually more of a hot weather runner than a cold one. Now I find it hard to keep up my mileage during the winter when it's much cooler.

I do think though, there are differences later in the day. What I eat the few hours before my afternoon run matters a lot more, as does how hydrated I'm feeling. The heat does take more out of you, but you can compensate. Also, some of us are just more energized in the morning and worn down as the day goes along. It's interesting. Maybe you were just having an off day or it wasn't the peak time of day for you. I encourage you to try out different times though, you might surprise yourself