Best time to run?

The New York Times had an interesting mini-story about research done to determine the best time to exercise, and, in particular, whether exercising in the morning was somehow better than exercising at other times. Since the article doesn't explicitly say how the different studies define "better," I'm not sure about the answer.

The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise

However, they do say that even though on average subjects do slightly better on measures of physical performance in the afternoon (4:00 - 7:00 p.m.), people can get used to exercising at any time.

I take this as further evidence that training works best when it happens at about the same time every day. As you get used to that time of day, you become capable of doing more work at that time. If you are always changing the time of your workouts, then perhaps you don't get quite as much out of them.

Anyway, perhaps the real answer to the question of whether it's better to work out in the morning or afternoon is to exercise twice a day... just to cover all the bases.