Tuesday nights (Wednesday night this week, though) I attend a masters class. It starts at 8:00 p.m., and ends at 9:30, though with a cool down I’m sometimes not out of the water until closer to 9:45. Being one of the slowest swimmers, I’ll usually swim about 3700 yards during a workout. I get home around 10:00, but don’t fall asleep until somewhere between 11:00 and midnight, which is late for me, then I try get up the next morning for my usual morning run, somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m.
The problem is this: I’m really tired in the morning after that masters class - not just sleepy, but body tired. I drag mysef out of bed and plod through the streets to run anywhere from 4 to 7 miles at a slow pace. I’m tired, and my goal is to just finish the run. I’ve been telling myself it’s good to run tired - after all it’s only one day a week that this situation occurs, and some days I won’t get a chance for another workout later in the day. I figure any workout is better than none at all, and running tired is good practice for race situations. Today, though, I thought maybe I’m wrong. I’m wondering if I would be better off just getting an extra hour or so of sleep and skipping the morning run? Or am I just looking for an excuse to sleep longer? Any thoughts?
Go for the sleep. Sleep, rest and proper recovery are just as important as the actual workout. Without proper recovery your fitness gains will diminish.
Sometimes you just need the rest. If you feel you do, then take it and don’t feel guilty. I feel that sleep is under rated in the training process and that most of us don’t get enough.
About 6 months ago I started logging the amount of sleep that I get and found that I was averaging 5.5 hrs a night when I thought I was getting 7 to 8 hrs. That was a big surprise. I keep track of it pretty well now and will let myself get only one “short night” of sleep a week and get a couple extra hours during the weekend.
Wow, 5.5 hours of sleep on a regular basis. I would have no friends or family willing to be around me. I would be a complete ahole. Sleep and food are just too big for me to try to skip or limit. My body and mind will just revolt and I become really irratable. I am convinced that there as many people going through life sleeped deprived as there are suffering from poor eating habits.
As for the run vs sleep. I used to try to keep all those workouts too. I got sick twice, I believe from that mentatlity, and know I rest when I feel like that. The 10 days of being sick does more to set me back then missing a workout.