I saw the thread about how much everybody trains and when (don’t call me for the 5am workout please), but how much does everybody sleep when they’re in serious training. I am noticing that when training is low, I can do with 7 hours of sleep. But when in training, I need 9. That’s 14 hours per week that are a lot harder to find than the time to actually do the workouts. Do others have similar experiences?
And how to solve the issue of when to train? if I train before work, I tend to be very sleepy at work (especially after lunchtime swims). But after a long day of work, it’s not too appealing to train either. I’m thinking I need a job in a cubicle with a boss who can’t hear me snore. Anybody want to buy a bike company?
I take a nap almost every work day for about 20-30 minutes over my lunch period. I will actuallly fall asleep and automatically wake up after this time. Wake up and feel totally refreshed. It helps that my office is at my house, so all I have to do is go to the bedroom. I always take a two hour lunch so that I can usually fit in a nap, run/bike ride and get a bite to eat over this period.
I once read that many anthropologists believe that the afternoon nap is part of the normal human cycle, but is denied by modern society work patterns.
I do about 6.5 hours a night… never nap during the week. Put golf on the TV or any sporting event with Pat Sommeral (sp?) after my long run and I am sound asleep for at least 30 minutes. I work a 45 hour week plus 8-9 hours of commute, train 10 - 18 hours depending on what period I am in.
When I was in my thirties I could get away with 5 hours a night. Not any more. I know that they say I should sleep more, but it just does not work for me.
This was a very big issue for me when I started doing triathlons. I work on a trading floor. It’s important to at least remain awake and coherent for most of the trading day. Mistakes are not good for the old career.
I was sleeping about six hours a night before I started training seriously for triathlon. You can see where this is going. The number of mistakes I made at work for the first 3 months was more than I’ve made in my whole career. And it’s insidious. You don’t notice it. It’s not that you even look tired. I didn’t. But the fact remains, more sleep is absolutely critical.
I try to get at least 8hrs now during base training. Where do you find the extra 14hrs? It’s hard. I took mine out of my job. I asked myself some serious questions like, “Do I have to be at the office at 6:30am or is 7:15 ok?” “Can I shower and dress faster?”
It does get better over time, but there is no doubt the sleep factor is real and can effect more than just your athletic recovery.
Mon-Fri, morning workouts require a 5:30 wake-up call and evening workouts push dinner back to 9 o’clock. So, I try to get to bed by 10 and wake-up at 5:30: 7 1/2 hours of sleep.
Weekends I get up at 8, try to take an hour nap, and get to bed by 10: 10 to 11 hours of sleep
Mondays I usually take the day off or skip the morning workout.
I have to skimp a bit on my sleep if I want to train 16 hours every week while working 50+ hours and spending almost 2 hours commuting back and forth to NYC.
I used to require 9 hrs sleep and take 2-3 hr naps on weekends from as far back as I can remember. In college I napped 2hrs every day before XC practice. Last March I stopped sleeping much and can now get and do well on 4-4.5 hrs/night. I live off of, even during hard training 6 per night. Probably once every couple of weeks or three I’ll take an Ambien and get 8 hrs for a night. Can’t seem to fall asleep for naps either. It is amazing how much more stuff you can get done or what you can do at 3am. I personally like to grocery shop at 4:30am. No lines, get home and go workout.
We (I should say I) have a rule that the TV must be off at 9. After taking the dog out, brushing my teeth, etc and reading in bed for a bit, the lights are always off at 10 (unless my girlfriend wants to “do stuff” which, by the way, the more I train, the less I care about). I’m up at 5:15 to get in an 1- 1:30 of training before work. So 7 hours is my average regardless of how heavy I’m training. During the weekends I sleep in till 7 and try very hard to get in a nap later on in the day. That seems to suffice although I would love to get more. Also, I try to take 1 day off from training a week, still get in bed before 10, and get up at 7:30. So one day a week I usually get more like 9 hours.
herschel34, if she wants to “do stuff” why complain. My married friends said that doing stuff gets more infrequent as you add kids and other responsibilities. I view it as low hr relaxation training
herschel34, if she wants to “do stuff” why complain. My married friends said that doing stuff gets more infrequent as you add kids and other responsibilities. I view it as low hr relaxation training
Does it require a heart monitor?
For me, bed at 10, up at 5:15. been doing it 20 years, so far.
I try to be in bed around 9pm, but generally actually make it there around 9:30. Then up at 4:45 each weekday, and by 6:00 on weekends. I take an occasional “power nap” - usually about 20 mins during the week. My wife trains and races with me, so having the same schedule is helpful. On occasion, if we’re particularly tired or it’s a lighter training week, we’ll skip a morning workout and “sleep in”, which generally means an extra hour. Funny thing, I became unemployed about 14 months ago - company shut down - and I now work (sorta) from home doing consulting. You’d think I’d train more during the day and sleep later, but I found that I’m so conditioned to the early mornings that I’ve just stayed on the same schedule. Makes the week in Hawaii before IM interesting, as I’m wide awake every morning by about 2:45.
I can go on minimal sleep for a few days then need to “sleep load”. This past Sunday I went to bed at 10:30 p.m. and didn’t get out of bed until 2:30 p.m. the next day. Some days (like today) I am in around 7:15 a.m. and won’t be out of here until well after midnight, then I have to be back in by no later than 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. Sleep is determined by schedule availability and discretionary time. I can’t always control that. Sometimes I have to sleep on the floor here in the store or go without sleep at all over 2 days. Not ideal, but I am 100% ready, anytime, anywhere. In the military sometimes we would only get three hours sleep in 70 hours. We called it the “Zombie Haze”.
This is the one sore spot between my wife and me on this sport. I seem to need 7.5 to 8 hours sleep when I train, and during the week I’m up at 5 AM for that day’s session. That puts me in the bed at 9 - 9:30. My wife needs about an hour less, and gets up an hour later, so she likes to stay up until 10:30 or so. She’s complaining more and more. I can’t convince her to match my clock or to appreciate her “private time.” What to do, what to do…
She’s complaining more and more. … What to do, what to do…
Please take this as friendly advice from someone who has been there. Wife and family should always come first before hobbies, interests, toys and other obsessions. I didn’t realize that until too late in my first marriage and ended up divorced. Not saying you will, but sometimes what seems as relatively insignificant things to men often means a lot to women.
need about 7 hrs min when not training hard, 8-9 hours when in serious training. Since I can’t ever get more than 7 hours these days, I find I simply can’t train hard. Training consists of stress followed by rest and recuperation: if the rest isn’t available then it doesn’t help to add more stress. Maybe in a decade or two, when the kids sleep through the night… says he hopefully.
To bed around 9 pm-9:30. Up at 4:30 on days when I need to get in a morning workout. Workout usually is weights from 5:15-6:15 ish. Then I am teaching students at 6:45 am. On days when I don’t have a workout scheduled I sleep in till 5 am. I also believe in naps. If I get a 30 min nap in the afternoon I am a new man. I am trying to be more consistient about taking naps, but that usually happens when I w get home from school–and then the kids need help with homework or something else comes up.
Before training I was happy with 6 hours every night and sleeping 8 hours Sat. night. Since I’ve been training for long distance I must get 8 hours every weeknight and 9 hours Sat. and Sun nights. It’s just one more sacrifice that is required to get your best, like eating properly, hydrating, and stretching.