I usually sleep pretty well most nights of the week, but the night before a race the nerves from out of nowhere hit and I hardly get any winks (maybe 1-2 hours). I know its all about the amount you get in the week/days before the race, but it would feel great to wake up race morning rested for once. Anyone got any tips? I have heard of taking Tylenol PM, Seretonin, but I am unsure of the safeness of these. Anyone know of anything that is safe/works or have ideas ?
-wilson-
no problem… I was so nervous before my first race, got myself worked up for no reason - got maybe 20 minutes of sleep and of course had a decent race. I decided that I was so nervous, for no reason, before that silly race that I’d never do that to myself again. If I could do my first, I can do whatever the next one is.
That said, I always take a sleeping pill - nothing fancy, whatever drug store brand.
I’ve never been able to get much sleep before local races. 4 hours max. Most of the time I’m still gathering all the items on my race day check list at Midnight. I’m fine for the race, but start to really tucker out 6:00pm. I still continue on as though I didn’t get up early and race because I a certified Night Owl. 15+ years of working swing shifts will do that to you.
The most sleep I’ve ever gotten before a race was at Wildflower. When I camp, I just can’t seem to stay up much past dark. No TV and no booze makes for an early night.
I avoid coffee the day before a race.Don’t drink much of it anyways, but it will keep me up all evening if I have one after 6:00 PM.
I used to be restless the night before a tri. Then one time the wife and I decided to go out to a jazz club and have a couple of drinks the night before. Slept like a log and we both had one of our best results the next day. Maybe the solution to a good sleep the night before is not to take yourself so seriously.
I’ve done the tylenol pm and benedryl thing before and have found that 1/2 the adult is fine for me to take the edge off and allow me to sleep. Normally I don’t have a problem falling asleep race or not. Staying asleep thats another story.
“Normally I don’t have a problem falling asleep race or not. Staying asleep thats another story.”
That’s been my problem. Drop off quickly but once I wake up I’m biffed. Just can’t get back to sleep.
I find that it depends on what the race is. If it is local race that I’ve done the past 10 years then I never have any worries and sleep easily. When I did my first ironman in 1999 I don’t think I got more than 3 or 4 hours any of the last 5 nights leading up to it (I think that I tapered a little too much and had way too much energy which made me rethink my taper for my 2nd IM) but when I did my 2nd IM race I knew what to expect and didn’t have much trouble sleeping. I expect that when I get down to Panama City in November that I won’t sleep really well the night before because I’ll be placing lofty expectations on myslef and will be really pumped up to race. As long as you get a good amount of sleep in the 2 or 3 day period leading up to the race, the sleep the night before won’t make much difference.
I usually try to not sleep as much 2 nights before the race. I stay up late and make sure that I wake up at the same time that I would on race morning. I find that if I do that I can get a good nights sleep the night before race day.
The other thing that I find works is preparing for the race a couple of days before so that the day/night before the race I’m not thinking about things that I have to do and I don’t get as worked up and wired so I can sleep better.
Good Luck.
What I do is start going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier every night starting about a week before the race, and waking up earlier to match. 11-7, 10:30-6:30, 10-6, 9:30-5:30, etc. So by the time the night before race day is here, I’m tired at 8pm. No problems falling asleep, and when the alarm goes off, I’ve gotten at least 7 hours and hopefully 8.
I sleep like a dead animal the night before a race.
Got turned on to Excederine PM (SP) about 4 years ago. I only take this the night before a race. Normally 2 pills around 1800 the night before the race and I will wake up ready to go about 0400 the next morning. This gives me plenty of time to wake up and grab a small snack before leaving the house. Of course I would experment before a race day.
Bobby
Sometimes I’ll use some Kava Kava if I have insomnia. It’s a very mild sedative and it’s side effects are pretty minimal. It just makes you feel slightly relaxed. You can buy it in pills or powder. I like the powder version as it doesn’t taste too bad.
3/4 of a bottle of fine cab sav from SW Oz or SW France does it for me.
Some of the best advice here is from customerjon. I have also become a bit of an amateur sleep expert due to my job–day and night cargo pilot. One thing that happens is that if you race a lot, eventually each race becomes no big deal. Maybe you get a little nervous before the start, but you start to sleep decently the night before.
Anyway, under no circumstances would I take any sleeping pills, under OR over the counter–they are full of very potent chemicals that really mess with your body, and triathlon is about utilizing your body at its highest level of function. Alcohol will put you to sleep OK, but it has 2 problems: it is a diuretic and may dehydrate you (not good before a long or hot race); the other problem is that, while it may put you to sleep OK, the quality of your sleep will suffer–you sleep less deeply under the influence of alcohol. I have taken melatonin, but I use it rarely and would never use it if I wanted to be fairly alert the next morning as it can leave some people a little groggy upon awakening. I would also never, never take any aspirin-based products the night before a race or ride–they thin your blood and if any of the chemicals are still in your system when you are racing and you happen to have a big or small wreck, you may have internal or external bleeding problems due to the fact that aspirin interferes with the blood’s clotting function–obviously not good at all.
The best thing is to stay away from the chemicals, try the sleep rituals, read a boring book, turn off the TV, eat a high-carb meal, wake up really early the day before the race (makes you really tired for that pre-race night), or do whatever. Do not worry about getting any sleep that last night, it won’t affect your performance anyway.
I am surprised that noone has mentioned Melatonin (sp). It is available over the counter and is a naturally occuring substance in your body. I discovered Melatonin because I have problems sleeping on the redeye to europe, even if I go business class. One puts me out for 6 hours and I’ve never felt hung over afterwards.
Caffine or alcohol does tend to negate the effects, though. So I would take the advise of others and avoide those substances.
I raced a road motorcycle for 10 years at speeds up to 170mph. In comparison there is nothing for me to worry about that would keep me awake. If I were a top ten guy I might have performance anxiety. I sometimes have a problem turning on the adreniline pump to help performance, especially when I lose 10 minutes in a one mile swim. I also raced about 700 bicycle races, so about the only thing I sweat is making it to the event before the transition closes. My warmup is usually the running I do to get to the start on time. We’ll see if that holds for my IM attempt.
I am with marko16 and greg, race more. The more you do it the more you will know what is coming. I was nervous for my first bike race, now I think nothing of it the night before. Same goes for tris, I was nervous on my first one (others telling me I cannot finish did not help), but not now. I have only done a few tris, but I have no problems sleeping the night before.
I try and talk myself through my nervousness if it is a problem. Identify why am I nervous. Should I be nervous about this. I can always back out if I do not like what I am going to do.
Like others said, get a good nights sleep for a few days before a big event.
Never could – doesn’t seem to matter all that much. I think the key thing is to get a good night’s sleep the night before “the night before”.
Agree wiith the advice to avoid sleepig pills per se, not sure about the fact that one gets ‘used to it’ and therefore not a bit keyed up. Luckily all the key time trial races go off early (8am or so), so the time you’re really tired is post-race afternoon.
Bill Russell’s teammates on the Celtics used to say that the only time the were ever nervous was on those rare occasions when he wasn’t in the bathrom locker throwing up from nerves right before a key game (he got what – 12 rings?, inc. those as a coach).
I’m going to be a bad triathlete for a minute. I sleep fitfully at best the night before most races, and I think there are three main reasons.
First, I go to bed earlier than I normally would. Second, I’m somewhat nervous/obsessed about going through the next day’s events.
Third, well, this is where I go heretic. I usually don’t drink alcohol the night before a race for all the reasons you already know. But I will often have a beer or two or a glass of wine on most nights. I love the stuff. I drink it, I brew it, I ramble on and on about hops and malt the way many people rant about Campy vs. Shimano or seat tube angles. And amazingly, after one or two, I sleep like a baby. 
I have a double chocolate porter fermenting right now. But I don’t drink the night before races because of all I have read about how negatively it can affect your performance. And I think that not drinking affects my sleep pattern.
So I think that sticking with your habits, or training yourself to new habits, will probably help. The whole race experience is a habit breaker anyway. You are often far from home, eating different foods, sleeping in a different bed, etc. I definitely sleep better in my bed than in a hotel.
One final thing: I haven’t noticed that the lack of sleep affects my races.
I think the best way to get a good night sleep is to go camp in a rain storm, in a really muddy campground, without electricity. Oh wait, that was Wildflower. For my first Oly I slept very well. I guess that happens when you don’t have anything to keep you awake.
But really, in my own bed, or in a hotel I usually don’t sleep well the night before a race. But like the others above, I don’t think it really matters that I don’t sleep well the night before. All the adrenline the morning of helps get you going. The lack of sleep just makes it difficult in the afternoon after the race, being groggy and tired isn’t cool.