pre-race sleep
#1
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pre-race sleep
Two prefaces to this one:
1) Did a quick search, and didn't see any other applicable threads
2) I realize that we're all different
The question is: what is the minimum amount of sleep you all have found that you can race effectively on? 4 hours? 6? 8?
I've often felt the effects of a bad nights sleep not the following day, but the day AFTER. Does that hold true for most of you? What prompted me to ask the question was the fact that I had to get up this past weekend at 4am to race, but wasn't able to fall asleep until 1:30 am or so. When I got up, I felt like crap, but wondered if I'd snap out of it - or if I'd just be racing with one mental foot in bed, so to speak. Does caffeine cure that situation? I'm curious.
As a side note, while I was tired on Sunday, I felt like a complete Zombie on Monday.
Any experiences, advice or tips welcomed!
1) Did a quick search, and didn't see any other applicable threads
2) I realize that we're all different
The question is: what is the minimum amount of sleep you all have found that you can race effectively on? 4 hours? 6? 8?
I've often felt the effects of a bad nights sleep not the following day, but the day AFTER. Does that hold true for most of you? What prompted me to ask the question was the fact that I had to get up this past weekend at 4am to race, but wasn't able to fall asleep until 1:30 am or so. When I got up, I felt like crap, but wondered if I'd snap out of it - or if I'd just be racing with one mental foot in bed, so to speak. Does caffeine cure that situation? I'm curious.
As a side note, while I was tired on Sunday, I felt like a complete Zombie on Monday.
Any experiences, advice or tips welcomed!
#2
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Yes. I have raced very well on 3 or 4 hours sleep the night before a race, but always try to get a solid 8 2 nights before.
A few of my best races came after nights of getting to bed late and having to wake up early with nothing but nervous tossing and turning in between.
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It depends on what I did that day and the day before that in terms of riding and everything else as well as what I ate. I aim for atleast 6 hours of sleep the night before a race. A nice big mug of joe makes less acceptable.
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Yes. I have raced very well on 3 or 4 hours sleep the night before a race, but always try to get a solid 8 2 nights before.
A few of my best races came after nights of getting to bed late and having to wake up early with nothing but nervous tossing and turning in between.
A few of my best races came after nights of getting to bed late and having to wake up early with nothing but nervous tossing and turning in between.
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I've raced plenty of times on zero sleep + being up for 36 hours. Most of the time I do fine, but I just have to pay attention a little more to avoid stupid mistakes.
And yes, the second day is generally the one that gets you.
And yes, the second day is generally the one that gets you.
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I raced and placed third less than seven hours after flying back to Connecticut from Central America. In that 7 hours, I had about 3 hours of sleep. Jet lag, going from 80 degrees to 35, no sleep...of course, by noon, I was completely worthless.
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Pizza Man covers it. Conventional wisdom holds that a full nights sleep two days prior affects performance more than the whatever you get the night before. LEss pressure to sleep makes for a more restful night.