Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)
  • Help sleeping after training / racing
  • ferrals
    Free Member

    I really strugle with sleeping after a race day or a hard training session in the evening – my legs just hurt too much and wake me up all the time.

    Any sugestions / tips for improving sleep in such situations? Struggling to keep my eye open today!!

    kid.a
    Free Member

    It’s all that Cortisol (and then adrenaline) from the high intensity. That’s what keeps you awake.

    I get the same, so do my mates that do anything hard/race on an evening. I just accept that I’m not going to get a great sleep if I do a hard workout/race. Which is annoying, as good sleep will give huge performance improvements!

    When I used to TT, I’d be wired (plus is a great mood) for hours! I’m also usually too warm in bed too. But the next day, hanging.

    If I’m planning a hard workout, I try and do it earlier in the evening if it’s possible, then chill out for a couple hours before bed. But can’t do that with a race.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    Foam roll and Epsom salts bath helps me.

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    jameso
    Full Member

    Since sleep is so important for recovery I’ve used small (about 1/4 recommended) dose of Nytol to help after a long / hard ride when I know I’ll be all revved up for a while after and have trouble getting good sleep. It’s the cortisol / stress response as said above and there’s no way around it if riding at a certain level. It’s cheap and useful stuff, just an antihistamine.

    kid.a
    Free Member

    I drink red bush tea (yes it’s weird) and pop an antihistamine. Sometimes helps.

    I remember hearing on a TrainerRoad podcast, Nate talked about taking melatonin supplements for this situation. But that’s America, and I’d imagine that is a bad idea (dependancy??)

    kid.a
    Free Member

    TBH I don’t mind the post race awakeness, you get that glow and great mood. What really kills me is not sleeping as I have an early start/race and really really need to get to sleep and it’s not happening!

    philjunior
    Free Member

    I used to find this after a hard club ride etc.

    Nowadays, although I’ll often have a bit of a buzz after, I seem to sleep OK. It helps that I stuff my face after a ride, I reckon. I don’t tend to be that sore straight after though, just wired, so once I get to sleep it’s a good sleep.

    I reckon I’ve sometimes woken early the day after due to just being hungry!

    Your personal experiences may vary.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    I like the idea of a bit of nytol. I’d wonderard about taking nurofen to help with the aches but nytol makes more sense… especially as I have vague recollections of hearing nurofen reduces recovery.

    Agree abotu the hunger Phill I alway have a glass of milk just before bed to stave that off!

    Thursday nights are just a total killer for me, its our club cx training and we tend to be quit competitve so end up doing the drills at max effort.. last night we had a couple of 20 minute races and I’m cooked today!

    THe rest od the time I tend to train early morning so by night I’m Ok to sleep.

    kid.a
    Free Member

    Yeah I’m sure I’ve heard ibuprofen blunts apatation, so you don’t get the benefits from the stimulous. Something like that. Paracetemol is fine.

    CX training sounds fun! Wish my club did that. Not many in our club CX. I was considering trying it this coming season.

    beej
    Full Member

    Recovery tights help me, I get twitchy legs after hard sessions. Oh, and sour cherry juice but I have no idea if it helps, it’s just tasty.

    john_l
    Free Member

    Melatonin is banned in the UK OTC, unlike the US. Stupid really, it’s a naturally occurring product and not “bad” for you (unlike a lot of sleep drugs that can easily become addictive).

    What you can do is buy stuff that helps to accelerate/increase the production of melatonin (serotonin), things like 5-HTP, Tart Cherry (mentioned above) etc. Magnesium is also thought to help (and helps with recovery, so a double win) and I’m having good results with CBD oil.

    Meditation helps too, particularly if you get into that horrible cycle where you start to stress about not being able to sleep.

    FunkyDunc
    Free Member

    Not being able to sleep is very different to legs hurting in the night.

    After the hard sessions you are cooling down and stretching enough rather than just stopping?

    Last night was our running club road ride, a fast pace 40miles. However the last 4/5 miles is always eased off as a warm down

    I still didn’t go to bed until midnight though and had a crap sleep. I know I didn’t drink enough during or after the ride (2 pints in the pub doesn’t count), which means today I feel like shit !

    honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    I’d recommend CBD, or any of the more recreational derivatives

    mrlebowski
    Free Member

    I avoid doing hard sessions any later than 18.00 otherwise my system is too jacked up to sleep.

    So, the only suggestion I have is not train late in the PM..

    hols2
    Free Member

    Sleep naked – you will be amazed.

    13thfloormonk
    Full Member

    I remember some recovery drinks (SiS Rego) came in a ‘nighttime’ version with extra magnesium, but weirdly can’t find anything similar on the market now.

    I was toying with banana/milk/cashew smoothy as figured that would be quite magnesium rich, but was too much hassle (mess, noise of blender at night etc). Now just have a normal SiS Rego and shower with wife’s nice relaxing Dove shower gel rather than my usual lime or mint shower gels!

    Also heard similar about Ibuprofen, am avoiding it at the moment even for injuries (unless I’m sure it’s a tear or something).

    bluebird
    Free Member

    Soaking my legs in a very hot bath helps me.

    ferrals
    Free Member

    @FunkyDunc, I always think it’s the pain waking me up but maybe not. Having said that I sometimes find the same if I’m racing around midday.

    I probably don’t warm down enough… and never stretch/foam roll the same evening so will start doing that

    ahsat
    Full Member

    I found protein shakes really help with the leg ache after an evening gym session and stop me waking up. Obviously you need to be careful about potential weight gain, so you could achieve similar with a piece of chicken or tin of tuna.

    wonnyj
    Free Member

    I’ve found that a cold shower after training can help.

    Hopefully see you at the cx session next week.

    alric
    Free Member

    I dont know what youre saying about Ibuprofen blocking trainingbenefits, but it helps kill aches and pains that stop me sleeping. Not that it makes much difference, I still cant sleep mostly
    Theanine( which can help tryptophan to cross the blood/brain barrier)(but green tea keeps me awake and is a diuretic)seems to help a bit, and maye tyrosine, but I havent found anything that quickly shuts down the cortisol, if thats what it is

    footflaps
    Full Member

    I dont know what youre saying about Ibuprofen blocking trainingbenefits

    Inflamation is part of the adaption / healing process, so suppressing it is supposed to reduce the healing / adaption effect, or so my physio tells me.

    n0b0dy0ftheg0at
    Free Member

    When I first tried doing intensive rides in the evening ~2 years ago, I thought I saw a trend where I would be hyperactive for the next ~3+ hours, taking me way past my normal bedtime given I have to be up as early as ~0515 for work. So last year, I rarely ever did a hard ride after ~1900.

    But once or twice this year since spring, out of frustration at not getting out earlier in the day more than anything, I’ve ended up going for hard ~1hour blasts at ~2000… And surprisingly, I’ve been ready to sleep by ~2230.

    alric
    Free Member

    Inflammation is part of the adaption / healing process, so suppressing it is supposed to reduce the healing / adaption effect, or so my physio tells me.

    I disagree, the most important thing after an operation/exercise seems to be to reduce the swelling
    you cant work on a knee thats inflamed

    jimmy
    Full Member

    I used to take paracetamol, ibuprofen or cocodamol if I had it – just helped take the edge off.

    Sleep naked – you will be amazed.

    Did this once. Doesn’t work too well with a chafed and therefore itchy ringpiece.

    chakaping
    Free Member

    You say you don’t stretch?

    Definitely start doing that thoroughly! It’s largely cured my post-evening ride twitchy leg awakeness.

    Need to do a bit now actually.

    steve_b77
    Free Member

    A couple of beers usually does me just nicely

Viewing 27 posts - 1 through 27 (of 27 total)

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