Can't sleep after very hard rides ?

[flanagaj]

Hi,

I have this very annoying problem of not being able to sleep the night after a heavy cycle ride. I did a ride on Sunday ~ 3 hours duration and home by 12:00. The ride was hard going and I did have lactic build up in the legs for a good 15 miles. When I got home I felt pretty knackered and had a bath to losen up. I went to bed at 22:00 hrs and did not get a wink of sleep. This has happened to me after a race.

Surely if I am physically shattered why am I unable to kip ?

Any help welcomed.

Juckky

 

[Carrera]

Answer is easy. You stimulated your nervous system too much. It happens to me all the time.
The only way I can get round the problem myself is to take a non-prescription sleeping tablet or maybe piriton with a cup of hot milk before bed. However, you should only take a tablet every so often.
Valerian tea is a natural sleep aid but far milder as it's herbal. It may also help.

Hi,

I have this very annoying problem of not being able to sleep the night after a heavy cycle ride. I did a ride on Sunday ~ 3 hours duration and home by 12:00. The ride was hard going and I did have lactic build up in the legs for a good 15 miles. When I got home I felt pretty knackered and had a bath to losen up. I went to bed at 22:00 hrs and did not get a wink of sleep. This has happened to me after a race.

Surely if I am physically shattered why am I unable to kip ?

Any help welcomed.

Juckky

 

[flanagaj]

Answer is easy. You stimulated your nervous system too much.

Thanks. Is this unhealthly or do a great many people suffer from this ?

Is the stimulation caused by endorphins ?

 

[OCRoadie]

I suffer from the same annoying problem on a regaular basis. I normally put in a 3-5 hour ride on Sundays. I have no problem crashing on the couch for an hour or so after the ride, but I can never get a solid nights sleep. This really sucks, because it's when I want the sleep the most (other than the night before a big ride or race, when I can't sleep do to anxiety). I've found that a Tylenol PM or two helps, but I try not to do that very often, especially if I have a ride or work the following morning. I am curious to see what anybody else has to say in reply to this topic.

 

[NRW77]

I notice this phenomenon the most when my nervous system is unaccustomed to the strain of long hard rides, mainly following periods of comparatively lower activity. Once my body is used to the workload, I adjust and begin to sleep normally again.

NW

 

[xbgs351]

I get the same problem when I do very hard rides after work.

I take Valerian. After the Alpine Audax I couldn't get to sleep. 1/2 a Valium and I slept well.

 

[shming123]

I get the same problem when I do very hard rides after work.

I take Valerian. After the Alpine Audax I couldn't get to sleep. 1/2 a Valium and I slept well.

Same happens to me all the time. Although for me, for some reason, I haven't been able to sleep normally since like mid-December. I am in college so I don't know if its the stress from school or what. But I can't ever seem to sleep much past 6 hours each night, and it makes me so tired. Some nights like you say, I feel like I get 15 mins of sleep the entire night.

 

[Postie]

Hi,

I have this very annoying problem of not being able to sleep the night after a heavy cycle ride. I did a ride on Sunday ~ 3 hours duration and home by 12:00. The ride was hard going and I did have lactic build up in the legs for a good 15 miles. When I got home I felt pretty knackered and had a bath to losen up. I went to bed at 22:00 hrs and did not get a wink of sleep. This has happened to me after a race.

Surely if I am physically shattered why am I unable to kip ?

Any help welcomed.

Juckky

From the replies you've had from this post, I'm hoping you're feeling secure that this isn't abnormal. I too struggle with the problem. I've had a few times in my life where I've worked out extremely hard every other day for, say, 8 month stretches. What I found from that is as time went on, the problem became less significant (almost nothing) towards the end of the eight months then at the beginning. Hence, that would indicate to me that the problem becomes less significant as the body adjusts to such efforts.

 

[motorhommer]

Hi,

I have this very annoying problem of not being able to sleep the night after a heavy cycle ride. I did a ride on Sunday ~ 3 hours duration and home by 12:00. The ride was hard going and I did have lactic build up in the legs for a good 15 miles. When I got home I felt pretty knackered and had a bath to losen up. I went to bed at 22:00 hrs and did not get a wink of sleep. This has happened to me after a race.

Surely if I am physically shattered why am I unable to kip ?

Any help welcomed.

Juckky

Do you do any post ride stretches. Do you have any winddown piece. What about a bit of yoga ? After a hard day on the bike, you just simply cannot jump off it and expect things to be ok, you need to wind back down, in particular of the last 2/3 miles then have a post ride streching, unwinding

 

[Carrera]

Put it this way. Yesterday I did a grinding 14 per cent climb during my daytime ride, then rode in the evening as well.
I didn't get to sleep till 4.30 a.m. I just didn't feel tired and ended up taking a sleeping tablet that took at least an hour to kick in.
For me it's a problem when I'm doing night-shifts as well as I sometimes can't sleep after I get home from work.
It gets a bit better over time, though.

Thanks. Is this unhealthly or do a great many people suffer from this ?

Is the stimulation caused by endorphins ?

 

[flanagaj]

Chaps,

Thank you for reassuring me that I am not alone here. I bet it is due to the fact that last summer I would bang hard rides out 3 times a week with no issue. Due to a career change I now only really get to ride at weekends and as this was the longest/hardest ride for some time my body found it tough going.

Cheers.

 

[tourdelivermore]

Melatonin works for me.

 

[wilmar13]

I have this problem if I don't wait about 4 hours after a hard effort to try to sleep. The Tuesday and Thursday hard training rides after work always meant that I lay awake at night until midnight to fall asleep.

Now that DLST is over in Brasil, I ride early in the morning and I sleep like a baby at night. If only I could convince my boss to change my workday to 11am-8pm...

 

[BlueIcarus]

I have the same problem, but I think (in my case) it happens when I push too much.
Have you checked your heart rate while trying to sleep?. Mine in these circumstances
is always high and irregular. Overtraining on the way!!
20 minutes yoga would like motorhommer says would make a big difference. Your heart will
settle in and easy a lot

 

[K Ritz]

I have found that if I drink enough recovery drink after a hard ride, I don't have as much trouble sleeping. You may be dehydrated and water replacement is simply not enough- you need electrolytes.

 

[VaBiker]

Hi,

I have this very annoying problem of not being able to sleep the night after a heavy cycle ride. I did a ride on Sunday ~ 3 hours duration and home by 12:00. The ride was hard going and I did have lactic build up in the legs for a good 15 miles. When I got home I felt pretty knackered and had a bath to losen up. I went to bed at 22:00 hrs and did not get a wink of sleep. This has happened to me after a race.

Surely if I am physically shattered why am I unable to kip ?

Any help welcomed.

Juckky

After you get rehydrated, drink a few beers and i bet you will get a good sleep.