Let sleeping cyclists lie

[Pendejo]

For the past six months or so, I haven't been sleeping well. No matter how late I went to bed, and no matter how tired I knew I was, it wasn't easy falling asleep - I felt too wide awake. And then no matter how many hours I "slept," as soon as I got up I was already thinking about a nap.

I live in Florida and we don't really have cycling seasons here. We bike year round and we can race year round. I've been training hard for four years now, without a real break (except for a few recoveries from crashes). So I decided to make this January a "vacation" month: easy rides on the bike, no real hard stuff, many days off.

And now my normal sleep patterns have returned. When I go to bed I can hardly keep my eyes open to read for a few minutes, and when I get up in the morning I feel recharged and ready to go.

I certainly have read that overtraining can interfere with sleep, but it's one of those things I couldn't relate to and maybe didn't quite believe. Well, now I believe!

 

[9.8mps2]

Good deal mi compadre . Now you have to do a name change - mi espanol es mui malo, but something like El Luminario or something bright !

 

[hockinsk]

I wonder if something you eat or drink only when training and racing ( energy supplements, caffeine, glucose etc) might be affecting your sleep? I know when i'm solidly training everyday and don't keep an eye on the amount of Maltodextrine i'm drinking I begin to get constant dull headaches after a few days. I only found out it was Maltodextrine by cutting it out for two weeks after initially cutting out all coffee.

Maybe try this yourself with some of the stuff you are taking during training and if it works, you’ll know what your safe limit is if sleeping becomes more difficult as you increase your intake again?