For those who have been reading this blog for a while know, in addition to running, I spend a lot of my free time performing with various community theater groups near and in my home town of Westborough. As you can imagine most rehearsals are in the evenings after work and I don’t usually get home until well after 10 p.m. This means that many times when the alarm clock goes off at 5:00 am for me to get up and out for my morning training run, I am not as well rested as I should be. It made me wonder whether or not sleep deprivation interfered with my running performance.When I went back and looked through my running log, I noticed that as long as I had at least 6 hours of sleep the night prior to a training run, I was able to finish the run at the pace I had set out in my training schedule. However, if I didn’t get the requisite 6 hours, my runs did suffer. But, only when I had less than 6 hours of sleep for 2 or more nights in a row. It dawned on me that I need to have a consistent sleep pattern, not just a set amount of sleep on any given night.
I have read several articles over the years that discuss the "optimal" amount of sleep needed to perform at your peak level. The consensus is that there is no “optimal” amount. It varies from runner to runner. What I do know is that I don’t have the luxury of being able to sleep 8, 10 or 12 hours a night like my teenage children. This is due mostly to the various daily activities I have to do each day. The key then is to figure out how to get enough sleep to allow me to be able to complete the workouts I need to enable me to get to the starting line well prepared for future races.
Since I know I will not be able to get more than 6 maybe 7 hours of sleep on any given night, I try to get in a couple of naps on the weekend after my long runs. I have found that a short 15-20 minute nap in the afternoon always provides me with a fresh burst energy. I am not a big caffeine drinker as I don’t like coffee and rarely drink tea. Most of my caffeine comes from soda. Since I am a runner and have lost the weight I wanted to lose, I have tried to really limit the number of sodas I drink during the week. Not only that soda is simply not good for you and is just a bunch of empty calories.
If you are having issues completing your training runs or having trouble during a particular work out, you may want to go back and assess how much rest and sleep you are getting each night. I suspect you will find that you are a bit sleep deprived. If so, you need to either increase your hours of sleep each night or plan a few naps. A planned nap is simply taking a nap before you actually get sleepy. This is what I do when I know that you will be up later than usual and I have a particularly tough work out the next day. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that if you nap too late in the day, it might affect your nighttime sleep making it difficult to fall asleep when you go to bed that night. Since I run in the early mornings, I typically will take a nap before lunch.
By now you are probably thinking, what does this really have to do with running. I can only tell you that from personal experience getting enough sleep is a key factor in being able to perform at your highest level. But, if you can't get those needed hours of sleep at night, a nap is a great way in improve your mental and physical capabilities. Try it some time, you may find you like it. I know I do.
July 25 – 10.00 miles (1:34:00, 9:24 pace)
July 26 – 6.10 miles (53:21, 8:45 pace)
July 27 – 3.50 miles (29:15, 8:22 pace) – Speed work, Mile Repeats
July 29 – 6.10 miles (49:07, 8:03 pace) – Tempo Run
July 31 – 9.10 miles (1:19:53, 8:46 pace)
Aug. 1 – 10.10 miles (1:32:19, 9:09 pace)
Aug. 2 – 6.00 miles (54:13, 9:02 pace)
Aug. 3 – 4.00 miles (34:10, 8:33 pace) – Speed work, Yasso 800s
Aug. 5 – 6.10 miles (48:49, 8:00 pace) – Tempo Run
Aug. 6 – 6.10 miles (56:40, 9:18 pace)
Aug. 7 – 10.10 miles (1:29:12, 8:55 pace)
Total Miles: 77.20 miles
2010 YTD Miles: 1,040.00 miles
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