Trouble sleeping after long rides

axel_knutt
Posts: 2880
Joined: 11 Jan 2007, 12:20pm

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by axel_knutt »

raj wrote:I've never heard of "overtraining syndrome" before but it sounds interesting (http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/overtraining.html) but most of the information out there refers to athletes on regular exercise regimes not recreational cyclists on occasional day rides. Not sure how applicable it is to us.

Yes, there are a lot of people who think that OTS is something only athletes get, but even golfers get it, possibly because they're less likely to think they're at risk. All it takes is to build up a level of fatigue that you can't recover from between training sessions, and then maintain that fatigue for a protracted period of time. The less fit you are the easier it is to make yourself fatigued, particularly if you're new to exercise and impatient to build fitness faster than is realistic.
“I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
User avatar
NATURAL ANKLING
Posts: 13780
Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
Location: English Riviera

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Not watched it yet-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08q8p13

Today I fell asleep in the chair and I dropped the tv remote then I woke up :mrgreen:

This is meant to mean that you don't get enough sleep.
I have been having power naps for years and that's the way it works for me.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Ivor Tingting
Posts: 856
Joined: 10 Mar 2009, 9:57pm

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by Ivor Tingting »

After a day's ride, I am asleep before my head hits the pillow. But then I do ride everyday about 35 miles and do a full day's work, not sitting at a desk, in between.
"Zat is ze reel prowoking qwestion Mr Paxman." - Peer Steinbruck, German Finance Minister 31/03/2009.
malvandy
Posts: 71
Joined: 5 Mar 2017, 7:34pm
Location: Central France

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by malvandy »

All very interesting & then you get the tourers . End of a hard day in the saddle could find you sleeping in a tent on the ground hopefully on a comfy mattress & in a sleeping bag. You get a bad nights sleep & the blame is put on your sleeping conditions & environment but as a lot of you have expressed a particularly rigorous ride disrupts that nights sleep.
A steady incline for several miles on a fully loaded tourer at the end of the day has taught me that sleep will suffer, its a viscous cycle , sleep deprived & you suffer the next day & so on. Only way I have broken the cycle is to look for, where possible, a comfy place, be it a camp site, hotel, B&B etc & stay until I manage to sleep well. I have realised the best way is not to push yourself right up to the end but make the last few miles as a wind down . Not all cycling activities can be approached in the same way, especially if you are after best time/average speed.
Be good to know what others do on tour
Vorpal
Moderator
Posts: 20700
Joined: 19 Jan 2009, 3:34pm
Location: Not there ;)

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by Vorpal »

After a couple of nights of poor sleep, my body seems to adjust pretty well. I'm a fairly leaisurely tourer, anyway, but if I need to, I plan a couple of easy days at the beginnning.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
ossie
Posts: 1793
Joined: 15 Apr 2011, 7:52pm

Re: Trouble sleeping after long rides

Post by ossie »

malvandy wrote:All very interesting & then you get the tourers . End of a hard day in the saddle could find you sleeping in a tent on the ground hopefully on a comfy mattress & in a sleeping bag. You get a bad nights sleep & the blame is put on your sleeping conditions & environment but as a lot of you have expressed a particularly rigorous ride disrupts that nights sleep.
A steady incline for several miles on a fully loaded tourer at the end of the day has taught me that sleep will suffer, its a viscous cycle , sleep deprived & you suffer the next day & so on. Only way I have broken the cycle is to look for, where possible, a comfy place, be it a camp site, hotel, B&B etc & stay until I manage to sleep well. I have realised the best way is not to push yourself right up to the end but make the last few miles as a wind down . Not all cycling activities can be approached in the same way, especially if you are after best time/average speed.
Be good to know what others do on tour


Interesting post. I sleep badly after a ride on my road bike of 50 miles plus. Under that I seem fine.

When touring I never sleep the first night but I was putting this down to adrenaline / 1st night in the tent and lack of comfort, strange noises etc. It may well be the exertion or just a combination of everything. I cant even sleep the night before a tour so by day 3 I'm wrecked and sleep usually kicks in.
Post Reply