General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Sleeping the night before a big race! Rss Feed  
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2005-03-24 10:54 AM

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Subject: Sleeping the night before a big race!
I don't know if you guys get like I do the night before a big race, but it takes me forever to fall asleep, I'm so friggin' anxious! I've heard of some people taking half a sleeping pill, like Tylenol PM to get to sleep. Has anyone done this, and do you think it's safe to do? Or, what other things do you do to help you fall asleep? I probably only wind up getting like 4 hours of sleep the night before a race, and I want to be sure I'm good and RESTED before St. Anthony's!


2005-03-24 11:06 AM
in reply to: #133616

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Resident Curmudgeon
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

Actually, sleeping the night before a race is not as critical as how you sleep in the nights preceeding that night.

I'd be hesitant about taking anything out of the ordinary the night before the race.

2005-03-24 11:17 AM
in reply to: #133626

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
I agree w/ Bear on both counts. Those types of pills tend to linger in your system, I'd avoid them. I don't sleep much pre race either but, i expect it so i just try to relax instead of getting frustrated. Once your up (before the alarm I'm sure) the adrenaline takes over. You''ll be fine w/o the drugs- have a beer afterwards!
Mark
2005-03-24 11:19 AM
in reply to: #133616

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
My question is what do you do in leading up to your race for a good nights sleep. Its probably been over a week since I had a night were I got more than 4hrs of restful sleep. Anything over that i'm tossing and turning or I just wake up and can't fall back to sleep.
2005-03-24 11:34 AM
in reply to: #133637

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Expert
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

parrj - 2005-03-24 9:19 AM My question is what do you do in leading up to your race for a good nights sleep. Its probably been over a week since I had a night were I got more than 4hrs of restful sleep. Anything over that i'm tossing and turning or I just wake up and can't fall back to sleep.

Without being too graphic, a little cross-training of the highly enjoyable kind leads to some great pre-race sleep!  Of course, depending on your training, during that taper before the race your body may actually allow you to sleep very well without any additional encouragement.

Anecdotal: if you are WORRYING about the race the night before, you probably won't sleep very well.  If you tell yourself that you're trained and prepared for it, you should be just fine.  I slept like a baby the night before my last race...

2005-03-24 11:48 AM
in reply to: #133644

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
joeinco - 2005-03-24 10:34 AM

Without being too graphic, a little cross-training of the highly enjoyable kind leads to some great pre-race sleep! 

Do you do this "cross-training" alone, Joe?



2005-03-24 12:22 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
no "cross-training" in the pool either! 
2005-03-24 12:27 PM
in reply to: #133683

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
Or in a rented wetsuit, for that matter.
2005-03-24 12:43 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
I am a nighttime worrier, always have been. Won't do drugs, don't want to get started down THAT path. Then I read an excellent bit of writing by Dan Empfield, talking about how a triathlon habit is incompatible with a nighttime worry habit. It impacted me very deeply. If anyone else who suffers from this wants to read it, I will forward it to you. I printed it off and taped it to my training binder so it is the first thing I see when I open the cover.
Hearing it and knowing it are very different from being able to stop it, so I am going to tell you a crazy thing I came up with that really helps. Make fun if you will, but it is the only thing that has ever been able to stop the thoughts that stick their foot in the door of my brain if I reach the smallest bit of consciousness at night and zap me to fully awake worry mode.
I sing songs in my head. I told you you'd laugh, but just listen. I pick very calming, restful CD's (I like Norah, but that's just me), and I just starting singing all the songs from them in my head. It is not possible to have two thought simultaneously, so while the songs are taking up the space, nothing else can get in. Try it just one time when the floodgates open, and see what happens.
2005-03-24 12:46 PM
in reply to: #133644

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
joeinco - 2005-03-24 11:34 AM

parrj - 2005-03-24 9:19 AM My question is what do you do in leading up to your race for a good nights sleep. Its probably been over a week since I had a night were I got more than 4hrs of restful sleep. Anything over that i'm tossing and turning or I just wake up and can't fall back to sleep.

Without being too graphic, a little cross-training of the highly enjoyable kind leads to some great pre-race sleep!  Of course, depending on your training, during that taper before the race your body may actually allow you to sleep very well without any additional encouragement.

Anecdotal: if you are WORRYING about the race the night before, you probably won't sleep very well.  If you tell yourself that you're trained and prepared for it, you should be just fine.  I slept like a baby the night before my last race...



The problem being, the girl all my friends were telling me I need to ask out, supposely because she wanted me too, shot me down today. So no soup for me. Life sucks.
2005-03-24 12:46 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
Lisa,
For me triathlons have been MUCH worse than football. I was always nervous before kickoff and the night before but nothing like tri's! I think it is because triathlon is a somewhat lonely sport because the actual race is just you against you. I agree with Bear on trying something new. Do not do it! IF it makes you jumpy you have no recourse but to let it work through your system.
Now as far as the advice joeinco had...

Fred


2005-03-24 1:05 PM
in reply to: #133658

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Expert
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
the bear - 2005-03-24 9:48 AM
joeinco - 2005-03-24 10:34 AM

Without being too graphic, a little cross-training of the highly enjoyable kind leads to some great pre-race sleep! 

Do you do this "cross-training" alone, Joe?

Not since Lynn asked me to marry her!  Never in the pool (does a hot tub count?), but the rented wetsuit idea sounds rather intriguing...

2005-03-24 1:10 PM
in reply to: #133708

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Pro
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

the rented wetsuit idea sounds rather intriguing...

Yeah, that would definitely help with transitions, since you'd have to work on getting the damn thing off quickly.

2005-03-24 1:25 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Master
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
I've found valerian to be a gentle sleep aid that doesn't leave me feeling hung over.
2005-03-24 2:36 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Expert
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

For a Sunday race, get your good sleep on Friday.  You'll be getting up early on Sunday so sleep is going to be short any way.  On Saturday night I don't even try to go to bed early, because I'll just lay awake until at least my normal bedtime, and often well beyond.  If anything I tend to stay up past my regular bedtime, then I'm more tired when I crawl in bed.

I've had pretty good success with REM caps which contain Melatonin and Valerian Root Extract.  It takes a few weeks for the effect to kick in.  Here's the link for the product:

http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PRODUCT&CAT=ECAPS&PROD.ID=4050&OMI=&AMI=&uir=product.category,ECAPS,E-Caps#info3

If you order, give them my customer #43164.  You'll get a discount on your order.

2005-03-24 3:09 PM
in reply to: #133644

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

joeinco - 2005-03-24 8:34 AM Without being too graphic, a little cross-training of the highly enjoyable kind leads to some great pre-race sleep! 

Yeah, but as a gal, I wouldn't want to be straddling a bike for an extended period of time the next morning.



2005-03-24 3:11 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
a light beer or merlot and some air popped pop corn knocks me out
2005-03-24 3:15 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Coach
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

I can never sleep before a big race! But as the bear said, it isn't as vital to sleep the night before as the days prior the race. Last November before my 1st marathon I couldn’t sleep more than 3/4 hrs but the days prior the race, I was able to sleep 8 or 9+  hrs. On race day my performance wasn't affected at all due to the lack of proper sleep...

2005-03-24 4:29 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!

Ditto what Bear said....

I put it in my plan to get adequate sleep in the nights before the race.  Also, I find if I get everything ready and re-ready early in the evening (like 4-5 PM) the night before, eat dinner, and then get "re-ready", I can fall asleep.  I love the checklist and having a diagram (got that idea here from Mike). 

2005-03-24 5:42 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
i get INCREDIBLE performance anxiety the night before any significant event, regardless of how well-prepared I am. if there is a lot at stake, like with PT tests or with interviews, i am dang near impossible to be around the night before. in college football games, i would dry-heave a little bit as we came onto the field and warmed up in front of the crowd. lame, i know. races aren't so bad because i do them for fun. i still get it though. all butterflies in the stomach and no sleep. my wife says i'm miserable the night before tests of any sort.
2005-03-24 7:36 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
I agree with the posters who said that it's not the night before that matters, but rather two nights out (that is, Friday night for a Sunday race). However, that changes as the race distance becomes longer. It is a bit risky to sleep poorly the night before a 1/2iron, and potentially awful the night before a full iron. Paradoxically, though, the nerves are almost certain to be more frazzled the night before the longer events. By all means, though, stay away from the sedatives and relaxants. I can't imagine that they fully vacate your system by race time, and I doubt they will do anything positive for you during the race - where "sharpness" at every level counts!

Staying in a campground actually works for me. First, most people obey the 10 or 11 curfew. Second, you won't have a noisy TV blaring next day; or worse, a noisy party next door. Third, you won't have a TV to mindlessly watch until your nerves allow you to sleep. I camped the two nights before Timberman1/2, and the night before each of the Canadian Duathlon Championship, Mooseman, and Cape Henlopen.


2005-03-24 7:40 PM
in reply to: #133708

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
How the heck would you "enjoyably cross-train" in a wetsuit? Isn't it kind of like a full-body chastity belt?

:-)
2005-03-24 7:51 PM
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molto veloce mama
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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
i haven't had as much trouble sleeping before events as i did my first season. two nights before my first race, i was up a ton, so the night before i tried several things to help me sleep - chamomile bath, warm milk, a massage. seemed to help. i wouldn't take a sleeping pill for the same reasons stated above.
2005-03-24 8:17 PM
in reply to: #133616

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
Sorry, I was so busy being a smart-@ss in my previous post that I forgot to answer the question.

:-)

I've taken stuff like Tylenol or Excedrin PM before, and they take about twelve hours to wear off completely (in my system. Could be different for everyone). So I never take them unless I know I have absolutely NOTHING that I have to do for the next twelve hours........actually, I guess what that really means is that I never take them. :-)

If you're having to wake up 6 or 8 hours later, you are going to be one groggy, disoriented, unmotivated, slow triathlete, if you're anything like me. Heck, it's probably not even safe to drive or bike (or swim!) like that.

Not to belabor the point, but I agree with everyone who said that two nights out is more important -- between nerves, excitement, and having to get up at 5 AM, I almost never get more than 4 or 5 hours sleep the night before a race. As long as I got about 9 the night before, I'm fine.
2005-03-25 10:50 AM
in reply to: #133906

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Subject: RE: Sleeping the night before a big race!
Angie - 2005-03-24 5:40 PM How the heck would you "enjoyably cross-train" in a wetsuit? Isn't it kind of like a full-body chastity belt?

:-)

I just said the idea was intriguing, what with Pam and body-glide and all... 

(OK, It's official, I've sunk to welshy's level!)

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