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When the alarm went off at 4:15AM this morning I rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom to change in the dark. 2 days of predawn running and my body had already fallen back into the routine.
I wasn’t awake yet really.
My eyes were half-closed, my consciousness stuck somewhere in a fog. As I slipped into my shorts, somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered why I hadn’t snapped to alert yet. Usually by the time I’m walking out the bathroom and heading downstairs for some pre-run coffee, I am wide awake.
And then it hit me. Last night was the third or fourth night in a row of getting just under 4 hours of sleep.
I like getting 6 hours of sleep a night. In reality, I usually get 5 hours a night, which seems to work just fine. But 4 hours a night? Maybe for a couple of days, maybe even 3 nights a week, but not coming off of a vacation where I had gotten used to sleeping over 8 hour a night.
Sleep is an important part of any athlete’s regimen. It is when our bodies heal and strengthen themselves. It’s when we do most of our recovering, when our brains sort out the events and workouts of the day. Without it, our bodies (and minds) would eventually break down.
And so, at that moment, I turned around, changed back into my sleeping attire, and caught another 75 minutes of sleep.
Fortunately, today was a scheduled off day anyway.
Run Luau Run 
I’ve hit the wall a bit on sleep lately too, I think it was getting up just 15 minutes earlier than normal (3:45) on Tuesday that made me feel particularly tired. Slept in today as well. Just as well, as we had wind gusts of 60 mph here this morning. Hope the extra rest helps.
Research has shown that our bodies need 5 hours of consecutive head on pillow/flat surface in order for our adrenals to reset/refuel. No getting up to hit the bathroom-5 hours consecutive:) Anything less leads to adrenal insufficiency, which over a prolonged period of time leads to many nasty things:( I can’t stress the value of sleep to my patients enough…..
I don’t know how some people do it. I need 8 hours minimum, or I’m a wreck. And it pisses me off because I could use the extra couple hours in my day!
Sounds like a good call!! I am useless if I don’t get 6-8 hours of sleep about 3-4 days in a row!!
Good for you. I usually get 5 hours or so during the week. When I get up and the energy doesn’t kick in, I don’t even change out of my running attire, I get back under the covers to see if the urge to run / workout will hit.
Yeah. I’ve been doing more sleeping than anything lately. It’s soooo… not helping.
Good call! Listening to your body is the best thing to do. It will thank you for it! It’s when obsessive “have-to-do-it-no- matter-what” takes over that we REALLY get in trouble!!