@trswem, that is only a matter of fitting that workout into a tidy hour, and it’s cases like these that were the motivation for the extended warmups/cooldowns option we added. If I had it my way and every workout could be lengthened based on the intensity of the workout and riders were dripping with extra workout time whenever it was necessary, there would be a solid 15- to 20-minute cooldown tacked onto every high-intensity workout. 
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Awesome, thank you for the reply @chad, I’ll be pounding that extended button in the future.
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I have had trouble getting to sleep after high intensity intervals, or evening races. I have participated in a Tuesday night crit series for the past several years that basically runs every Tuesday night from Memorial Day to Labor Day. It is sometimes difficult to fall asleep afterwards. I generally try to do all of my hard interval workouts, ranging from Sweet Spot to VO2 Max work in the mornings, and I will only do steady zone 2 or 3 work in the evenings. Stuff like Baxter, Carter, and Pettit are fine for evening workouts. But I had a schedule change at work in January that helped this immensely. I went from working 4 days of 11.5 hour shifts in a row (6 AM to 5:30 PM) with the next 4 days off, to a regular M-F 8-4 schedule. Now I can easily get up at 5:30, knock out an hour on the trainer, and still make it to work by 8:00 AM. But that 4 on 4 off schedule for 12 years really made it difficult to train.
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From what i recall from podcasts - i don’t think its adaption based i think tis simply to fit the workout into a ‘hour’ or ‘90mins’ durations that works best for most users.
sorry! only just saw the reply from the best knowledge source: @chad … my bad.
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I’ve been really struggling with this. I can fall asleep for around 20-30 minutes but then I’m awake for about 2 hours afterward. It’s driving me mad and now starting to disrupt nights where I am not even on the bike.
Going to try having a bit of protein after my rides, I think @chad discussed this on a podcast?
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We definitely covered this, but I’m horrible at recalling episode numbers. Pretty simply, the workout puts you in a catabolic state and your goal is to return to an anabolic one prior to bed. Plenty of hormones ramp up to help you wrangle the energy necessary for the workout, not least of which is cortisol, and counteracting them post-workout is both necessary for adaptation and, as you well know by now, to keep your sleep on track.
Having a meal goes a long way in both respects. Carbohydrate will kick insulin into gear which basically shuts down cortisol production, and protein will mitigate protein degradation/muscle catabolism and ideally bring your protein balance back to the plus side such that you can actually manifest muscular adaptation in response to all your hard work. Fat will gum up the works though and slow absorption, so consider keeping your post-workout/pre-bedtime meal low-fat or even no-fat
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Thanks for all that useful information on cortisol levels and meal advices! Additionally I get the following after VO2-workouts:
I go to Bed and am really tired. I fall asleep after 10mins or so for 1-2 hours and wake up GASPING for air. Sometimes it is really scary, as I really feel like suffocating. But I am definetely not in problems, but it feels like it. When I try to sleep, I jump up a few times again with this strange feeling. I feel completely healthy and my HR is normal during sleep.
My VO2max is 55ml/kg/min (Garmin) and my FTP around 315 (3.5 W/kg). So not super fit, but also in general not VO2 limited too much.
Is this normal or should i be worried?
Many Thanks
Sorry to hear about your sleep issues. That sounds a lot like sleep apnea. I don’t really have any advice for you beyond; sleeping on your side; and, contacting you doctor if it persists. Exercise is usually considered to be beneficial for it.
Go do a sleep study - you can even do them in home now; this sounds like sleep apnea. If it is, get yourself on a CPAP and reap the benefits of sleeping well for the first time in a long time. CPAP treatment changed my life; I sleep so much better.
I created a topic on phosphatidylserine. I have just heard about it and no experience with it but maybe someone will contribute.
I have also found that the only way to get myself to fall asleep after hard VO2 max workouts is cool off.
Usually I try to do this before bed but if it becomes obvious after I get in bed that I am not going to sleep well. I remove all of my covers except for a thin sheet. This usually allows me to fall asleep much quicker, one hour instead of three hours. I usually wake up in the middle of the night freezing but that has been the best way I have found to trick my body into sleeping.
Kurt, same experience here. Didn’t realize how poorly I was resting until I actually started my cpap. Do you also find you don’t sleep as long now? I typically go to bed by 10:30 and if I sleep past 5:30 it is unusual.
Yep. Unless I’m really trashed or tired, I feel refreshed after 7-7:30 of sleep. That said, I feel even better if I can go past 8, so when I can sleep in, I try to. Best I’ve felt was when I was working an afternoon shift and could sleep until 7:30 (instead of alarm at 6). I’d go to bed at 11 and stay in bed 8.5 hrs with the CPAP… even if the last 90 min was just dozing, I felt sooooo good.