Local clubs start their rides around 5:40-6am. For me to get there (say 5:45am) I have to wake up at 4:30am and be out the door around 5:15am. The ride itself is maybe around 75-90mins, plus two 30 min commutes there and back (easy zone 2 base miles).
I have a few problems:
riding aside (imagine I just needed to get up at 4:30am), I feel really sleepy during the day - enough so that I need to take a nap before lunch. I try to sleep around 9pm but I feel like my body doesn’t want to sleep before 11pm (even if I fall asleep after 9pm I feel like real sleep only begins after 11pm).
factor in hard training efforts and now I really need to nap right after the ride (even if I sleep in and ride at any time of the day, I need a nap after a hard ride - puts me right to sleep, probably because it counteracts stress and anxiety which I have plenty of - I really relax during hard efforts).
I get back home around 8am - a warm shower and just about any kind of food with carbs puts me to sleep - so I sleep 8:30am-10am and then start work around 10am (so far I was lucky enough to be working from home).
If I had to work without sleeping all day I don’t think I’d be able to. As mentioned above I have anxiety and stress and cycling is a huge healing factor for me.
Was anyone in a similar situation and was able to solve it? How did you do it?
I second this. Your body gets used to whatever schedule you force on it. I’m the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to training. With 4 kids under the age of 8 (two being 5 months old twins), riding during the day Mon-Fri just isn’t an option. So I ride usually from 830-900 until 1030-1130pm depending on the workout that day.
It was horrible at first, but now it just is what it is and I’m even able to fall asleep soon after.
I do early morning workouts 6 days a week and do not have an opportunity to take a nap before work. Try going to bed earlier? It takes a while to get in the routine but you need to a build a new routine if you want it…
Everyones body reacts differently, but the below are my strategies for maintaining a solid day after hard training, whether it be office work duting the week, or lawns etc on the weekend.
At least 70% of my weekly rides start between 3 and 4am.
Note that I dont have kids or many variables to disrupt my routines.
Fuel hard during ride, and immediately after. I find this leaves me feeling much less depleted once the ride has finished. I run on around 80g of carbs per hour while riding, understand this is not for everyone. Coffee post ride also helps, though also not everyones preference.
Keep moving! Instead of napping, try a 10 minute walk outdoors. Personally napping during the day means im less inclined to get to bed in decent time at night. The more solid sleep i can get before 12am the better i feel, regardless of what time i am waking the next morning.
Form a nightime routine. For me the main part of my routine is spending 10 minutes foam rolling, which relaxes my muscles for a good sleep, and makes me feel a lot more ‘loose’ for the next mornings ride. Magnesium supplements directly before bed also seem to help my sleep.
Hopefully this helps… early rising is very much a routine based thing in my opinion.
My vote is to change your warm shower to a cool shower, or possibly even cold. This may well quell your ‘sleepies’. Having more protein might help also, as the carbs are likely to cause an insulin spike, which may well be followed by a crash. You’ll still need to replenish the carbs at some point, but maybe spread that out a bit.
I also agree that just continuing to go to bed early, and get up early, will eventually ‘take’. I used to be an owl, but my wife is a lark. Wanting to be on the same schedule (and seeing some benefit to getting up earlier), I started going to bed at 9 (instead of 11) and getting up at 5 (instead of 7). It took a few months, but I’ve now been on that schedule for years, including weekends. And there are plenty of days (like today, even) where I’m ready to head to bed well before 9. So, figure out the schedule that works for what you want to do, and then stick with it.
Can I please ask what time you go to bed and wake up if you rides start at say, 3:30am? To me, this seems very early. I’m intrigued to hear your routine!
It is early! As i said, i have very little distractions at the start and finish of every day, so it works well for me. The middle of my day is all about packing as much work in as possible.
If i get to bed much after 9pm the routine suffers. As stated above, ive found the more sleep i get before 12am, the better i pull up the next day.
My very early rides vary between 70-160km… for a 160 ill allow at least 45 mins for pre-ride prep. For a 70, ill often be out the door in under 30 mins.
Starting early is great for the weekend also, as i can knock a century ride over by 10am, and i have a full day ahead, when a lot of the population is just rolling out of bed!
As another crazy early morning rider (usually on the bike by 5:30am, frequently by 5am in spring/summer), I think fuelling during the ride and eating a good breakfast after makes a huge difference in late morning alertness and being a functional human.
What would you recommend as non-sleepy protein sources during the day? I think carbs promote serotonin synthesis as well which makes one drowsy. I don’t get sleepy after eating eggs, beef jerky and oddly Magnum ice cream bars (which I know have carbs). Everything else seems to put me to sleep, including beef and tofu… esp chicken. I could just keep eating hard boiled eggs with a bit of grapefruit as a “sugar snack”.
I’m not sure I’d recommend a specific protein, though eating foods to get all of the essential amino acids is definitely important. More than anything, I’d just recommend eating proteins (and fats) first, and the carbs after. This should help reduce the insulin spike.
