Why Sleep Schedules Matter in Training

by - Monday, June 21, 2010

We all know that getting enough sleep is pretty crucial to being able to get up early in the morning to run. This weekend that definitely didn't happy, but I wasn't too worried about it. A missed run isn't the end of the world.

I figured I'd get back in the swing of things Monday morning, but, then I remembered another critical factor in the sleep/run equation.

It's not just getting enough sleep that matters. Keeping a fairly regular sleep schedule is really important too.

And that's what led to my epic running fail this morning.

Alarm goes off at 5 a.m. I turn it off and go back to sleep. My body was pretty sure it was 3 a.m. and I had at least another couple hours of sleep.

See the past few nights my sleep schedule looked like this:

Friday night in bed at 12:30ish
Saturday morning wake up 7:15 a.m.
Saturday night asleep....ummm 3 a.m.
Sunday wake up: 10:30 a.m.
Sunday during the day: Two short naps in the car ride home from Virginia.

So even though I went to bed at a normal time on Sunday night, my body was all kinds of messed up from my weird weekend schedule. I know it's going to take my body a few more days to readjust to a normal pattern, but I'm fairly confident I'll be able to get up to run tomorrow.

I'm pretty bummed I didn't get a run in this morning, but I'm trying not to beat myself up about it. In the grand scheme of things, it's really not the end of the world.

What are your tips for getting back on a normal sleep schedule? Anyway I can jump start the process of getting my body back to normal?

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