Sleeping after a ride

willbevan
willbevan Posts: 1,241
edited December 2007 in Training, fitness and health
Hi guys,

Quick question, I'm doing longer rides on saturday monring (for me been 32 or 40 miles, taking me 2:30-3:00) and each time i want to sleep after, not straight away after, i'll clean the bike have food, then watch some tv and i will fall asleep within a couple of hours feeling absolutely shattered

Would this be a sign of over trianing? never had this when i used to run, used to 15-18miles early sunday morning and wouldnt have a problem at all and found the running a LOT harder on the body etc but never felt like i want to sleep? even when I was doing 50-60 miles a week running

I go out twice a week with my local cycle club during the week, which is a faster pace but somewhere between 12-20 miles, +6 miles gettign there and back....

So it is likely ill do 24 miles Tuesday and Thursday but that won't put me down as such....

But add another 10 miles on that and i want to sleep, i am taking it gently, average heart rate today was 144(dont think any of my runs where ever that low an average) which is not flat, but chosen becasue it is gentle.

Any thoughts would be appriciated.

Thanks

Will

PS been cycling a few months after a couple months lay off from running (injured myself so been taking it easy increasing distance biking)
Road - BTwin Sport 2 16s
MTB - Trek Fuel 80
TT - Echelon

http://www.rossonwye.cyclists.co.uk/

Comments

  • Mike Willcox
    Mike Willcox Posts: 1,770
    No problem. Get the wife or girlfriend to give you a massage and then have a nap; it will do you good. Sleep is the best form of recovery.

    After a few weeks you will be able to go out for another ride the same day (if you want to).
  • pdstsp
    pdstsp Posts: 1,264
    Agree with Mke - I always drop off after a long ride - often only for 10 minutes to half an hour 0 and then wake up feeling great - seems to give everything a chance to recover.
  • Brian B
    Brian B Posts: 2,071
    I feel like that sometimes and more so if I have been working a lot. I think its a great way to get on with the rest of your day and I only wish my better half and the kids agreed with me :D
    Brian B.
  • Ste_S
    Ste_S Posts: 1,173
    I'm nodding off for most of Sunday afternoon after a club run, great stuff
  • Blonde
    Blonde Posts: 3,188
    I'm sure it's completely normal. I find that being out in the cold makes me feel tired - I don't notice so much during the summer months but at this time of year I feel sleepy afterthe longer weekend rides in the cold. Don't fight it. Have a nap for 45 minutes or an hour, if you can - don't over sleep though, or you could have trouble sleeping later that night.
  • Gerry Attrick
    Gerry Attrick Posts: 97
    I was going out for a ride, but reading all this about the effort you guys put into sleeping is making me feel tired. :)
    Perpetuating the myth that Lincolnshire is flat.
  • ChrisLS
    ChrisLS Posts: 2,749
    ...there is nothing like a good sleep after after a session on the bike...rest and recovery
    ...all the way...'til the wheels fall off and burn...
  • cervelorider
    cervelorider Posts: 91
    Early morning rides always make me sleepy, moreso after eating after the ride.
    On the other hand, I can go out early am and do a full days work(moderate), get home and do 2-3hrs on the bike and I'm left buzzing till 11ish.
  • popette
    popette Posts: 2,089
    Mike Willcox wrote:
    No problem. Get the wife or girlfriend to give you a massage and then have a nap; it will do you good. Sleep is the best form of recovery.

    After a few weeks you will be able to go out for another ride the same day (if you want to).

    This sounds like my idea of heaven - going out for a ride for half a day, getting back and husband giving me a massage for half an hour and then letting me snooze while he carries on looking after the four kids that he's being looking after for the previous 4 hours. It wouldn't be remotely fair on husband (or kids) so it's probably never going to happen. But it would be lovely........
    http://www.2010etape.blogspot.com
  • nolf
    nolf Posts: 1,287
    I always feel sleepy after club rides at the weekend. Partly because 8am is the earliest I get up all week and partly becuase of the ride itself (3-4 hours covering 70-80 miles).

    It ain't half depressing when you go out on a club run, get back after 4 hours hard riding and only 2 other people on your floor are awake, and they're eating breakfast! :?
    "I hold it true, what'er befall;
    I feel it, when I sorrow most;
    'Tis better to have loved and lost;
    Than never to have loved at all."

    Alfred Tennyson
  • synchronicity
    synchronicity Posts: 1,415
    Have a look at this article:

    http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm
    vertebr.ae | precision braking & shifting
  • Blonde
    Blonde Posts: 3,188
    popette wrote:
    Mike Willcox wrote:
    No problem. Get the wife or girlfriend to give you a massage and then have a nap; it will do you good. Sleep is the best form of recovery.

    After a few weeks you will be able to go out for another ride the same day (if you want to).

    This sounds like my idea of heaven - going out for a ride for half a day, getting back and husband giving me a massage for half an hour and then letting me snooze while he carries on looking after the four kids that he's being looking after for the previous 4 hours. It wouldn't be remotely fair on husband (or kids) so it's probably never going to happen. But it would be lovely........

    Heh heh! My loved one is usually out with me on the bike so that suggestion wouldn't really work for us either. We're both just as likely as the other to want to lie down after a ride. Usually we both have to fight the urge anyway, in favour of kit laundry, cooking tea, cleaning bike, sorting out bike and kit for riding to work next day etc etc. The resting after rides and having everything else done for you thing is what we go on holiday for!

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