Night shifts

Cumulonimbus

Hi everyone

Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how best to train when you work a mixture of day and night-shifts? ('dont do them' doesnt count!)

For instance, is going out the day after finishing nights (ie going out on tuesday when i have finished on monday morning) any good? Or will tiredness mean that i am better off waiting another day? I imagine that hard work-outs are best done quite a while afterwards with perhaps medium endurance runs the best to do first?

My nights are variable but they are generally in groups of 3 two weeks apart. Have yet to properly test my fitness level on my new bike but i think i would be able to do 63 minutes in the 3 lap richmond park challenge or possibly a small amount less. My aims for next season are not set in stone but i would like to maybe do a few 4th cat races/10 mile time trials early on

fuzzynavel

If you are properly prepared for your night shift then there should be no worries going for a ride when you get home. A lot of night shift workers just depend on being busy to keep them going through the night. I have done 12 hour nights for BP 7pm to 7 am in the labs and getting plenty of sleep during the day rather than watching loose women is definately the way forward.
Just treat a night shift as you would a day shift...get up out of bed...get dressed and go to work.....come home, go out on the bike....have some food and go to sleep....It is a very solitary lifestyle and my wife used to get pissed because we hardly saw each other...I'd come home as she was leaving for work and vice versa..

Cougar

I used to do a full roating shift system of early (7.00am start) days (9.00am) afternoon (12.00 noon), lates (2.00pm) and nights (10.00 pm).

I used to have 3 x nights on the bounce. I commuted to work on the bike so after riding home in the morning and getting home by 8.00am and to bed by 9.00am then used to get up about 2.00pm in the afternoon and go out for about 2 hours. Then maybe have another sleep before riding to work leaving 9.00pm.

I never did any high intensity work or races during night shifts. Mostly felt like a zombie during this time and really hated doing them.

markos1963

As someone who works a totally variable shift system with some weeks the night shift is split(mon,tues on, weds,thurs off, fri,sat back on) with a mix of earlies(4am on) and lates(0100 off) I know the problems of scheduling rides in. I treat night shifts as a late night, so when I come home I go straight to bed and sleep till lunch time. Once up I have breakfast and go out about an hour and a half later for a ride of whatever length I need to do. I aviod commuting home on nights as it doesn't work, I ride in and train it home. I find too much exercise before bed time keeps me up. The best thing about shift working is that you have more daylight hours for riding than if you work 9-5 so I count it as a blessing.

Cumulonimbus

Thanks for the replies guys

Yes, shift-working can have that advantage markos. Days off in the week offer a good opportunity for getting a long ride in

Roadie Rods

What Markos said. I find it really hard to train after a night shift, much happier training in the late arvo before going to work if on nights (then I'm fresher to train too).

SCR Pedro

Hey there,

I did night shift a couple of years back, and it messed up my body clock quite badly.

I didn't cycle much back then, but I was in the gym everyday. I tried going to the gym after my shift, and I agree that it just made sleeping more difficult. I prefered to get up at 16:00, have my cornflakes, then head off to the gym at 19:00, have dinner at 21:00, and start work at 22:30

Given the dark winter evenings, I can't imagine that schedule would work for cycling. Maybe a Turbo Trainer would give you more options, especially for the short, hard Time Trial efforts.

Cheers
Pedro

Mapman

I work the occasional night 2200-9am I would generally agree that either a long ride or at high intensity can be difficult ;psychlogically as well as physically HOWEVER it can be done . Despite feeling like sh-t after one night shift because the sun was out i cycled home 18 milesat a lieisurely pace ;after 3 miles i felt much better ,the "fugg" in my head and body had lifted ,and when i got home i was ready for a shower and a sleep If the weather is nice i will cycle home long ;18 miles ;as opposed to short 6 miles ;and do feel better for it My suggestion would be to give it a try

derekwatts

As night shifts go I suppose I am at the extreme, as I fly for a long haul airline. So at least 5 times a month I lose a night of sleep, but it's usually only 30 hours or so after flying out during the day. So there is no chance to stay on local time or UK time, either way you will lose out on sleep. Also the constant jetlag plays havoc with sleep patterns at home.

I wouldn't say I am into a heavy or structured training regime - I just ride when I can, and if it's crappy outdoors I put in an hour or so on resistance rollers. That usually works out at between 80-200 miles per week. But one thing I have found is that 'perceived tiredeness' isn't generally a reliable indication of how well you will ride. I have beaten personal bests on my local training loop quite often after landing back in the UK at 6am, sleeping for 3 hours then getting up and riding just as the weather is no nice outside! Once the wheels start spinning and I build up a sweat, I often wake up. It's probably far from ideal, but if I didn't ride the day I got home, quite often I would only get the opportunity to ride 2 days a week.

Pip13

I work a mixture of days and nights and commute by bike. Funnily enough I fnd it easier to cycle home from work after a night shift than a day. If I drive I can feel myself nodding off on some days but on the bike no chance. After my last night I get up as early as possible to get back into a normal pattern and then then next day I find exercise be it bike or gym no problem.

Cumulonimbus

Pip13 wrote:

I work a mixture of days and nights and commute by bike. Funnily enough I fnd it easier to cycle home from work after a night shift than a day. If I drive I can feel myself nodding off on some days but on the bike no chance. After my last night I get up as early as possible to get back into a normal pattern and then then next day I find exercise be it bike or gym no problem.

Hi Pip

Even doing really hard sessions or do you tend to leave these for a while?

Pip13

Cumulonimbus wrote:

Pip13 wrote:

I work a mixture of days and nights and commute by bike. Funnily enough I fnd it easier to cycle home from work after a night shift than a day. If I drive I can feel myself nodding off on some days but on the bike no chance. After my last night I get up as early as possible to get back into a normal pattern and then then next day I find exercise be it bike or gym no problem.

Hi Pip

Even doing really hard sessions or do you tend to leave these for a while?

Well Saturday I came off nights so that was a sleep day. Sunday I did about 1 hour 45 on the bike on our lovely devon hills - does that count? I felt fine. I think I am quite lucky that I bounce back from nights quite quickly. I know lots of people who don't and they feel like a zombie for a few days.