middle of night workouts... do or dont?

dhoy42

hi there, i am newish to road biking and cant seem to find time in the day to get in my training. i am a bartender and get off work at 2/3 AM and cant seem to wind down and get to sleep until about 4/5 AM. i recently bought a turbo trainer and was wondering what effects postitive and/or negative training at 3AM would have? would it be a waste of time or actually be productive? any studies or experiences would be a great help as i am trying to do a sprint triathlon in a couple months and cant seem to fit the bike training in the daytime.... thanks!

joey54321

I Imagine from the little I know it would seriously mess with your circadian rhythm and probably have quite a negative impact on things like hormonal health.

But then again, maybe you're already doing that damage by not sleeping until 5am anyway.

imposter2.0

Can you not get some riding/training in before your shift starts?

cougie

I'd go for it and see what you think. You might need a quiet turbo or it could well work out worse for your health ?

timothyw

I used to work as a bartender and that sounds very familiar - always took a few hours to wind down from a shift and be ready for bed, then I'd not get up until midday.

Assuming you can do the training without disturbing your neighbours and family, then I can't see any harm in training when you get in, although I wouldn't leave it too late otherwise you risk being up even later (although if you are training hard that won't be a problem, you will be ready to sleep!)

Might be a good idea to get a decent set of lights so that you can do some outdoor training - there was a guy who used to live in my area who would go out riding in the middle of the night and hoover up all the KOMs on strava - no traffic to get in the way!

Ultimately it's no different from someone on a 9-5 job going and doing a spin class at 8pm.

cougie

I'm a 9-5 er and occasionally I've been riding after midnight. Roads are fantastically empty so it's quite nice. As you say though - you then need to calm down after that so it does wake you up more.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I've found I need to finish a hard workout from an outdoor ride or turbo ride by ~1830, if I am to have any hope of trying to get to sleep before 2200, with my alarm for work going off at ~0510/0540 depending upon the day. Otherwise, I feel too hyped up to sleep.

dhoy42

thanks for the responses everybody! i really need to just try a sample size maybe a couple weeks and see how it goes. i am lucky enough to not even worry about outside riding for a while with my quiet turbo and no roomates (snow everywhere still where i live).

to answer the obvious question why i dont just do it before work is everynight at the bar is different, sometimes i walk 7 miles other nights 3, if i even have the energy before work... id rather save the legs in case its a really busy night on top of sleeping all day!

Matthewfalle

it'll be fine - its just like you'll have an exteneion to your shift pattern.

you'll probably sleep in longer but so long as that doesn't affect you then crack on.

stueys

I think (a) it won't help your wired status and will probably push your sleep time out further and (b) if you've been on your feet for 8 hours tendering a hectic bar you're unlikely to have a great workout.

Why not try shifting to just after you first wake up and are a bit refreshed?

Pross

To over-simplify, other than any wider issues on the body faced by shift workers, isn't it just the same as someone who works relatively normal hours doing their training at 5 or 6 in the evening? Finish training, shower, eat and relax for a couple of hours and then go to bed then to get 7-8 hours sleep? Obviously not the case if you are working at the bar part time whilst doing another job or Uni etc. but assuming that's your full time job I don't see the issue.

lochindaal

to answer the obvious question why i dont just do it before work is everynight at the bar is different, sometimes i walk 7 miles other nights 3, if i even have the energy before work... id rather save the legs in case its a really busy night on top of sleeping all day!

You said you are doing a triathlon and are worried about having to walk a few miles after being on a bike!

neeb

I think the only way to find out is to give it a go - it will depend on your particular metabolism and how that interacts with your sleep cycles.

I'm a classic night owl - during the winter I do most of my indoor stuff between 8pm and 10pm. I eat immediately afterwards and end up in bed around 00:30 - I'm lucky to have a 12min commute to work so I don't need to get up until 8 - 8:30.

This suits me fine, but I know that a lot of other people would have major issues with it. Basically I have no problem training then eating a big meal an hour or two before bed, in fact it sends me to sleep very nicely... I know that this runs contrary to accepted wisdom but I've been doing it for decades and it works for me.

On the other hand, stenuous exercise early in the morning just feels wrong and unnatural to me (which creates major problems with cycling clubs). Horses for courses, there's a lot of natural variation in the way that our circadian cycles work. If you listen to your body you can experiment and figure out what's good for you and what isn't.