Sleep doesn't come after a long trainer session

[Mattk50]

Hi,

Whenever I find the time for a long ride on the trainer (two hours+) in the afternoon then I have problems sleeping at night, getting to sleep takes ages and waking up frequently also. Last night (two hours cycling from 1pm), my brain was wired most of the night until about 3-4am and today I feel jaded from a lack of sleep. It's really annoying and one of the reasons I rarely use the trainer in the afternoons and never in evenings. Does anyone else get this and if you do how do you combat it as I'd love to spend evenings on my trainer AND get a good's nights sleep.

Matt

 

[fossyant]

I'd expect it's something else keeping you awake. I commute mornings and evenings, so on the bike early evening. Any coffee etc in the afternoon/evenings. When are you eating ?

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

I could understand struggling to sleep within a few hours of an intense workout or race, but ~12+ hours later...

 

[CXRAndy]

Hi,

Whenever I find the time for a long ride on the trainer (two hours+) in the afternoon then I have problems sleeping at night, getting to sleep takes ages and waking up frequently also. Last night (two hours cycling from 1pm), my brain was wired most of the night until about 3-4am and today I feel jaded from a lack of sleep. It's really annoying and one of the reasons I rarely use the trainer in the afternoons and never in evenings. Does anyone else get this and if you do how do you combat it as I'd love to spend evenings on my trainer AND get a good's nights sleep.

Matt

That's normal what you're experiencing

I use a Garmin sports watch. I can see visibly the stress my body has after a race or endurance session. Elevated heart rate for anything upto 10 hours.

I now do the vast majority of my riding in the mornings, this allows my body time to come down into recovery before bedtime. I then tend to get a really good night's sleep.

This is a typical stress recovery period after a race (includes warm up and cool down)

Your intensity needs to be much lower and trim the duration so not to fatigue with time.


Riding afternoon/evening
Best way I find is the keep an eye on your heart rate-keep it in Z1 low Zone 2. If it begins to creep up, then it's time to stop as body is showing signs of stress. This might be low enough to not induce poor night's sleep

 

[Mattk50]

I'd expect it's something else keeping you awake. I commute mornings and evenings, so on the bike early evening. Any coffee etc in the afternoon/evenings. When are you eating ?

My days are quite similar and I sleep like a log when I don't cycle or cycle in the mornings. Never drink coffee in the evenings.

 

[Mattk50]

That's normal what you're experiencing

I use a Garmin sports watch. I can see visibly the stress my body has after a race or endurance session. Elevated heart rate for anything upto 10 hours.

I now do the vast majority of my riding in the mornings, this allows my body time to come down into recovery before bedtime. I then tend to get a really good night's sleep.

This is a typical stress recovery period after a race (includes warm up and cool down)
View attachment 798442

Your intensity needs to be much lower and trim the duration so not to fatigue with time.


Riding afternoon/evening
Best way I find is the keep an eye on your heart rate-keep it in Z1 low Zone 2. If it begins to creep up, then it's time to stop as body is showing signs of stress. This might be low enough to not induce poor night's sleep

That's an interesting graph thank you. I try to keep my training in zone 3 and my heart rate below 160 (220 - 57). Anything less seems like not trying and this time of year I'm trying to control my weight. Maybe I'll try a zone 2 ride in the afternoons to see how that pans out.

 

[CXRAndy]

That's an interesting graph thank you. I try to keep my training in zone 3 and my heart rate below 160 (220 - 57). Anything less seems like not trying and this time of year I'm trying to control my weight. Maybe I'll try a zone 2 ride in the afternoons to see how that pans out.

Z3 is probably too high an intensity to allow your body to recover before bed.

Z1/Z2* offer excellent cardio benefits without producing too much fatigue

Z2* is renowned for developing extra Mitochondria which improves cardiovascular efficiency, with repeated regular sessions

220 minus age is wildly inaccurate. Workout your maximum HR and resting HR then use a variety of online calculators to show your HR zones. Alter training to try and stay with Z1,Z2 and Z5

Im off for an easy hour with a pacer bot on Zwift shortly

 

[Animo]

Haven't tried it myself but some people advocate magnesium supplements to help with this.

 

[Mr.B-Campag]

What is your post ride recovery protocol? You need to do things to get back into a parasympathetic state after a ride like that. So maybe start with some static stretches and then a good few minutes of breathing exercises? But 2hrs on a trainer at fairly high intensity is quite a load to recover from, as other have noted maybe take it a bit easier.

 

[Mattk50]

What is your post ride recovery protocol? You need to do things to get back into a parasympathetic state after a ride like that. So maybe start with some static stretches and then a good few minutes of breathing exercises? But 2hrs on a trainer at fairly high intensity is quite a load to recover from, as other have noted maybe take it a bit easier.

Post ride protocol, cycle warm down for five minutes and then stretch out the limbs for a bit and then get on with my day! Think I'll do some shorter one hour routes in the afternoons and evenings this week to see how that pans out.

 

[Webbo2]

Post ride protocol, cycle warm down for five minutes and then stretch out the limbs for a bit and then get on with my day! Think I'll do some shorter one hour routes in the afternoons and evenings this week to see how that pans out.

That’s not much of a warm down, even I do more than that and I try to get away with as little as possible.

 

[Bristolian]

Most of my cycling, be it on the road or on the turbo, is done early afternoon, typically between 2 and 4pm. I normally have a bite to eat at 1 and then get changed into my cycling clothes, spend 15-20 minutes stretching and breathing deeply before climbing on the bike for anything from 30 mins to 2 hours - sometimes longer if I'm on the road.

After riding I again stretch out for about 10 minutes, then head for the shower and get dressed into normal clothes again. A coffee and a couple of biscuits tide me over until we have our evening meal at about 6.15pm. My normal bed time is anywhere between 1/2 past midnight and 2am and I'm up again around 7.30.

I don't have trouble sleeping (my late to bed routine allows my disabled wife to get some quality sleep time) and hardly ever feel fatigued during the day. I guess 29 years in the military attunes the body to functioning on minimal sleep

 

[Ming the Merciless]

How intense are these 2 hours sessions? There a big difference between a low aerobic effort and tempo and above.

 

[Milzy]

Your HRV is going up & up.
Don’t train too late. Relax and wind down afterwards. Hot bath, lay down, read a book. Take magnesium & eat banana. Both help you sleep.
However I give advice but if I do an all day Epic ride or run a marathon, I won’t sleep well no matter what. May as well go to bed drunk.

 

[Webbo2]

When I used to ride the local evening road race league, I often found myself pedalling whilst in bed at 2:00 in the morning. However I found this helped🍷