How to get the best night’s sleep before a race
In our recent blog, we investigated the effects of missing an entire night's sleep on race performance. We summarised that a complete lack of sleep the night before a race may alter your perception of effort and possibly slow down your reaction times on race day. In this blog Coach Jon gives us his tips on how to keep those pre-race nerves at bay and get the best night’s sleep before your race.
Sleep should always be a priority. In the week leading up to your race, make it even more so; give yourself the best chance of sleeping well the night before your race by prioritising your sleeping habits in the days leading up to your race:
Stick to a schedule – ideally, you should stick to a regular pattern and go to bed and wake up at the same time each day. In the week leading up to the race, try adjusting your sleep schedule to wake up more in line with your race start time. Not to say you should be waking up at 4 am every day but if you usually sleep in, try gradually adjusting to an earlier wake-up time to make it easier to go to bed and wake up earlier, leading into a race that starts early.
Train early – try to complete most of your training sessions earlier in the day, especially if your race has a very early start. Coach Kevin’s recent blog goes into more detail on ‘‘the best time of day to train’’. Coach Kevin suggests training late at night can make you sluggish in the morning. At the very least, try to complete all of your exercise at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. Vigorous exercise before bed can lead to an elevated core body temperature which makes sleeping more difficult.
Bank sleep – According to a recent study, ‘‘sleep extension’’ has the potential to improve athlete performance and reduce stress levels. Getting some extra hours of sleep in race week may be an excellent way to ease anxiety leading up to race day and allow you to rest easy the night before knowing you have ‘‘banked’’ plenty of sleep.
Jet lag – if you are changing multiple time zones for your race, try to arrive at your race destination with plenty of time to adjust. Your circadian rhythm will take one day to adjust to each hour of time zone change. If you can’t fly out early enough to adjust before your trip fully, try slowly adjusting your sleep and wake times at home to more closely match those of your destination by going to bed slightly earlier or later, depending on the direction of travel.
Get some sun – especially important if you are changing time zones. In the days leading up to your race, get out in the natural light for at least 30 minutes in the morning to regulate your circadian rhythm and make falling asleep in the evening easier.
With so much to do before a big race, you can often find yourself rushing around rather than relaxing. Plan out your day ahead of time, working backwards from when you want to be tucked up in bed and ready to sleep. Follow these tips the day before your race to help improve that final sleep:
Avoid eating a large meal before bed – plan your meal in advance, make sure you get a sensible reservation time for your dinner if you are eating out; or start cooking early if you are eating in, so you have plenty of time for a relaxing meal and have time to digest the food properly before bed.
Hydrate sensibly – pre-loading hydration is a great idea, especially if racing in the heat but don’t drink too much too late as you’ll only end up disrupting your sleep with toilet visits.
Say no to the alcohol – As tempting as an alcoholic beverage may be to calm your nerves before the big day, it is proven to impact the quality of your sleep negatively. You may feel alcohol relaxes you and helps you drift off, but you won’t get the good quality sleep you need to feel fresh on race day.
Cut the evening caffeine – The half-life of caffeine is usually around five to seven hours. If you have a tea or coffee after your evening meal, 50 per cent of that caffeine may still be active and circulating throughout your body come the early hours of the morning; this will really impact your sleep. To ensure caffeine doesn’t disrupt your sleep, many experts advise switching to decaf at least 6 hours before bedtime.
If you normally find naps beneficial, don’t nap after 3 pm on the day before your race. Late afternoon naps can make it harder to fall asleep at night.
Once it’s time for bed, these tips may help you drift off a little quicker:
Stay organised – don’t lie in bed fretting about what you need to do in the morning. Prepare everything the night before - layout your kit, charge your devices, prepare your breakfast and set multiple alarms.
Keep it cold and dark – if you are racing away from home or abroad, it might be worth spending a bit extra or making some special requests with your accommodation provider to make sure you can get a cool, dark sleeping environment.
Relax before bed – Don’t overschedule your day so that no time is left for unwinding. This may be difficult at a big international race with expos, briefings and kit check-ins to manage. Organise your day well and ensure you have plenty of time in the evening to wind down before bed.
Take a hot bath before bed – The drop in body temperature after getting out of the bath may help you feel sleepy, and the bath can help you relax and slow down, so you feel ready to sleep.
Don’t overthink it – Worrying that you are not going to sleep well the night before a big race is only going to diminish your chances of a restful night. Rather, acknowledge the fact that you are going to be short on sleep the evening before the race and allow yourself to drift off naturally, rather than trying to force it, which is likely to lead to a better night’s sleep. As we have seen, one missed night’s sleep will not dramatically affect your performance. So, relax, don’t stress about it and allow yourself to drift off. If you still find yourself lying awake in bed after 20 minutes or so, get up and do a relaxing activity, such as reading or listening to music, until you feel sleepy again.
Many of these tips have come from Matthew Walker, the author of ‘‘Why We Sleep’’, if you haven’t checked out this top sleep book, be sure to have a read, it really highlights the importance of sleep.
Jon has been coaching with his local triathlon club in Hertfordshire around his full-time job as an airline pilot for several years. Unfortunately, Jon lost his pilot’s licence for 11 months in 2019 due to being diagnosed with testicular cancer (read his story here). He used the time off from flying to complete his Level 2 and Level 2 BTF diploma qualifications as well as a L3 Personal Trainer qualification. With his new coaching qualifications under his belt, Jon was able to join Tri Training Harder as a coach in 2019. He has now recovered from cancer, started flying again and is training hard for the coming triathlon season.
Jon has a flexible approach to coaching and training, from his own busy lifestyle he knows how to balance training around family, friends and social commitments. Jon loves to utilise the knowledge gained on his Personal Trainer course and finds incorporating well-structured strength and conditioning sessions vital to triathlon performance.
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