poor sleep with lots of workouts?

[Tokie]

Bouceswoosh - could it be when you are eating to fuel your exercise? If I eat too many carbs at dinner, I will be sweating like crazy when I try to get to sleep, and wide awake. I can pack in those carbs just fine most all day long, but stuff like pasta,alcohol or bagels in the evening are certain to cause a sleepless night. Don't discount Tylenol if you can't take NSAIDs Or the delightful combo of benadryl and tylenol.) Take it 30 minutes before you are going to lay down and try to sleep. Good luck - or should I say sweet dreams? Tokie

[TahoeDirtGirl]

I don't know you that well (aren't you LUCKY!) but it could be overtraining. Sleeplessness is one symptom but usually you feel really crappy.

You had a day where you did soccer and a ride. I would do indoor soccer followed by a rest day. Soccer is pretty demanding. And that was just half of your week! You said you had recovery days, is that a rest day or recovery day?

I wish I could play soccer. I'm too slow. Love guys with soccer legs. MMMMMMMM...

okay where was I?

As for the hot stuff at night I get that at the peak of season or after a really hard mtb ride. There are alot of reasons you get it, one of which is the inability of your body to clear lactic acid from your muscles effectively but you would get leg cramps. It's hard to pinpoint it by just the sleeplessness. I know I hit times like that and it was the start of overtraining but I wasn't getting any rest days. Everyone is different!

Goggle overtraining when you get a chance, it will give you the symptoms.

[Flybye]

I don't know you that well (aren't you LUCKY!) but it could be overtraining. Sleeplessness is one symptom but usually you feel really crappy.

You had a day where you did soccer and a ride. I would do indoor soccer followed by a rest day. Soccer is pretty demanding. And that was just half of your week! You said you had recovery days, is that a rest day or recovery day?

I wish I could play soccer. I'm too slow. Love guys with soccer legs. MMMMMMMM...

okay where was I?

As for the hot stuff at night I get that at the peak of season or after a really hard mtb ride. There are alot of reasons you get it, one of which is the inability of your body to clear lactic acid from your muscles effectively but you would get leg cramps. It's hard to pinpoint it by just the sleeplessness. I know I hit times like that and it was the start of overtraining but I wasn't getting any rest days. Everyone is different!

Goggle overtraining when you get a chance, it will give you the symptoms.

You beat me to it - I was thinking overtraining, too. I get really hot at night when I work out too. You *might* be able to fry an egg on my leg around 2AM. Benadryl might work if you can't take nsaids.

[aicabsolut]

Do you know your normal resting HR? Take your HR first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. If it's significantly higher than normal, that's the best indicator of overtraining.

[sundial]

Have you overtrained?

I know I've overtrained when I have sleep pattern disturbance, elevated heart rate even during rest, poor appetite and moodiness. My legs will feel heavy, with a deep fatigue, and just grocery shopping wears me out.

My last bout of overtraining hit me in March. I had been riding all year, even through the first weeks of February. I was on my mtb doing easy trails and it snuck up on me anyway. I had to lay off for a whole month.

[VeloVT]

This is a short term solution, not a long term solution, but Ambien CR is amazing. It will knock me out cold for exactly 8 hours even if I've had a super-stressful day, caffeine late at night, or exercise in the evening. My boyfriend shared his with me during finals (yes, I know this is a no-no) and it was a life-saver. It's just about the worst feeling in the world when you go to bed at 1am, have an exam at 3PM the next day and need to study more before you take it, and somehow even though you only had five hours of sleep the night before you still can't get to sleep...

As I get older I find more things affect my sleep -- even small amounts of alcohol will wake me up after a few hours of sleep and make it hard to get back to sleep. Caffeine after 4pm... stress... and yes, either exercise late in the day or just a very large amount of exercise can make it more difficult for me to sleep (and this is not overtraining in my case, sadly).

Over-the-counter sleeping aids can help too (such as Tylenol PM). Again, not a long term solution, but if you've GOT to get back to sleep and you just can't, it can help.

Good luck. Sleep is very, very important.

[bounceswoosh]

Thanks to everyone for your great ideas.

I was definitely wondering about overtraining, but aside from restlessness at night, I have not been feeling generally tired / sick. But it's possible that I need to back off just a smidge to keep myself from going that route.

aicabsolut: good tip about heart rate. Mine is typically around the mid 50s in the middle of the day. I can check in the morning.

Thanks for all the ideas on sleep aids. I have to be careful with those; they make me feel icky, don't seem to work for very long, and sometimes even give me nightmares! So I'm probably not going to go that route.

Tokie -- that's a really interesting idea about carbs. Since going gluten-free, I don't eat nearly as much pasta etc, but I think the night before I started this thread, I had pasta made from rice flour as a "main dish." I'll have to keep an eye on that, see if I notice a connection.