The best run after a night of little sleep

average_runner

Thought i open a thread on this subject, as some of us have little kids and sometimes we get little sleep when the little ones are sick.

Basically for me, little one was sick so i had to go into her bed for a lot of the night. Wife looked after the baby!! How do people handle 3 kids!!!!!!

So i was meant to leave the house at 6.45 this morning and run to work, basically 12 miles.

I felt i shouldn't do this run because of lack of sleep and instead will aim for 6 miles easy at lunch.

What approach do other people take to this?

Tom Joad

My normal routine (2 small kids - one sleeping in our room and only 4months old) is to get up at 5:45 and do my run. That's tough to get out of bed for at the best of times but esp on dark mornings and on little sleep.

I will get out generally no matter what (frost and slippy footpaths put me off more tbh) but while that's fine for recovery runs and the normal run of the mill stuff, I've found that speedwork/intervals and LSR's are a big no-no for me that early with little sleep and no brekkie - I feel crap and don't enjoy the runs.

What I do is try to fit these in whenever the opportunity arises - lunchtime, evening when kids are in bed or use my emergency back up treadmill!! Key for me is flexibility and an understanding partner of course - my wife does gym classes 3-4 nights a week so it works well for us.

The one thing I did decide since latest edition is that I won't do big mileage until baby is at least 6-7 months old so am currently doing 5k's to 10ks so works for me (also helps that am coming back from an injury break from running so need to build base anyway).

MrCreosote

I find it's the sleep after a harder session that's the important one.
So if I got little sleep on one night only, I'd do what I planned the next day, but if it happened again I'd start trimming the sessions down.

One or two kids can be as bad as 3 or 4! Only takes one to keep you up all night...

walshb

average_runner wrote: »

Thought i open a thread on this subject, as some of us have little kids and sometimes we get little sleep when the little ones are sick.

Basically for me, little one was sick so i had to go into her bed for a lot of the night. Wife looked after the baby!! How do people handle 3 kids!!!!!!

So i was meant to leave the house at 6.45 this morning and run to work, basically 12 miles.

I felt i shouldn't do this run because of lack of sleep and instead will aim for 6 miles easy at lunch.

What approach do other people take to this?

12 mile run to work. Wow. What pace is that at? Do you carry a bag?

vitani

I'll be interested in the responses here. My two year old goes through phases of terrible sleeping and with four more teeth due in the next few months, I know I'll be struggling at times.

It's a juggling act for me at the moment. I'm a single mum and feel guilty enough about working full time so I don't like heading out the door as soon as I get home for a run. But if I wait until after she goes to bed, it can be after 8 o'clock before I'm out. So, early mornings do suit me best but sometimes that's just not possible after a night of broken sleep.

If I know I won't get a chance to run later that day, I'll head out in the morning no matter what. Sometimes this works well - the half hour wakes me up more than some extra sleep would. Sometimes it backfires. The last time I tried it, I ended up on the verge of tears with exhaustion all day.

I try to balance it. I went out for a run yesterday evening as soon as I got home. So on Thursday, it'll be first thing in the morning, or after she goes to bed. On Sunday, I'll try and head out during naptime but as it's a three day weekend, I won't feel too bad if I've to leave her in the capable hands of someone else for an hour.

average_runner

walshb wrote: »

12 mile run to work. Wow. What pace is that at? Do you carry a bag?

No bag as leave everything in the office the day before.
The pace is around 8:45-8:57, i dont push it as it is ment to be an easy long run and will become the medium run when marathon training starts.

Usually run during lunchtime in work(have showers) and early on sat morning, starting out at 6.30. get out Thursday night with club.

I have a 2 year old and a 15 week old boy, so work around all of that so wife isn't left too much on her own with them

walshb

average_runner wrote: »

No bag as leave everything in the office the day before.
The pace is around 8:45-8:57, i dont push it as it is ment to be an easy long run and will become the medium run when marathon training starts.

Usually run during lunchtime in work(have showers) and early on sat morning, starting out at 6.30. get out Thursday night with club.

I have a 2 year old and a 15 week old boy, so work around all of that so wife isn't left too much on her own with them

You're no average runner.

Brilliant!

moneymad

I run 12 miles to work every second morning.
Just use some common sense.

PaulieC

definitely any kind of tempo/interval/speed running would be completely out of the question for me. To your specific question, the lack of sleep wouldn't bother me, but it does make it harder to get up when you know you've only had a few hours kip and it's cold outside. But you know yourself that a mile into the run you'll be fine and once your finished, you're done for the day so that would be a big motivation.
Also, with regard to getting up that early and how hard it is, imagine this: you're lying in bed and it's 5 a.m. and you have been up and down all night seeing to sick kids. You hear a sudden cry from your kid's room. I betcha you're up like a shot to see to them ? I know I am. Getting up early is just a matter of motivation.

Having said all that, the last time I got up before work to run was while training for DCM. It's been lie-ins til 7 a.m. all the way since

ThisRegard

My daughter also goes through crazy phases of waking up at stupid times and remaining awake for an hour or so before she drifts off again. However I'm lucky in that I can work from home so after a really bad night I can stay in bed until nearly 9 while both of us catch up on our sleep, but it does rule out a morning run, in a haze of tiredness you value every additional minute in bed.

I used to get my run in at lunch times to keep the evening free but I now have daily conference calls from 12-1 which is another bloody pain, so the evening is my only chance.

It does make it hard to follow any form of training program as I tend to run as to how I feel, if I'm really knackered I'll try to get even a 5k in, otherwise I seem to be ok for a run of around 10k once I get going.

TFBubendorfer

I find the amount of sleep I get the night before has no affect on the run the following morning. Be it a long run, an easy run or a tempo - I might be dead tired when I get out of bed, but once I hit the road and get that first mile out of the way, there is no difference.

I could be in your head entirely - if you fully expect to have a bad run, you might indeed end up getting one.

P.S. I have 4 kids, so the amount of sleep I get can vary a lot. It does get better as they get older, though.

kit3

vitani wrote: »

I'll be interested in the responses here. My two year old goes through phases of terrible sleeping and with four more teeth due in the next few months, I know I'll be struggling at times.

It's a juggling act for me at the moment. I'm a single mum and feel guilty enough about working full time so I don't like heading out the door as soon as I get home for a run. But if I wait until after she goes to bed, it can be after 8 o'clock before I'm out. So, early mornings do suit me best but sometimes that's just not possible after a night of broken sleep.

If I know I won't get a chance to run later that day, I'll head out in the morning no matter what. Sometimes this works well - the half hour wakes me up more than some extra sleep would. Sometimes it backfires. The last time I tried it, I ended up on the verge of tears with exhaustion all day.

I try to balance it. I went out for a run yesterday evening as soon as I got home. So on Thursday, it'll be first thing in the morning, or after she goes to bed. On Sunday, I'll try and head out during naptime but as it's a three day weekend, I won't feel too bad if I've to leave her in the capable hands of someone else for an hour.

Any chance you could get out a lunchtime ? I do this as much as I can as I too would feel guilty running out the door as soon as I get home having been out all day. Have 3 kids aged 11 to 6 and the sleep issue definately improves as they get older.

Rogue Runner

I ran DCM 2011 after getting 1 hours sleep. I went to bed a 10 the night before. Didn't get a wink until 5.30 woke at 6.30. Felt like ****e, and was beginning to panic that I wouldn't be able to handle a marathon distance. A couple of miles in though I was feeling grand.

Have to say I didn't enjoy it one bit of it but got a PB of 3.45

vitani

kit3 wrote: »

Any chance you could get out a lunchtime ? I do this as much as I can as I too would feel guilty running out the door as soon as I get home having been out all day. Have 3 kids aged 11 to 6 and the sleep issue definately improves as they get older.

It's not completely impossible, especially as we have showers in work. At the moment, I'm only running three days a week, but I'll be increasing that to four days in May when I start half marathon training so I might do it for the 3 mile runs.

Another option I'm considering is juggling the schedule around and running my LSRs home. I work 13km from home, but I could run part of the way at first and build it up.

It's reassuring to hear that the sleep improves! I'm looking forward to the teenage years when I'll have to start dragging her out of bed at midday.

TFBubendorfer

Rogue Runner wrote: »

I ran DCM 2011 after getting 1 hours sleep. I went to bed a 10 the night before. Didn't get a wink until 5.30 woke at 6.30. Felt like ****e, and was beginning to panic that I wouldn't be able to handle a marathon distance. A couple of miles in though I was feeling grand.

Have to say I didn't enjoy it one bit of it but got a PB of 3.45

I have yet to sleep properly the night before a goal race, and I know plenty of runners with the same "problem". However, it does not seem to affect their (or mine) finishing times.

That sleepless night sucks, though, no doubt about it. I am always relieved when it gets bright and I can finally stop pretending that I'm still trying to get to sleep.

Rogue Runner

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I have yet to sleep properly the night before a goal race, and I know plenty of runners with the same "problem". However, it does not seem to affect their (or mine) finishing times.

That sleepless night sucks, though, no doubt about it. I am always relieved when it gets bright and I can finally stop pretending that I'm still trying to get to sleep.

Ran the Art o'Neill Ultra Where the aim is to run through the night without sleep. It seems to be that you can run ok on a sleep deficit as long it's limited to one night.

average_runner

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I have yet to sleep properly the night before a goal race, and I know plenty of runners with the same "problem". However, it does not seem to affect their (or mine) finishing times.

That sleepless night sucks, though, no doubt about it. I am always relieved when it gets bright and I can finally stop pretending that I'm still trying to get to sleep.

Cool, it was just last night i got 2 hours! Did a lunch time 10k and was grand.

rom

It is 2 nights before that is the one that effects you more so more important to get a good night sleep 2 nights before a race than the night before.

EauRouge79

I have a 4 year old and 3week old and have to make my runs part of my daily commute. Working a 9-5 is handy for this, it obviously wont suit everyone.
Its not fair to the gang at home if I get home and head back out the door again, plus as soon as I walk in the door I have switched off and its hard to motivate myself to get back out there.
Having said all that, I dont feel like a lack of sleep affects the susbsequent run at all.
Maybe 2 days in a row or more of poor sleep and hards runs on tired muscles might encourage injury, I would be wary of this.

scriba

Handy I found this thread, as I'm not getting to sleep anytime soon, and was debating the pros and cons of a run on little sleep. Morning constitutional it shall be!

Rats.

doctorchick

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I have yet to sleep properly the night before a goal race, and I know plenty of runners with the same "problem". However, it does not seem to affect their (or mine) finishing times.

On the night before the Connemara 100 in 2010 there was a party going on in the Station House Hotel and Mick Rice was in a room right above the action. In the early hours of the morning and zero sleep he got into his car and tried to get some sleep, with little success. He then won the 100 mile race in 14h27m, coming in 4 hours ahead of the next man.

I agree with what has been said, it is not the night before a run/race that has the big effect but the nights leading up to it - or in my case the 4 years constant lack of sleep after my second child was born !!!!

rasher_m

Yeah I ran DCM 12 on zero hrs sleep, with the bank holiday and living in an apartment there was no chance of some quiet plus the nerves of a first time marathon. I did have a good sleep two nights before though so I didn't even feel tired.