Runners Need Sleep: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days

#10 Runners Need Sleep

SNAPSHOT

I need SLEEP. You NEED sleep. Runners need sleep.

DIGGING DEEPER

The more miles, the more sleep I need. The more intensity while covering the miles, the more I need sleep.

I sleep at minimum 8 hours a night, if not running. If regularly training at 30-40 miles a week, I require 9 hours. When I am running over 50 miles a week, 10 hours is a must.

At bedtime, my completely dark bedroom is 55-60 degrees, with a white noise machine drowning out any extra night time noises. I wear a heavy duty eye mask and use lots of pillows. An alarm is set on my phone about once a week, to reduce the risk of arriving late for a training run. My phone’s notifications are set on Do Not Disturb until 8 am. And my family knows to not wake me.

I am the odd one. I know. I learned young that the amount and quality of sleep I acquire is unusual.

In high school, I didn’t wake a minute too early. No time for beauty prepping, I was a natural girl with my attention focused on being a healthy, faster runner.

In college, I would close the textbooks in time for 8-9 hours of sleep.

While raising babies, I suffered. And suffered. Four times over. I rank sleepless nights up there with toilet training and parking lots as my top three reasons I am not doing that again.

Overtraining was not the reason for a deep slump in race performance in my 30’s, it was the late nights up trying to complete my long list of tasks before the next day piled on more. Who was I kidding, I couldn’t do everything and be there for everyone. My low hours of sleep resulted in under-recovery, setting me up for failure.

Unlike what seems to be the norm of 6 hours of sleep a night, I CAN NOT OPERATE on only 6 hours. I will be a mess. I get sick within 1 or 2 nights. I get angry and frustrated. It is not pretty.

Waking up before 6am is reserved for only absolutely necessary situations. I mean really necessary.

I once attempted to become a coffee drinker, it was to reduce my chocolate intake (I know, funny haha). I failed within a week. Turns out a cup of coffee in the early morning keeps my eyelids wide open at midnight.

So this full night of sleep thing is a must. NO chance to escape the wrath of less sleep. I HAVE TO SLEEP.

I used to hide my need for sleep, thinking that it made me look lazy. If I remarked about only getting 8 hours of sleep and not my last needed 9th hour, the princess and pea tale echoed through heads. Ashamed, I would worry that I was not strong enough to conquer tiredness. What kind of supermom, superwoman am I that I need so much more sleep than others?

Many lessons later and a book filled with research, I see I am not so odd. I am actually healthy because of my dedication to sleep. Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD, Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Human Sleep Science, lays out the science behind sleep and the body. This is must read for everyone. I will say it again. Please read this book! In fact, it is so important to me that it is apart of my son’s biology curriculum. You spend a quarter to a third of your life sleeping, know why your body demands it.

Here are a few of my takeaways from this book. Please don’t stop learning about sleep after reading the following quotes and my list for you. The book explains the research so well and it can change your life and your running. Become an expert sleeper!

Quotes from Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker PhD:

“Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night demolishes your immune system, more than doubling your risk of cancer.”

“Too little sleep swells concentration of a hormone that makes you feel hungry while suppressing a companion hormone that otherwise signals food satisfaction.”

“Tragically, one person dies in a traffic accident every hour in the United States due to a fatigue-related error. It is disquieting to learn that vehicular accidents caused by drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.”

“There does not seem to be one major organ within the body, or process within the brain, that isn’t optimally enhanced by sleep (and DETRIMENTALLY impaired when we don’t get enough).”

From a study in Edina, Minnesota in which the school’s start time was changed to about one hour later in the morning, the high school students yielded a higher SAT score, “investing in delaying school start times-allowing students more sleep and better alignment with their unchangeable biological rhythms- returned a net SAT profit of 212 points.” Sleep equals better brain function and memory. Not just for teens but for ALL AGES.

“When your children finally reach their mid-twenties and your car insurance premium drops, you can thank sleep for the savings.”

My list for you:

• SAY NO to Caffeine. If you can’t, then realize you have an addiction to take care of.

• SERIOUSLY stop using your computer and phone after 7 pm. Change your routines in order to accomplish this.

• Wake up without an alarm clock, if you can’t do that on most mornings, you are NOT getting enough sleep.

• Stop using the MAKEUP SLEEP method. It doesn’t work. You can’t makeup sleep!

• Driving while not getting enough routine night sleep hours is VERY DANGEROUS.

• The first hour and last hour of your sleep are very important. Cutting one hour off is so much worse than you realize. Each hour of your sleep has a purpose. Your brain completes certain tasks each hour, each one vital.

• Californians in the Western Time Zone have it much easier when it comes to tempting TV shows (like football games) that are broadcasted earlier in their day versus the Easter Time Zone that requires you to stay up way past your bedtime in order to see the final play or scene.

• Let your children and teens sleep.

• Sleep is not just for the growing years, it is vital for your health also.

• Know the basics of sleep, NREM, REM, circadian rhythm, melatonin, sleep pressure (one of my new favorite terms to express my feeling of tiredness)

• If you take a sleep aid or melatonin to fall asleep, you need to read this book to understand the choice you are making.

• All these choices affect you as a runner and person. Choose to train as a well-rested runner.

• FYI - This book is available in audio format also!

  
  This list is long and can feel overwhelming, however, the first step in change is knowledge. Request the book from your local library or download an audio version (the author actually prefers for you to listen to it while falling asleep) and understand more about your brain and sleep.

Take one step at a time progressing towards being a healthy, knowledgeable sleeper. Prioritize sleep and turn in early (for you) tonight, it just might change your life tomorrow.

SOLUTION

If you think that you can sleep only 6 hours and that be enough, think again…..

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Additional Link to Teens and Sleep Article

Running Watch: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days

#6 Running Watch

SNAPSHOT

How do you like your running watch?

DIGGING DEEPER

I have been very surprised by how often I have been asked or received positive comments about my running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 235. Since I put it on my wrist on January 17, 2016 (3 year anniversary yesterday), it has garnered attention. My previous watch, the Garmin Forerunner 405, was so bulking and really only useful when running that it was strapped on just for logging miles. However, my 235 has rarely gone 12 hours without taking my pulse, counting my steps and miles, and notifying me of text messages.

Was so excited that I actually texted a picture to my husband of my new watch while in my car after exiting the Fleet Feet store in Colonie, NY!

So here is my REVIEW on the Garmin Forerunner 235 after THREE years of real-life testing.

Pros

• Fits well on my medium sized woman’s arm and I wear it all the time, day and night (except in water, waterproof to 50 feet deep though).

• Love the aqua blue watch band! And easy, low cost to switch out to another color.

• Resting Heart Rate Data is so interesting to me that I will get out of a warm bed to walk across a cold room to retrieve my charging watch, in order to gain the data from the early morning before I am awake.

• Easy to read the time when running and not running

• Texts appear through Bluetooth from my phone, bonus when cooking and I can just glance on my wrist to see if my son is texting me to pick him up from practice. Or when I am running with my phone in my SPIbelt or in my jacket pocket. The vibration signal is a bit Pavlov but it is also very handy.

• Highly customizable for screen data fields while running, several data screens available to click through during runs.

• Average Heart Rate Data for the entire workout/run is a gauge for my overall fitness, health, and effort.

• Lap button recording is so helpful for when I am analyzing data about my own run or my runner’s data.

• Data automatically syncs with Garmin Connect App and then onto my Final Surge Training Platform! My runners love this feature!

• GPS is fairly accurate on race courses with the exception of trail races.

• Garmin Connect App is awesome!!! Free

• Good battery life. I plug it in for a couple hours about once a week. If you are a trail runner or ultra runner than you will end up plugging it in a lot more often.

• Price has gone way down. Currently $250

Cons

• Not as easy to record my nordic skiing as I wish. Have to use the Other activity option and then make edits in Garmin Connect

• Auto Pause feature, I didn’t like it at first but I need to try it again. It would be helpful for fixing my problem of forgetting to restart my watch after pausing the timer while I am at a stop light. 235 2.0 could have it run a second tread of data in case I forgot to turn the timer back on so that I could still have the info when I make a mistake.

• Can’t read the time of time when I have paused the time during a run. Garmin could make it so that at least one data field could be accessed while still paused.

• Garmin Connect Website is average but free to use as a training log and creates reports (favorites = resting heart rate, year to date mileage)

Extras that I don’t personally use but I can see that others would really like

• Upload workouts and the watch signals you through the workout.

• Tailer the heart rate workout zones

• GPS yourself home! The watch actually tells you how to return to where you started for those that get lost! Although when I get lost I get really long runs in, which is totally worth getting lost!

• Yep, it can show you the weather!
  
  

So how much do I like the Garmin brand?

Well, I gave my 14-year-old runner son a Forerunner 35 for Christmas. I choose the 35 instead of the 235 because of the size and shape of the watch on his arm. The 35 seems a bit smaller. He is very happy and clocking all types of activities! It is such a fantastic way for him to learn more about biology and the body. He often checks his data and better understands his body’s activities and measurements. The Garmin Forerunner 35 is only about $170.

Popular with Runners

Texted photo to my training partner when excited about our average pace together!

Several of the runners I coach have Garmin watches and I can easily follow their training. I look for their average heart rate, pacing per mile or interval, cadence and elevation. It is like I was with them on the run.

SOLUTION

Totally worth the price! Currently my watch cost has averaged out to be 32 cents per day and lowering every day!

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Women Runners: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#3 Women Runners

SNAPSHOT

I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that Women’s Training should be different than Men’s Training.

DIGGING DEEPER

In my close observations of the coaches of with both the Shenendehowa Girls High School Team (Nike National Cross Country Qualifiers) coached by Rob Cloutier and College of St. Benedict Women’s Cross Country Team (Two National Cross Country Division 3 Qualifiers) coached by Robin Balder-Lanoue, I witnessed the unique differences in training a female versus male body. Not only were these successful coaches training their female athletes’ bodies differently but also their minds.

I took my observations and compared them to the coaching training I have received over the years through the governing body of the running sport in America, USA Track and Field, in their coaching certification classes, Level One and Two, and the countless coaching, running, and training books, articles and seminars. Perhaps 95 % of training literature is based off of training the male body, leaving female training unknown or forgotten within literature. When observing coaches of female teams, a stark contrast appeared between the approach of training the general athlete and female athlete. Both of the coaches that I listed above developed successful methods of training females, less from the available training literature and more through their experiences as coaches. There are nuances to training the female body that once known can unlock success.

I do agree that there are the basic similarities in energy systems and adaptations between the male and female body. However, the difference in hormone level changes and body composition of a female make training different than a male’s training.

In my research I have found one book in which these differences are extensively discussed. Roar by Stacy T. Sims, PhD presents research on the different aspects of a women’s body and her training. “The menstrual cycle not only has a profound effect on your fertility and moods (and chocolate cravings), it also can significantly affect your training and performance. Yet, very few coaches and trainers take it into consideration with their athletes - even those in the most elite competitive spheres.” Obviously there are hormonal level differences in females versus males. Estrogen and testosterone levels impact the bones, muscles, blood cells, body size and amount of fat tissue. Sims continues on throughout her book to outline the effects of female’s different levels of progesterone and estrogen within strength and recovery. She discusses the differences of fat and carbohydrates as a fuel sources for female versus male athletes. Included on her list of differences between the different body types is the origination of strength. “As a woman, you generate the lion’s share of your strength and stability from your hips. And though women do have powerful legs, we tend to have relatively poor core strength by comparison.”

My LIST on HOW to Train

Female Athletes

• Use cross-training. Women are prone to overtraining and creating a balance of training and recovery can lead to consistent improvement. This is especially useful for young females or those within their first five years of running.

• EAT- Don’t use running as a weight loss tool. Consume the same amount of energy you use.

• Aim for a toned body not a lower number on the weight scale.

• Females can be very competitive. Don’t underestimate a female on a mission.

• Get your long runs in, as females have a greater proportion of type I (slow twitch) endurance muscle fibers and development of those fibers can increase your fitness.

• Drop the fasting protocol, it can make you fatter by elevating your cortisol levels and promoting fat storage.

• Plan your strength training challenges during the first two weeks of your cycle (cycle starts the first day of bleeding) when your hormones levels are lower. You can get more bang for your buck when performing strengthening exercises during this time of your cycle.

• Strength train your glutes and core for better stability and balance. (core = everything but your limbs) Think about the exact muscle you are using while you are performing the strengthening exercise.

• Stress Fractures can be linked to low calorie intake and indicate an imbalance in the hormone levels.

• During the PMS part of the cycle it can be harder to perform high intensities and recover from hard workouts. Plan accordingly.

• Menopause age and beyond training should include high-intensity power training, helping to prevent muscle loss and weakness.

• Muscle loss is more of a concern than muscle bulk. Use high weights with low numbers of repetitions after knowledgable instructions on correct movements.

• See Sims’s book for how to use protein intake to get more out of your training.

• 30 minute rule: Eat 25-30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of finishing your run for increased muscle adaptation and repair.

• Reduce GI stress by avoiding maltodextrin and fructose during exercise. Drop the coffee habit before exercise.

• Be serious about your cooling strategies while training and racing, since you start sweating later and less than men.

• Prepare to hydrate more when flying during the latter part of your cycle.

• Cool-downs are more important for women. Compression socks and arm sleeves can help to encourage blood flow and muscle repair.

• Be relational. It will improve your training and racing. Make connections with your family and friends. Listen and share your thoughts with others.

I recommend women and coaches of female athletes read Sims book, Roar, and expand their knowledge of the female body and mind. Another helpful article from the USA Track and Field coach’s newsletter details training with female hormone levels in mind.

If you are worried about race day remember:

The great news for females is that “You can stop worrying about having your period on race day. Everyone worries about having their period for a big event, but in reality, your hormones are favorable for performance once your period starts.” (Sims, p 19)

SOLUTION

Embrace the greatness of a female body. Women are STRONG.

This 30 day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

DANIELLE WALKER's SALMON DINNER

SNAPSHOT

HONEY-MUSTARD SHEET-PAN SALMON

DIGGING DEEPER

Danielle Walker’s cookbooks have provided countless recipes for my kitchen, dinner table, and family. Fortunately, I have been able to test out and share about her 4th cookbook Eat What You Love for the past two weeks. The book will be released on December 4th! Order here.

Now I have permission to share one of her recipes with you. I have included all my personal notes about the ingredients, prep, and baking. Feed your family well this week! Enjoy!

SOLUTION

This recipe is GUEST WORTHY and super simple. It took me about 40 minutes from start to end. Plus there are steps that can been done beforehand resulting in only 20 minutes of baking time needed before serving!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from me!

ENJOY!

#eatwhatyoulovebook

Runner's Amazon Book List

SNAPSHOT

Booklover Runner

DIGGING DEEPER

My Amazon Book List— Those that I have highlighted, referenced, and devoured!

Ok, check it out. See which ones you want as Christmas presents, to find at your library, or to add to your audiobook collection.

My favorite categories of items are BOOKS, BAGS, and BASKETS. Oddly, they all start with the letter B, but they are my candy. I know what I love about books: well written, only as long as they need to be, insightful, and eye appealing.

So I searched though my bookshelves, Audible app, amazon ordered list and picked out my recommendations. These are the books that have survived the test of time or are new favorites.

Podcast interviews, the library bookshelf, and favorite authors are the many ways that a title will first get my attention. Often I request books from my library regional system and preview it to find if it is worth the time and money investment to purchase.

If it passes the test, I choose if audio or print format will be the best way to consume its contents.

Some printed books I highlight like crazy as a form of interactive learning.

Others are more for reference material. A conversation with a friend can cause me to research a deeper reason for my answer or intuition.

The audiobooks are often helpful for busy driving days and to share with my family through the audible app.

You may note that my list does not contain just running books. We are whole people with diversity within our bodies and minds. The interplay of different parts shapes us in unique ways. Growing ourselves as a whole being and not just in one facet will generate good health.

SOLUTION

A good book will take you away and return you changed.