Hi all - first post here so forgive me if this topic is being actively covered in another thread (I poked around and found some dormant threads from years ago).
Here’s the tl;dr, with much more detail to follow:
After about 2.5-3 weeks of structured training, my sleep has gone to shit. For the last 10 days, I’ve either woken up extremely early (4:30/5:00 am) or in the middle of the night (12 - 2:30am). For the middle-of-the-night wake-ups, it’s been taking me hours to fall back asleep or, in some cases, I never manage to get back to sleep.
Some background info:
I’m 35 years old, 168 lbs, 5’10”
“Normal” sleep hours for me are 9:30/10:00 pm - 6:00/6:30 am
For my entire life I’ve been a solid sleeper: zero issues falling asleep, can sleep through anything, almost always get 8+ hours per night. I had no issues navigating the fitful sleep during the first two years after my daughter was born; just dealt with the wake-ups and straight back to sleep as soon as my head hit the pillow
On rare occasions I’ve had trouble falling back asleep after a mid-night wake-up but that’s very rare and only happens when I’m stressed out about something in my life (work, parenting, relationships, etc.)
My sleep hygiene is quite good. I only drink 1 cup of coffee (always before 10am; some days no coffee at all), I don’t do screen time before bed, I read (a paper magazine!) in bed for 30mins to an hour before sleep, etc.
Structured training is new to me but riding/fitness are not. Prior to starting my training plan in late Feb, I was riding indoors/outdoors at least 2-3 times a week, running frequently, ski touring, etc. In other words, my baseline fitness is quite good so I’m not all of a sudden making a huge change in lifestyle
I’ve read a lot about training induced insomnia and my issue is that none of the obvious stuff seems to apply to me, or I’ve already taken steps to address it and have seen no improvement:
I don’t train at night (usually I train in the morning, around 7 am)
I don’t have ANY trouble falling asleep (especially because I’m so exhausted from multiple nights of bad sleep)
I don’t consume much caffein to begin with, and when I do it’s first thin in the morning
I’m not actively stressed out (mentally, anyway)
I’m 5 days into a recovery week (have only done 2 zone-2 rides this week) and have seen no improvement
To me that leaves nutrition as the potential culprit but I’ve taken major steps in the last week to address this and seen no improvement.
During all workouts, I now consume 60-90g of carbs per hour
I drink a protein recovery shake within 30 mins of workout completion
I’ve been actively trying to introduce more protein into my diet (eating 3 eggs per morning, etc.)
I’ve started drinking a fizzy magnesium supplement in the evening, before bed
I guess my question is, what am I missing? My perception is that my training load definitely went up when I started structured training but it hasn’t felt like a wild increase or one that my body was struggling to adapt to (until of course the sleep issues started). I’ve felt generally great after workouts, tons of energy to push during hard days, etc.
I’m going on vacation in about a week, for a week, and I’m hopeful that a hard reset and some extended recovery are what my body needs. But even if that happens I’m worried about the possibility of ending right back in the same place once training resumes.
Do you use any tracking devices? Just wondering if you know if HR, temp or HRV are changing. One super simple thing to try is to put 1-2 tbsp of honey in a little jar and keep it by your bed. Eat it when you wake up. If it helps you fall back to sleep it might be that you are a bit energy depleted vs what you think and the quick carbs increase parasympathetic drive and calm your nervous system down. Dehydration can also cause issues sleeping - are you losing more fluids with structured training and possibly not replacing them with fluid and electrolytes?
Only other thing I can think of would be you are just so excited by the thought of all the fitness you are gaining that you are a little revved up and can’t sleep
Unfortunately I don’t have a wearable for bed so I don’t know HRV/heart rate/temp. If this keeps up, it’s something I plan to look into in order to have a better chance of accurately diagnosing the issue. Anecdotally though I have felt hot / been sweating slightly for a few of the wake-ups.
Interesting idea re: keeping quick carbs next to the bed, I may try that tonight.
I’m definitely losing more fluids during training but doing what I think is a good job replacing them (drinking at least 2 full bottles per one-hour workout, 1 of which has carbs/electrolytes mix). I’m also drinking (and peeing) a lot of water throughout the day. Who knows though, maybe I need more electrolytes which I haven’t been supplementing beyond what’s in my drink mix.
The first couple of early wake ups I had the same thought about general excitement – I was (and am) genuinely fired up to hit the day’s workout. But that doesn’t totally explain the 12 and 2am wakeups. Definitely not thinking about riding at that time of night
It’s a thing. Pretty common for sleep to start to suffer for me as I approach the end of a block. If I’m not wrapping up a block, it’s a sign that I should consider backing off. And it kind of comes on strange, I might sleep OK the day after a big ride but struggle on nights after easier days. Seems to be more triggered on chronic long term fatigue while big daily fatigue often results in decent sleep. Things are usually getting back to normal 3-4 days into my rest week, just depends on how deep of a hole I’m in. And for me, it’s often accompanied by being hot. Setting the AC really cold helps a bit, but doesn’t solve it. If you aren’t seeing improvement after 5 days of easy days or pure rest, that’s longer than I normally experience but we are all different. I’d keep resting until it improves.
Nutrition could be the culprit, but unfortunately you didn’t share much info there. If you’re in too much of a caloric deficit, you may be experiencing a blood sugar drop in the middle of the night, causing that cortisol spike. Upping overall calories during the day can help make sure you are eating enough to fuel recovery, but some people also opt for a pre-bed snack.
I had similar symptoms, although due to type 1 diabetes and wearing a CGM 24/7, a blood sugar drop was easy to rule out. I found Transparent Labs’ Cortisol Balance supplement with phosphatidylserine to be helpful in blunting that 3AM cortisol spike. That might be something to look into if you’re confident that you’re eating enough throughout the day.
Another thing we haven’t gotten a good picture of with your post is your training history. If you’ve just jumped into training for the first time and have other stress from family/work, it could be that your body isn’t adapting to the new stress source very quickly.
Also, when starting structured training, frequent Sweetspot can hit hard. Consider starting Master plans (2 intervals per week) and after couple months switching to 3 intervals per week.
Maybe I missed it. But what Time do you usually do your training? I can’t do Intensity later then 6pm or I will have trouble sleeping. Do you may have caffeine in your carb mix or gel?
The usual caveats apply from random pseudo medical advice from the internewts. I had the same issue in my early forties. Still happens now and again. Did the whole thing with the halter test rig sleep apnea machine-that-goes-ping. Came back good. Did a session with a dedicated sleep psychologist… there is such a thing. She massively reduced my sleep time. Got me out of bed after 5 hours for about a week. I was a zombie. By then I was sleeping like a baby for those 5 hours. Then she worked me back up to the point where my sleep started to break up again and she went back half an hour and called that good. Absolute sleep discipline on that. There were only the odd nights where it fell apart.
Right, that has probably nothing to do with your situation. What does is this: Carbs. A couple of years later I had an issue with my guts, the way to manage that while I was getting it sorted was keto. What I noticed was that the quality of my sleep jumped through the roof on the keto diet. Turns out insulin plays a role in sleep too. Spiking it is a bad idea. especially as we get older and our sensitivity to it increases naturally. It might be worth rethinking your carb use and target it a bit better. In training the tendency is to use it only with regard to the training load; Fuel For The Work Required and all that. I bet it is a bit more subtle than just that. I bet you need to ensure that the insulin spikes have damped out before sleep. Taking food when you wake may work if you are on the right side of the spike. Better would be to eliminate the spike entirely by reducing the carb ( and protien.. it causes a minor insulin reaction) intake in the PM. At least that is what I try to do. Not always doable with this thing called a social life…..
[edit] Oh and fibre. Only take low fibre on the bike when you can burn the carbs fast. Everything else has to be high fibre. Including recovery. Also for endurance do you really need 60grms/hr? One is trying to fat-max down there. Seems odd to add carbs to that.
@mcneil I was/am worried that it could be nutrition, too.
In the past ~10 days I’ve been much more conscious of how/when/how much I take on calories, adding protein-rich snacks throughout the day (meat sticks, apple slices with peanut butter), eating a more substantial breakfast every day (3 eggs, avocado toast), drinking protein shakes after workouts, and generally trying to make sure I don’t finish rides hungry by fueling with carbs in the bottle and supplementing with snacks. Anecdotally, this strategy seems to have been successful at least during the daytime — I don’t find myself having huge sugar cravings anymore, and I’m not a bottomless pit the day after a long ride or hard workout. Muscle fatigues seems to fade quickly, etc. I haven’t gone as far as calculating caloric load/intake but will probably resort to that if I don’t see an improvement soon.
Thanks for mentioning the cortisol balance supplement; I’ll look into it.
I did just jump into structured training for the first time but not from square one in terms of fitness. I was already riding 2-3 days per week, lifting weights 2 days per week, etc., and I’ve been consistently active/fit my entire adult life. As previously mentioned, my perception of the increase in training volume was along the lines of “this is definitely harder/more consistent than I’d normally push myself but it feels like a good increase and not crazy/untenable.” Seems likely that my body and mind are perceiving it on different terms
@svens i just started taking a magnesium supplement (the fizzy powder you mix with water) about an hour before bed. No change yet but early days. Re: training, yes, TR has had me doing lots of SS. I may adjust plan to 2 hard days per week to see if that has an effect.
@Ridill most of my training happens between 6-9 am. I almost never workout in the afternoon/evening and haven’t done so once during this block. No caffein in my ride fuel.
I’m now on day 5 of a recovery week, and all I’ve done in terms of exercise is a 1-hr Z2 outdoor ride on monday and wednesday morning. Zero improvement in my sleep in that time unfortunately. I was really hopeful I just needed to rest. Who knows, maybe more rest is the ticket but I’m a bit disheartened to have seen zero improvement so far.
Oh yes that was the other thing that the psychologist had me do. Get rid of all clocks and timepieces. There is a natural human tendency to see the clock on waking and go to weird places; “Oh no not again” or “It’s only an hour and a half to getting up time.. no point in trying to go back asleep”. I did start to wear a sleeptracker. Not because I thought it would be accurate but to help with the negative self talk…. “I didn’t sleep so good last night again” Looks at the tracker… oh hold on I did!
@simonicusfacilis that’s a good recommendation and I’d already considered. It certainly doesn’t help my mental state when I roll over to look at my watch and see that it’s 2:45 . Maybe ignorance is bliss after all?
It sounds like you’ve done a great job increasing the nutrient density and protein of your diet - but a piece of toast and some apples might be leaving you a bit short on the carbs - even if you are fueling the workout. I’m a 5’1” 48 year old female riding 90 minutes per day and eat 300g of CHO per day. Everyone is different, but when I’m low carb - sleep is terrible. And if I were a male burning 1.5x as many calories on rides and eating toast and apple, I’d be low carb I’m not saying you need 120g/hr and 400g of uncooked rice to start your day - but might be worth it to track for a day or two in cronometer.com and make sure you are getting what you think you are.
I usually have some sort of carb at dinner (rice, pasta, potatoes) but your suspicion that I’m under carb’d seems reasonable. Maybe I need to start eating my morning eggs with rice or sweet potatoes instead of a couple small slices of toast.
To be honest all of this nutrition stuff feels very overwhelming. Who knew that to be slightly faster on the bike / in slightly better shape than normal I’d need to think more about eating than simply doing it when I’m hungry.
The timing of my last meal significantly affects my sleep. I have to finish dinner at least 3-3.5 hours prior to bed. I also tend to sleep a little worse in the first half of a recovery week after a demanding block, and after consulting Dr. Google, it might be from a phenomenon known as “unmasking the fatigue.”
Protein is good, but it’s just the building blocks of recovery. Carbs fuel the recovery work your body has to do. Doing a food journal for a few weeks can help establish a more objective picture of your macros to rule issues in or out.
I have had similar issues, for me the solution was to make sure I ate moderately a couple hours before bed, oatmeal with walnuts, sardines on crackers, something with a good amount of protein. Doing a good stretch before bed can help also.
Update: After nearly a full week of rest and almost 2 weeks of severely disrupted sleep, I finally slept through the night on Saturday and Sunday nights! Thanks to all who offered support/ideas. For anyone else who might be struggling with this, here are the changes I made. I doubt there was a silver bullet among them, but I’d be willing to bet that lack of intensity on the bike played the biggest role.
Reframing wake-ups: @simonicusfacilis recommended banishing all clocks from the bedroom, which I did. Instead of waking up and immediately looking at the time (and spinning out because of it) I would just go to the bathroom, lay back down, and try to fall back asleep for a few minutes. If that didn’t work, I’d just turn the light on and read until I got tired, and then go to sleep. This change had a noticeable positive impact on night one, and it was only a few nights later that I finally slept through the night.
Fueling: I’ve been much more conscious about eating in general. I downloaded the Fuelin app and plan to use it for about a month to just get a better baseline of how much of which macros I need on hard days vs easy days, etc. I think it’ll be an interesting experience but I don’t plan to use it long term – I could see getting way too sucked into tracking. I want to continue liking food.
Misc./Sleep Hygiene: I started taking magnesium about an hour before bed and have been more conscious about not drinking much water for a few hours before bed.
Today kicked off another hard block leading into my first race of the season, Moab Rocks, a 3-day marathon XC stage race. I’m fully prepared for sleep disruptions to reappear at some point in the future but I feel WAY more prepared to handle and minimize them now.
Even with good sleep hygiene, a sudden structured training plan can disrupt sleep. Try reducing overall training load slightly, keeping recovery days really easy, and consider a short taper before bed-focused recovery. If issues persist, a check-in with a sports medicine or sleep specialist can help rule out underlying causes.
. Maybe ignorance is bliss after all?