A big learning (or re-learning!) in the last week has been the
importance of sleep. Saturday morning, feeling super-motivated and
confident after my trip to the Alps with the Trail Running Team, I
headed off on a tough 40 mile-ish run. About 10 miles in the wheels well
and truly fell off! My nutrition was ok and my legs didn't feel too
fatigued (surprisingly) but all I wanted to do was curl up on a ball
and go to sleep.
If I get less than 8 hours sleep a night then I start to struggle and it
won't be long before I pick up a bug. When I'm training hard then I
ideally need more than this, at the very least at weekends when I can
also sneak in an afternoon nap or two.
In the Alps I was getting well short of 8 hours a night and it's really
hit me since getting home. I was straight back to work (5.30 starts and
long commute) and various things made for late nights.
So I hit the weekend and I was absolutely shattered. Friday night I got
10 hours of unbroken sleep but this obviously wasn't enough recovery.
Sunday's run went better but was still very hard going. A hint that I
need to take this week easy...
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