How do you prepare for sleep depravation

[oldforester]

For the longer rides I am planning to do next year I will need to do a lot of night riding. In the past when I have done this I get very tired around 2 or 3 in the morning and have to rest for a couple of hours before continuing to ride. Is there some way that you can train for sleep deprevation so that you can cut down on the hours needed? TIA.

[AngryScientist]

prolonged sleep deprivation is going to have a bigger negative impact on your training than the added miles are going to have positive, i suspect. your body needs recovery and rebuilding time, and cutting that out is going to lead to performance loss and other negative physiological effects.

also, i dont know where you'll be riding, but being on the bike in the weeee hours of the morning on little sleep, in the dark sure sounds dangerous to me.

wow - that sounded preachy, not my intent, just my thoughts.

as for actual advice, when dealing with lack of solid sleeping hours, taking very short naps (20-25 mins) seems very helpful, get something with a timer, ipod, watch, cell phone whatever, and sneak in "power naps" whenever you can (lunch time, "coffee break", whatever).

avoid the temptation to load up on caffeine, if you can't plan to deal with the eventual crash, and be safe when you do.

good luck...

[dekindy]

Caffeine is an answer. If you are not used to caffeine you had better try some before the race. It can cause your heart to race and extreme jitteriness if you are not used to it. I took it on last year's RAIN. After a few hours my heart did not recover when I slowed my pace. I thought it was the caffeine and my buddy, a huge proponent of caffeine, blamed it on the normal dehydration that occurs on a long, hot ride. We were taking the prescribed fluids but I stopped caffeine and drank even more. After an hour my heart returned to normal when slowing the pace. I do not drink caffeine so I probably took to much.

[Charles M]

Unlike lots of other stresses that the body adapts to, Sleep Dep isnt generally trained in.

I have a buddy who teaches prep for people in the military who are going to try for seals / Marine Recon / rangers and there are loads of training drills for virtually everything else, but sleep is one of those things that is extremely difficult to "expand your gas tank".

The advice that guys going into BUD/s get is to rest as much as humanly possible ahead of hell week. sleep every chance you get, ahead of major energy expending.

You can condition yourself to sleep lighter and to wake up prepared and more alert. And you can play with stimulants for a period of time under critical stress (if it's extended over days, a lot of guys stay away from stims and just try and make sure they get max nutrition so they can avoid a spike, then play with stims in the last 24 hours of the event), but your sleep gas tank isnt going to change sizes much.

The best way to prep for a long bout of no sleep is to sleep as much as possible.

[Dekonick]

Yes - get plenty of sleep while you can - especially in the days before the race.

[rugbysecondrow]

For the longer rides I am planning to do next year I will need to do a lot of night riding. In the past when I have done this I get very tired around 2 or 3 in the morning and have to rest for a couple of hours before continuing to ride. Is there some way that you can train for sleep deprevation so that you can cut down on the hours needed? TIA.

It seems that knowing how your body reacts and knowing your limits are is more important that training for increased deprivation. You can train to do better when tired but I like the Forrest Gump advice "When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went." I am not certain what sort of ride this is, but I would think the compounded problem of deprvation would have diminishing returns.

[Tom]

Deal with it. I do a lot of overnight work on weekends, being a computer tech - this is when we get the machines. I work day shift otherwise.

You can't train for it, try that and you'll screw up your real training.

What seems to work: sleep enough the week before. You can't bank sleep but you can have enough. Make sure you're not chronically dehydrated. Don't ask me why, but it makes a difference. Eat.

My down time is about 3-4am, I feel crappy about then but by 5am I don't feel like I missed any sleep. As I get older, I find I generally feel like crap if I sleep during the day Sunday, it's almost better to bag it and sleep a normal schedule afterward.

If you must sleep during the event, make it in segments that are a multiple of 90 minutes, apparently that's a human sleep cycle, and don't let your support wake you up if you're in REM sleep.

Depending on how some 12-16 hour time trials go next year, I plan on getting into events that require sleep loss, so aside from work related sleep loss I can't speak from experience but I can tell you I do 8-10 such episodes a year so I'm familiar with the feeling. It's the same as anything on the bike - push it and it hurts but it isn't causing damage.

Remember: the mind goes long before the body does. You may think you need sleep but it's a while after you think that before it becomes true.

[Charles M]

Just got a great text back...

The trick is to be stronger in everything you have to do while you're awake so that you're spending less energy to do the same work load. That way the limited sleep is repairing less damage. Otherwise just sleep to prep for not sleeping.

[benb]

I've read numerous times that folks who are doing short term extreme events requiring sleep deprivation tend to get themselves completely off all stimulants like caffeine, because they tend to make you crash which causes added danger and something you need to manage. I.e. once you are on the caffeine in a sleep deprived state, you need to keep it up or you will crash much harder then if you were totally caffeine free.

It's not bicycling, but it's similar enough, Ron Ayres discusses sleep deprivation in his book on visiting 49 states in 7 days on his motorcycle.. the "Iron Butt" guys sleep deprive even more then the RAAM guys and do it without a support vehicle. I know he was a big advocate of zero caffeine.

Funny cause I do get the impression for *long* term sleep deprivation the military does try to go to stimulants...

[goonster]

1. Start the event well-rested. That may mean taking an extra day off from your other commitments to travel and rest. Consider it part of the cost of the thing and just do it.

2. Listen to music. It's less unsafe than falling asleep on the bike.

3. Take a short nap when the eyes just won't stay open. Be prepared to do this almost anywhere, i.e. have a space blanket.

4. When the naps don't work, take a caffeine tablet.

5. Plan for sleep. Everybody has a limit, and I don't know of anyone* who rides for over fifty hours without any sleep at all. By going to sleep in full darkness and waking after sunrise you will maximize perceived recovery.

6. Practice. Do some training rides at night. Don't let the big event be the first time you ride at 3 a.m.

(* = R.I.P. Jure Robic)

[goonster]

Funny cause I do get the impression for *long* term sleep deprivation the military does try to go to stimulants...
On missions, maybe, but not at training camps like BUD/S, Ranger school.

The most evil sleep-related trick at the former is where they slog you through the surf for a quite unreasonable amount of time, and then have you sit, after chow, in a dimly lit, overheated classroom to write an essay on how much you love the Navy. ;)

[benb]

Yep.. I have no firsthand knowledge.. the two things I'd seen mentioned were:

1) Doctor administered amphetamines for pilots, now discontinued to judgment problems

2) Attempts to deliver something like a slow release caffeine/vitamin/nutrient patch for soldiers with ultra long sleep deprivation during actual war operations. (Like deprived for months because it's never really safe to sleep)

I never heard if 2) Actually worked out.

[fiamme red]

I've found that caffeine is useful in getting through those hours before dawn when I'm most tired. One trick is to have some coffee (or chew espresso beans, or whatever form you take your caffeine in), and immediately lie down for a short nap. You'll feel awake and energized 20 minutes later when the caffeine kicks in.

Conversation and chewing gum also help in fighting off drowsiness.

[GregL]

Is there some way that you can train for sleep deprevation so that you can cut down on the hours needed? TIA.
Easy: have kids. There's nothing like a newborn in the house to teach you how to exist for months without sleep...

[srice]

For the longer rides I am planning to do next year I will need to do a lot of night riding. In the past when I have done this I get very tired around 2 or 3 in the morning and have to rest for a couple of hours before continuing to ride. Is there some way that you can train for sleep deprevation so that you can cut down on the hours needed? TIA.

I tried the let's go without sleep strategy on PBP in 2003. I was the biggest mistake I made during that ride. I rode straight through to Brest before I slept and was extremely slow as a result. I found that my overall times are better if I get some sleep. Speeds tend to decrease at night and as fatigue sets in, you will end up even slower. I did PBP 2003 on 6 hours of sleep. The next year I rode BMB on 16 hours of sleep. The BMB route is arguably tougher, and we had the obligatory thunderstorms. Despite 10 more hours of sleep, I was only 3 hours slower in my overall time (and I am going to blame some of that on a chili cheeseburger stand near the end!)

[znfdl]

A lot of ultra endurance riders look to do a fast 400K and then take a short break. For PBP this would entail breaking the ride into 3 rides.

To prepare for this type of riding, you will want to increase your cruising speed. When I trained for Team RAAM in 2008, I increased my cruising speed from 18mph to 20.5 mph on flat to rolling terrain and increased my climbing speed by 3 mph. If you are on the bike for 12 hours at a time, the increase in cruising speed allows one to take a longer break and not over extend your self. The increase in cruising speed also means thay there is a lower chance of going anerobic, which is the ultra-endurance curse.

You have to remember, it is not how you feel when you start, but you must finish.

[BillG]

(* = Slovenian Army Zombies excepted)

RIP

[lemondsteel]

I have a friend who used to ride in the infamous Iron Butt motocyle rides. Placed 3rd one time. Which is no small feet. These guys go for days with little sleep. He always abstained from any caffien product for 10-14 days prior. Then when the ride stated the caffien work as it should. No tolerance in the body I suppose. Go to a forum about the Iron Butt ride and you'l find all ther info you need for training. I'm sure if you Google "preparing for ther iron butt ride" you'll find all the info you need. May work for you may not. Riding a motorcyle for days at a time is alot of physical indurance I'm sure.

[goonster]

RIP
Somehow, I completely missed that Jure Robic passed in September. In that light, my earlier attempt at a joke, riffing on his legendary sleep deprivation techniques is completely inappropriate.

R.I.P. Jure, indeed.