A Few Minutes With the Coach

Each week I will take the opportunity to discuss something that strikes me during the course of the training block. Hopefully, we can all take something away from this section based on my experience or from those I coach. This week it is about the importance of sleep for marathon training.

The Importance of Sleep

For the 2:49 Marathon Project I know I need better quality sleep than I would if I wasn’t training for an event. Why? Well, the human body tackles some specific physiological functions during the hours that we sleep. Studies have shown that during sleep our body will release growth hormone to help repair the muscle tissue that we break down during our hard sessions. Our cortisol levels are reduced, decreasing our stress levels. Additionally, our immune system has an opportunity to revitalise and keep us healthy.

As a general rule, I believe we runners focus on our training, our nutrition, strength and conditioning, but sometimes neglect sleep. Speaking personally, when I addressed my sleep issues head on, and began getting to sleep quickly after getting into bed, so many things improved. The big bonus, as a runner, was that I began hitting some particularly significant marathon times. 

What Do the Studies Say?

All the studies show exactly what I have experienced personally, sleep deprivation has a negative impact both physically and mentally. Better sleep quality is shown to benefit cognitive awareness. I suppose a good way to explain this is when I wasn’t sleeping well, I found it harder to stay mentally focussed on anything, never mind a tough running session. 

Sleep loss, without question, has a negative effect on athletic performance. For one thing,  endurance sessions are negatively impacted. This is the case even with partial sleep loss. A runner’s perceived level of effort is higher when they are tired. Imagine trying to hit race pace in training when even a steady run feels awful. One study actually showed that runners who ran slower than their predicted marathon pace had more disturbed or discontinuous sleep. Additionally, marathon runners with a slower completion time are associated with a longer time to fall asleep.  

Logically then, better sleep and sleep habits, will help tremendously when training for a specific marathon time. It is not the only thing we need, however. We also need to feed our bodies good nutrition to give it the fuel to rebuild muscle, tendons and ligaments while we sleep. We need to put in the training and prioritise sleep, particularly when in the middle of a training block. For me, it has made a huge positive impact.

How Did I Tackle Sleep Problems?

Sleep was a big issue for me prior to 2021. It was then that I knew I had to face it and fix my lack of sleep. Getting to sleep and staying there was the real problem. I started by getting up an hour earlier. I got out of bed at 6am for a start. What I liked about that was that I now had an hour to myself in the morning. I had time to read and do some other daily tasks without feeling under pressure. 

The second thing was I began exercising in the morning as soon as I got up. I used to lift weights in the gym, but I was constantly battling tendonitis in both of my biceps. So I started doing a bodyweight routine for 20 minutes each morning as soon as I got up. 

I actually enjoyed this early morning with a quiet house. I thought if a little is good, more must be better, so I tried a 5am start and eventually landed at 4am. Now, I appreciate the absurdity of this that many people will see. This isn’t necessary, or even practical, for most normal humans. However, for me it turned a very frustrating and disruptive sleep cycle into an amazingly beneficial one. By 9:30 or 10 pm I was getting to my bed and falling asleep within minutes and staying there. I now will normally wake early and full of energy.