The art of an early night: The performance-boosting technique most cyclists ignore
If you ask any professional athlete how to get faster, chances are they will mention the word recovery.
It’s a common misconception among amateur athletes that to improve, you need to train more. It’s true up until a point, but it ignores the basic principle of training, which is that you introduce a stress, then allow your body to recover, during which it will adapt and improve its capacity to deal with the same stress next time.
Over time, this stress, recover, adapt, and repeat process is known as progressive overload. We all know the stress part well: If you’re a cyclist with any competitive ambitions, you’ll have undoubtedly tried to use a training plan, fastidiously following interval sessions that get harder each week and all being well, set you up for success at your target event.
Quick Black Friday deals
But if you don’t pay attention to the recovery part of that process, it’ll more likely lead to burnout. Chronic tiredness, prolonged muscle soreness, irritability, decreased performance, and even insomnia are some of the symptoms, but the end result is probably illness, and definitely an inability to complete the sessions you’ve set yourself.
A good way to think of it is like a bucket with a hole in the bottom. If you keep on pouring in the stress without letting it empty, your bucket will eventually overflow.
But the secret that professional cyclists know, which most of us amateurs overlook, is that you can find ways to increase the speed at which our bucket empties.
Eating healthily, increasing protein, stretching and staying hydrated are some of the behaviours, but they pale in comparison to the benefits of a good night’s sleep.
It’s for this reason Team Sky used to bring their own mattresses to the Tour de France. It’s also why you’ll see the likes of Tadej Pogačar wearing an Ultra Human ring and Mathieu Van der Poel wearing a Whoop strap, both of which are designed to track your sleep and help you take steps to improve your recovery.
“Sleep is a key time when your muscles can repair and regenerate,” Kristen Holmes, Principal Scientist at Whoop told Cyclingnews, and interestingly, she added that “Athletes need to recognise that preparing for sleep begins the moment they wake up.”
There are a few key ways in which you can do this, which we’ve outlined below.
1. Optimise your environment
The room in which you sleep is an important factor in improving the quality and quantity of sleep. Research has shown that a dark, quiet and cool bedroom is optimal, but you can’t understate the value of a good mattress to send you into a slumberous snooze.
Buying a good quality mattress is rarely a cheap expense, even if you do try to reassure yourself by calling it an investment, but by chance, with the Black Friday sales going on right now, there are a few great deals worth considering.
We’ve plucked the following few from our sister site Tom’s Guide, which has an entire team dedicated to sleep. (What a job!)
2. Create a relaxing routine
Holmes stresses that it is important to allocate some time to wind down before you go to bed, recommending that this begins around an hour before you want to sleep. This can include reading a book, taking a warm shower, listening to relaxing music or doing some breathing exercises.
As easy as it can be to wind down in bed with a scroll through social media, this exposure to blue light from your phone’s screen can affect your body’s willingness to sleep. It not only increases your alertness, but it suppresses your body’s sleep hormone melatonin, essentially tricking your body into thinking it’s still day time.
Holmes also adds that working out late at night should be avoided as much as possible as this raises your internal body temperature which can make it harder to fall asleep.
3. Maintain a consistent schedule
Going hand in hand with the routine above, a consistent schedule of sleep and wake times will also help your body understand when it’s time to switch off. This can not only speed up the time it takes to nod off, but improve the quality of your sleep when you eventually do too.
The reason for this is it regulates your circadian rhythm, your body’s internal 24-hour clock which influences when you feel awake and sleepy. The stronger this rhythm, the bigger the signals it will send to your brain.
Going to bed at roughly the same time each night, waking at the same time each morning, getting early morning sunlight and avoiding late-night stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol are important techniques here.
4. Watch what you eat
Eating healthily is not only useful for nourishing your body to maximise recovery, it can also help you sleep better, leading to double the recovery gains.
Holmes recommends avoiding caffeine for at least four hours before bed, but things like nicotine, sugar, and alcohol should also be avoided as you wind down for bed.
Hydration is key too, but limiting too many liquids before bed will help to avoid the dreaded midnight toilet trip. Spicy or fatty foods should also be limited, as they can lead to indigestion and even heartburn, which aren’t conducive to a restful night.
For more information, our in-depth feature on how sleep can improve your cycling has more.
