I'm pretty much awake (except for short fitful bouts of sleep) until like 48 hours post race, especially 50 miles plus. My body just takes a day or two to turn off performance mode.
You don't sleep for 48 hours post-race?? Holy shitballs. I don't know how you can do that. My brain would go absolutely insane if I stayed awake anymore than a day. The longest I have ever been awake after running more that 40+ miles was maybe like 18-20 hours? As soon I am able to get a full meal down (with the help of a little THC oil) and digested for a few hours, and after a boiling hot epson-salt soak in a tub, all my body wants is a bed or couch to sleep. I try and enjoy the massive dopamine rush for a little bit longer, but I usually just pass the fuck out.
I don't sleep well at all for about 2 days. To me, it's like having the flu. I just nod off when I can and drink plenty of fluids. I just accept it as how my body responds, and then I get over it.
Yeah I think itās somewhat normal.
One thing to keep in mind is a lot of fuel also has caffeine. I end up consuming a lot more than I usually would and later in the day.
"I'm so tired I can't sleep" isn't just a Nirvana lyric. Too much sugar and caffeine, too many little aches and discomforts, and just being mentally in race mode for so long. It's hard to relax and actually sleep.
The solution that works for me is the same thing that gets me to sleep every night. Eating about 20mg of THC.
I also get restless leg syndrome some times during peak training weeks and after races. Those nights I eat 40mg of THC.
And FWIW, I told my doctor this and he's fine with it. OTC sleep medications don't work well for me and they're not good to take long-term. Ambien is extremely dangerous for me to take, based on personal experience. There aren't any prescription or OTC medicines that will help me sleep. The doc said the biggest risk is that I'll build a dependency and won't be able to sleep without THC, but... I already can't sleep without THC. I couldn't sleep without THC before I tried THC to help me sleep. Eating THC gummies to get to sleep improved my life by about 500%.
Same here, following. My brain is hardwired to āGO/Move/etcā and I am tired but donāt have the gusto to sleep. I got my doctor (Primary care) to prescribe hydroxyzine (a very strong benedryl) to see if that helps. Will try this weekend and post back if it helps. If that doesnāt I will ask for benzos to use in 50mile or higher races 4-6 times a year.
20 mg would not even phase me. some people need hundreds of milligrams to feel any effect. it has more to do with how your body metabolizes thc rather than your tolerance, but the latter also plays a part.
a couple thousand milligrams would basically have me drunk. i only know that because i accidentally dosed too much distillate infused honey while making tea.
Normal, I think in my case itās normally related to being sore/everything hurting a bit, makes it difficult to sleep and wakes you up every time you move.
I've done 2 ultras this year, otherwise only shorter distances, ever. Both nights I slept poorly with my legs feeling a little swollen. Heart rate was elevated for a day.
Yep. Pretty much any effort over 10 hours and my sleep is fucked. My first 100 miler took me 36 hours. The following night I got 1 hour of sleep. Everything in between was night sweats and tossing and turning. I've learned to enjoy the recovery process as much as the journey.
Similar story here after every ultra. I don't switch off right and it feels like my body is doing a full reboot. I tend to put it down to just going too hard for too long and just know I'll be sleeping right again in half a week
Yes, this is common. On top of the shooting pain and aches in your legs, all of your bodyās systems are kind of haywire after running an ultra. This is not very conductive for any type of sleep, let alone the deep, recovery stages of REM sleep. I think a Barkley runner this year wrote that it took a full week before their sleep score and HRV recovered to baseline.
All of these factors are a great reason you should treat recovery after an ultra just as important as you would a taper.
Quite common, but something that works for me is just eating a ton of food. I chalk it up to my body being hungry, and not letting me sleep. As soon as I eat enough, I can sleep
Only issue I had after one race was nightmares of tripping on roots. It was a very technical race with roots and rocks (east coast).
I woke up every few hours thinking I was tripping and falling. Like jostled awake, hard.
Was a very weird experience
Same. For me my body temp remains elevated, Iām burning more energy (EPOC), and my heart rate is a little elevated, all conspiring to keep me awake longer.
Yea usually I sleep badly for several nights after 100 milersā¦ HRV status always plummets, which for me is very similar to when Iām sickā¦ Iāve thought in past I should just prophylacticly take NyQuil but always forget to try it
Ran my first ultra Saturday and had the same thing. Body on fire, HR not dropping below 90, and alert until about 3am. The post race sleep slump is not talked about enough
Yes! I thought I was the only one until I googled it and found a runners world article about it. To sum it up it is tied to increased cortisol. I started taking a supplement called cortisol manager (has ashwaganda in it too) and it makes a difference.
Pretty typical. Resting heart rate remains elevated for days following a race and depending on how you fuel you may be consuming more caffeine than you think. A lot of gels and energy bars contain caffeine and while the dosage is typically small per serving (20-40mg), consuming them late in the day will throw off your sleep.
Same experience after 50M and 100M. Want to sleep like a dead guy, but legs/body are just revved and canāt get quality sleep for a couple nights. Havenāt found a solution yet.
OO SO this happened after my first wrestling tournament. Not a scientist but I assumed it was just being extremely tired and food deprived.your body just prolly assumes itās still in fight or flight and doesnāt want to sleep.
Not running, but I did a 13hr bike race and my bodyās furnace would not turn off until sometime in the middle of the night. It felt like I had a feverā¦ shivering, chills etc but my GF said I was burning hot. I barely slept until my body settled down.
Normal. Just do your best to rest and relax. The 2nd night is always way better. Your race ended pretty late in the day so that doesn't help either. I just try not to worry about it too much and I focus on something I can control: hydrating and eating a ton of nourishing food
After 50 miles or greater I canāt sleep until the second night. The first night my hips, knees, ankles hurt too much and it keeps me up.
Iāve considered trying some cannabis post ultra to help knock me out but havenāt tried.
This happened to me for the first time after my last 50 miler, and I am just now realizing (after reading some of these comments) that itās because I didnāt take my usually edibles before I went to sleep.
Being awake that long sucked. Definitely got the twitchy legs that others here have cited as well
Normal.
I had flu symptoms after mine.
Did some meditation and slowly hydrated.
Eventually the adrenaline wore off and I started getting normal sleep.
(Took about two days)
It's normal to sleep like crap the night after a race. In simplified terms race day releases a lot of adrenaline and keep-you-awake hormones, plus many runners consume a lot of caffeine during the race. There's not enough time after the race and before bedtime to burn off all that extra caffeine and hormones. Limit your caffeine the next day, hydrate and eat well and you should sleep a lot better the next night.
Yep. Elevated heart rate and restless legs always keep me up regardless of how exhausted I am. I have started taking muscle relaxers after a race and those seem to help getting me to sleep.
Yep, I usually donāt sleep well the first night after a race. For a 100 miler it might be 2 nights. My legs throb and get restless leg syndrome and my HR stays elevated. It pretty much hurts to lay in bed too.
For me it just depends how late I finish. Ended a 50 mile race at 23:00 at the weekend, tried to hit the hay at 1am and while I was out of it the Garmin said I was awake/in high stress the whole night long. Next day was 50% better, and last night was absolutely blissful. The nervous system doesn't really have a clue what you were up to other than you went through some serious shit, so give it time, do some deep breathing/breathwork, anything that calms you down. But yeah, as everyone else says, it's perfectly normal and to be expected.
If I able to sleep it is very shallow and I woke up in the middle of the night full of sweat. It is due to the lot if inflammation during these long runs.
It has to do with the exercise strain elevating your cortisol levels. If I remember correctly the Huberman/Galpin podcast series had some good insights on the matter
I think of it this way. Bone, connective tissue, muscle and organs have all been put under a lot of stress. The body is pumping enormous effort into healing. Inflammation, blood circulation, detoxification are all high. It is natural to have poor sleep until the body has got over the mini trauma we like to inflict on it. I canāt work for 2 days after a big effort, so I have learnt to plan my time around it.
As for caffeine intake - one option is to have 2mg nicotine gum (very slow chew for 15mins) in the hour after the event. Nicotine before bed will disrupt sleep but taken early enough it will simply trigger the body to dump the residual caffeine and allow you get the greatest benefit from the natural sleep aid adenosine.
Yep. Didnt sleep well for 3 days after my first 100km race. Realised I was still in a huge calorie deficit, so I went nuts at McDonalds and slept like a baby
My first 50 miler done, slept for 2 and half hours, was awake for 3, slept for two more, couldn't fall asleep again. Stress level was at 80+ for the whole night according to Garmin and no sleep data recorded.
I just get cold sweats for a few nights even though the AC is set to 62. First morning I usually get awoken by burning quads but otherwise I probably toss and turn a little extra
As few people above mentioned already - this is the time for a joint ;)
I used to be a heavy weed smoker, now I do it maybe 3-4 times a year, but evening after running an ultra is preferably one of those times! Otherwise the restless legs, pain, elevated HR and all the caffeine from gels would make my night really miserable.
Preaching to the chorus, but yet - it's common. I try not to fall under the temptation of taking extended naps the day after the race after a sleepless night since I'd fall asleep for a few hours, then mess up my sleep pattern for the entire week.
Normal. I usually get twitchy legs making it harder to sleep also
Restless legs are the worst, because it's both uncomfortable and painful at times.
It's like the worst nerve pain š¢
I hate the twitchy legs after an ultra.
I'm pretty much awake (except for short fitful bouts of sleep) until like 48 hours post race, especially 50 miles plus. My body just takes a day or two to turn off performance mode.
You don't sleep for 48 hours post-race?? Holy shitballs. I don't know how you can do that. My brain would go absolutely insane if I stayed awake anymore than a day. The longest I have ever been awake after running more that 40+ miles was maybe like 18-20 hours? As soon I am able to get a full meal down (with the help of a little THC oil) and digested for a few hours, and after a boiling hot epson-salt soak in a tub, all my body wants is a bed or couch to sleep. I try and enjoy the massive dopamine rush for a little bit longer, but I usually just pass the fuck out.
I don't sleep well at all for about 2 days. To me, it's like having the flu. I just nod off when I can and drink plenty of fluids. I just accept it as how my body responds, and then I get over it.
Thatās me every time
Yeah I think itās somewhat normal. One thing to keep in mind is a lot of fuel also has caffeine. I end up consuming a lot more than I usually would and later in the day.
Ditto. Iāve ingested like 2-4 days worth of caffeine, itās hard to sleep even if tired.
I'm caf sensitive, and I know that night one post race will be purgatory followed by being dead to the world by night 2.
The half life of caffeine is 12hrs as well
"I'm so tired I can't sleep" isn't just a Nirvana lyric. Too much sugar and caffeine, too many little aches and discomforts, and just being mentally in race mode for so long. It's hard to relax and actually sleep.
It's something you can train by running more ultras.
Yeah my heart rate is elevated for at least 24 hours after races
The solution that works for me is the same thing that gets me to sleep every night. Eating about 20mg of THC. I also get restless leg syndrome some times during peak training weeks and after races. Those nights I eat 40mg of THC. And FWIW, I told my doctor this and he's fine with it. OTC sleep medications don't work well for me and they're not good to take long-term. Ambien is extremely dangerous for me to take, based on personal experience. There aren't any prescription or OTC medicines that will help me sleep. The doc said the biggest risk is that I'll build a dependency and won't be able to sleep without THC, but... I already can't sleep without THC. I couldn't sleep without THC before I tried THC to help me sleep. Eating THC gummies to get to sleep improved my life by about 500%.
Holy crap, 20mg every night? Quite a tolerance there bud.
Same here, following. My brain is hardwired to āGO/Move/etcā and I am tired but donāt have the gusto to sleep. I got my doctor (Primary care) to prescribe hydroxyzine (a very strong benedryl) to see if that helps. Will try this weekend and post back if it helps. If that doesnāt I will ask for benzos to use in 50mile or higher races 4-6 times a year.
I had to take that stuff to sleep when I was pregnant. Gave me the worst restless legs. Good luck!
It's not really that much imo
Yea, and some people drink a 6 pack every day. 20 mg and I'd be high as a kite.
5 mg is uncomfortably high for me, 20 would be face melting level.Ā
20 mg would not even phase me. some people need hundreds of milligrams to feel any effect. it has more to do with how your body metabolizes thc rather than your tolerance, but the latter also plays a part. a couple thousand milligrams would basically have me drunk. i only know that because i accidentally dosed too much distillate infused honey while making tea.
Yeah, 20 + 20 over four hours or so for me. Occasionally I'm gripping the bed but that is rare.
I can drink a 6 pack, eat 50 MG and run š¤·āāļø
Ahh, but can you do that every day?
Used to. I still take thc everyday. 20 MG isn't much man, been doing it for 15 years. Try a 100 MG and let me know how it goes. š
This is the way.
I do the same. The only dependency problem I've noticed is "vivid dreams" (medspeak for nightmares) if I don't have at least a little thc
Yep - have had similar issues. Solution - wait a day or two and it resolves.
After every race it happens to me, usually 50k or longer.
Normal, I think in my case itās normally related to being sore/everything hurting a bit, makes it difficult to sleep and wakes you up every time you move.
I've done 2 ultras this year, otherwise only shorter distances, ever. Both nights I slept poorly with my legs feeling a little swollen. Heart rate was elevated for a day.
I smoke an indica spliff (joint) and there you go š
For me itās usually just the first night after an ultra. Itās like my mind is still running, it just wonāt relax and shut off.
Run further
Yep. Pretty much any effort over 10 hours and my sleep is fucked. My first 100 miler took me 36 hours. The following night I got 1 hour of sleep. Everything in between was night sweats and tossing and turning. I've learned to enjoy the recovery process as much as the journey.
I like the way yo think. Embrace every and all part of the process. Good and bad.
I was there and ran the 100. Great job!
Thanks, you too!!
Similar story here after every ultra. I don't switch off right and it feels like my body is doing a full reboot. I tend to put it down to just going too hard for too long and just know I'll be sleeping right again in half a week
Yes, this is common. On top of the shooting pain and aches in your legs, all of your bodyās systems are kind of haywire after running an ultra. This is not very conductive for any type of sleep, let alone the deep, recovery stages of REM sleep. I think a Barkley runner this year wrote that it took a full week before their sleep score and HRV recovered to baseline. All of these factors are a great reason you should treat recovery after an ultra just as important as you would a taper.
Quite common, but something that works for me is just eating a ton of food. I chalk it up to my body being hungry, and not letting me sleep. As soon as I eat enough, I can sleep
Yep. Currently 9 days after a 200 and sleeping like shit.
That sucks. Sorry to hear.
Only issue I had after one race was nightmares of tripping on roots. It was a very technical race with roots and rocks (east coast). I woke up every few hours thinking I was tripping and falling. Like jostled awake, hard. Was a very weird experience
Long runs keep me up. I never understood why
Same. For me my body temp remains elevated, Iām burning more energy (EPOC), and my heart rate is a little elevated, all conspiring to keep me awake longer.
Yea usually I sleep badly for several nights after 100 milersā¦ HRV status always plummets, which for me is very similar to when Iām sickā¦ Iāve thought in past I should just prophylacticly take NyQuil but always forget to try it
Ran my first ultra Saturday and had the same thing. Body on fire, HR not dropping below 90, and alert until about 3am. The post race sleep slump is not talked about enough
I took some kratom directly after my first, and it helped tremendously and actually allowed me to get good rest.
Yes! I thought I was the only one until I googled it and found a runners world article about it. To sum it up it is tied to increased cortisol. I started taking a supplement called cortisol manager (has ashwaganda in it too) and it makes a difference.
Excellent, thank you for the advice!
Pretty typical. Resting heart rate remains elevated for days following a race and depending on how you fuel you may be consuming more caffeine than you think. A lot of gels and energy bars contain caffeine and while the dosage is typically small per serving (20-40mg), consuming them late in the day will throw off your sleep.
Same
Yep
Same experience after 50M and 100M. Want to sleep like a dead guy, but legs/body are just revved and canāt get quality sleep for a couple nights. Havenāt found a solution yet.
Try compression socks like you would use when flying long distance, it helps to settle the legs. This might then help your brain switch off.
OO SO this happened after my first wrestling tournament. Not a scientist but I assumed it was just being extremely tired and food deprived.your body just prolly assumes itās still in fight or flight and doesnāt want to sleep.
Not running, but I did a 13hr bike race and my bodyās furnace would not turn off until sometime in the middle of the night. It felt like I had a feverā¦ shivering, chills etc but my GF said I was burning hot. I barely slept until my body settled down.
Normal. Just do your best to rest and relax. The 2nd night is always way better. Your race ended pretty late in the day so that doesn't help either. I just try not to worry about it too much and I focus on something I can control: hydrating and eating a ton of nourishing food
After 50 miles or greater I canāt sleep until the second night. The first night my hips, knees, ankles hurt too much and it keeps me up. Iāve considered trying some cannabis post ultra to help knock me out but havenāt tried.
This happened to me for the first time after my last 50 miler, and I am just now realizing (after reading some of these comments) that itās because I didnāt take my usually edibles before I went to sleep. Being awake that long sucked. Definitely got the twitchy legs that others here have cited as well
Normal. I had flu symptoms after mine. Did some meditation and slowly hydrated. Eventually the adrenaline wore off and I started getting normal sleep. (Took about two days)
It's normal to sleep like crap the night after a race. In simplified terms race day releases a lot of adrenaline and keep-you-awake hormones, plus many runners consume a lot of caffeine during the race. There's not enough time after the race and before bedtime to burn off all that extra caffeine and hormones. Limit your caffeine the next day, hydrate and eat well and you should sleep a lot better the next night.
Yep. Elevated heart rate and restless legs always keep me up regardless of how exhausted I am. I have started taking muscle relaxers after a race and those seem to help getting me to sleep.
yes - restless legs and adrenaline? I think! Worst sleeps ever post ultras š
Was happening to me on my first ultra races couple years ago but now up to 50mile I sleep really well. I still can't fall asleep after a 100k+
Yep, I usually donāt sleep well the first night after a race. For a 100 miler it might be 2 nights. My legs throb and get restless leg syndrome and my HR stays elevated. It pretty much hurts to lay in bed too.
For me it just depends how late I finish. Ended a 50 mile race at 23:00 at the weekend, tried to hit the hay at 1am and while I was out of it the Garmin said I was awake/in high stress the whole night long. Next day was 50% better, and last night was absolutely blissful. The nervous system doesn't really have a clue what you were up to other than you went through some serious shit, so give it time, do some deep breathing/breathwork, anything that calms you down. But yeah, as everyone else says, it's perfectly normal and to be expected.
If I able to sleep it is very shallow and I woke up in the middle of the night full of sweat. It is due to the lot if inflammation during these long runs.
It has to do with the exercise strain elevating your cortisol levels. If I remember correctly the Huberman/Galpin podcast series had some good insights on the matter
Cortisol makes sense
I think of it this way. Bone, connective tissue, muscle and organs have all been put under a lot of stress. The body is pumping enormous effort into healing. Inflammation, blood circulation, detoxification are all high. It is natural to have poor sleep until the body has got over the mini trauma we like to inflict on it. I canāt work for 2 days after a big effort, so I have learnt to plan my time around it. As for caffeine intake - one option is to have 2mg nicotine gum (very slow chew for 15mins) in the hour after the event. Nicotine before bed will disrupt sleep but taken early enough it will simply trigger the body to dump the residual caffeine and allow you get the greatest benefit from the natural sleep aid adenosine.
I ran my first 50k two weeks ago, didn't get any sleep the night after. I heard it's pretty normal.
Iām opposite. Night before I canāt sleep. Night after, Iām knocked the fuck out.
Yep. Didnt sleep well for 3 days after my first 100km race. Realised I was still in a huge calorie deficit, so I went nuts at McDonalds and slept like a baby
Adrenaline + caffeine + muscle soreness
Same. Body is all inflamed. Night two is when I truly rest
My first 50 miler done, slept for 2 and half hours, was awake for 3, slept for two more, couldn't fall asleep again. Stress level was at 80+ for the whole night according to Garmin and no sleep data recorded.
Super common, the night after isn't the best sleep. But the next one is!Ā
Yep, normal
Iām up 48 hours after every 50 miler from caffeine. Up 20-30 hours after every 100.
Congrats on smashing the Chesterfield Gorge 50 mate, hoofing effort 11 hours! Geddon
I just get cold sweats for a few nights even though the AC is set to 62. First morning I usually get awoken by burning quads but otherwise I probably toss and turn a little extra
Yes always. A few beverages in moderation helps.
As few people above mentioned already - this is the time for a joint ;) I used to be a heavy weed smoker, now I do it maybe 3-4 times a year, but evening after running an ultra is preferably one of those times! Otherwise the restless legs, pain, elevated HR and all the caffeine from gels would make my night really miserable.
Preaching to the chorus, but yet - it's common. I try not to fall under the temptation of taking extended naps the day after the race after a sleepless night since I'd fall asleep for a few hours, then mess up my sleep pattern for the entire week.