Sleeping like a RockStar
Sleep does great things for athletes. It enables us to recover and perform better, makes us less prone to injury, and makes us mentally sharp for our daily tasks. But sleep and I have never been on the same side of the bed. I could go to bed at 8pm or 2am and I will still wake up at 6:30am. I’m a natural early riser and must get to bed early to have any chance of logging some hours of mattress time. The problem is that most of my hours spent in bed are a half sleep where I drift in and out of consciousness. On days that my alarm is set for 5:45, I wake up at 5:43.
Trying to go back to sleep after I wake is a waste of time. The day has started! On the very few occasions that I have managed to sleep until 8am I wake up and think to myself, “Shit, the day is half over.”
If there was a WOD – sleeping for time – I would DESTROY it. My time would probably be better than my Fran time, well, maybe not, but you get the point.
With all that said, it has come to my attention that, since starting the Paleo Challenge, I sleep. I sleep straight through the night and on Saturday – I SLEPT FOR 12 HOURS STRAIGHT. I’m not sure that has ever happened – honestly. I’m also dreaming – vivid dreams that I remember details of after I wake up. I’m sleeping in a deep sleep. This morning I woke up confused as to where I was, what day it was, and why Pink’s So What was blaring in my ear (it’s my alarm song).
I’m still drinking coffee (one cup a day) so it’s not the absence of caffeine. I’m training the same schedule as always w/ CrossFit 3 on 1 off supplemented with CrossFit Endurance workouts.
Could legumes and dairy really have that much affect on my sleep??!! I’ll go sleep on it.
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