So for the last month, my sleeping schedule has been all over the place. I’m on the cross country team in college, and we just got a new coach. While we’re division three and not as competitive as some of the other schools, our coach is obsessed with making sure We are just as fast as them.
Let me just give you some background first. Nobody on the team is crazy fast (The fastest girl runs about a 26 minute 6k). The second fastest runs about 27-28. I’m in between the fast and slower runners, with my pr being around 29:00, along with one other girl. The rest of the girls run about 35-45 minutes. My coach is very competitive, running a sub four minute mile.
My coach is so obsessed With us all being fast, that he burns us all out in the process. Three days a week, he hosts practices at 5-5:30 am, and gives us a crazy workout. He wants all of us to be running 6:00 - 7:00 pace per mile on these days (our normal pace for workouts is about 8:00- 8:30). Anyway, His 5:30 practices leave us extremely exhausted, since nobody sleeps well, the night before. He always gets mad at us and asks us why we aren’t sleeping better. I don’t know the reason for the other girls, but for me, the reason I don’t sleep well is because our coach refuses to tell us the plan the night before. For example, He tells us to meet at 5 am, and that we have a big workout. However, he refuses to tell us what it is until we’re at practice, which makes me full of energy the night before, and leaves me exhausted in the morning. We’ve tried telling him this, But he still refuses to tell us the workout until we’re at practice. Of course, I’m in Illinois, so I’ve gotten used to last minute plans and always having to be in a hurry.
So back to my sleeping problems, Three days a week I’m getting up between 4:15 - 4:45 am, and don’t nap because it interferes with my sleep at night. However, the days I do get to sleep in, I end up sleeping until 10 am - 12 pm. This isn’t something I want to keep happening, Most of the time I can sleep in because I don’t have class until 10:30 - 1:00 most days, but this is interfering with my night sleep and my health overall, since I’m not used to sleeping so much.
My sleep schedule is off, and I don’t know how to fix it. Has anybody else felt like this, and what did you do to get consistent, sleep schedule?
Do you have to be in the team? Is your education depending on it?
Could you not just leave it and join a local running club if it’s your passion?
You should speak to your doctor about changing your sleep schedule. They’ll be able to give you safer and more personalised advice than any of us. From what I have learned from my own doctor about changing my sleep schedule:
You need to force yourself to get up much earlier on those days you are sleeping in (which also means going to bed earlier the night before). Use alarms and persist through the initial tiredness, your body will adjust. Maybe try to do this during a period where your other commitments (like study or work) are lighter so it doesn’t affect them too much. Take a short nap (15 - 20 minutes) during the day if you are struggling and need to refresh yourself, but make sure you’d don’t nap for any longer because you will start a full sleep cycle which will affect your ability to sleep at night. This process will take some time, so try to remember that when you feel like giving up after a couple of days.
My coach can be strict when it comes to our speed, but he is very compassionate
He’s an abusive psycho who is destroying your health. Stop giving him excuses. As for your lack of sleep, the medical solution is to sleep.
He is very compassionate when it comes to his needs.
I wouldn’t call him that, he’s actually quite a good coach. Just a little obsessed with morning practices
He found his perfect victim. You’re in very good hands. Keep on not sleeping, which is a great way to improve performance as we all know. And once you can’t run anymore, he’ll trow you away. Have fun.