| Sleep Deprivation
Sleep deprivation becomes a factor in any adventure race that lasts over 18 hours. We won’t go into the physiological components of this beast, but rather look at the signs, its effects and how to minimize the impact.
Sleep deprivation is the one aspect of an adventure race that is virtually impossible to train for. If you are interested, though, I would recommend having a baby or two and getting up for those feedings every two to four hours. Furthermore, the sleep component or lack thereof, is often one of the most sited reasons for people not being interested in adventure racing. While you may find it hard to train for sleep deprivation, I would recommend structuring your training such that sleep becomes a factor. The reason for this is simple—everyone reacts to a lack of sleep in their own way and some people handle it better than others. Regardless, several symptoms or signs of sleep deprivation are rather common. At first, you may become silly or giddy. That will give way to becoming easily irritated or impatient. You will yawn a bit and have a hard time staying focused You may lose your appetite or at least not feel like eating. Eventually you will start droning or zoning out. You will probably get quiet & withdrawn and eventually feel veeerrrry sleeeeeppppppyyyyy.
When this happens, the effects vary in their degree of magnitude. Your pace will be among the first things affected as it will slow considerably. You may have trouble with navigation and could get lost. If you are in boats, the effects are magnified and you will probably fall asleep more easily since you are sitting down. If you are riding mountain bikes, you may crash more frequently. The trick is that ideally, everyone does not get hit by the sleep bug all at once. Hopefully one person on the team will have his/her wits about them and be able to recognize the signs and offer a solution. Generally this is the case, although from around 3 am to 5 am in the morning, most people are very vulnerable.
There are several things you can do to combat the sleep bug. If you are into taking stimulants such as caffeine or products like No Doz or Rip Fuel, then give them a try. This is where training comes in though. Do not take anything in a race that you have not first tried in training, to see how you handle it. Another possible remedy is to eat food. One guy, swears by eating 5 packets of GU one after another. Afterward, he would be bouncing off the walls, but it would bring him out of his funk so that he could then eat and drink something more substantial and recover. Perhaps the most effective remedy is to take a 5 to 20 minute power nap. Ultimately, your body is telling you that you need sleep and at some point give it at least a taste of the rest it needs.
In any case, you should try to plan for sleep in races which you expect to last over 18 hours. Obviously the length of the race will determine your sleep plan and even the best laid plans will be modified. My experience is that you will want to sleep a minimum of one hour for every twenty-four hours and you should start your schedule from day one. Do not try to push the first 36 to 48 hours of a race with no sleep as many people have found that their ability to recover is greatly diminished. Ultimately, the more you race, the more effectively you will be able to handle this uniquely challenging obstacle.
Return to Top
|
