Teachers/Early Risers - Training and Getting Enough Sleep

Ha! Older people do not need less sleep. When I was younger I never realized how tired I was all the time from not sleeping.

Man up. Go to bed an hour earlier. Get up an hour earlier to run. Ease in to it. Start with just 15 minutes earlier each week and within 8 weeks you'll be up to 10 milers every morning.

GO TO BED AND WAKE UP AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY - INCLUDING SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS. Seriously, that is the best advice I can give. When you do that, you are never tired.

I teach as well, and found the first 3-4 months to be grueling on the training. The volume decreased, and I was wiped out afterwards. More sleep will obviously help, but the likelihood of that happening is questionable. What I found to be most helpful was adjusting my calorie intake. I added a powerbar/clif bar etc about 60-90 minutes before I wanted to run (usually eating sometime between the end of school, and my commute home). I end up with more energy for my evening run- although be warned that you'll seldom feel fresh on runs until the weekend.

My 2nd year teaching I trained for the chicago marathon. I got up at 5:15-5:30 and ran almost every morning anywhere from 8 to 12 miles. I would then run with my team sometimes for some extra miles. You have to do it in the morning for sure. You just don\'t feel like it when you get home from practice! Even after not training for a marathon I did a lot of mornings. I also had a few buddies to run with and the local college team 2 days a week. That did help. How young are you?

Trust me, it gets better after your first year of teaching. Realize this year will be difficult, get through it, and be pleasantly surprised at how much better it is next year.

You won't be stressed about as many things as a teacher, you'll be able to do lesson prep in half the time or less, and you will have figured out routines that work. And, it sounds like your master's will soon be done, too.

Invest your energy into your team's progress over your own. It's more rewarding that way--trust me.

BUT, do try to get your coaching and teaching happening at the same school. That one move alone will reduce the stress in a huge way. It may take a year or two or three for that to happen, but don't let the opportunity pass you by.

i get up at 430. i teach middle school. it's exhausting, but after teaching 7th graders i'm too tired to get decent runs in after school. your body gets used to it. i can do really hard workouts this early now that i'm used to it.

next year will be MUCH easier for you.

go to bed as early as possible. it's hard, but that's what you've got to do.

It is hard, especially from the coaching aspect. I coach middle school in the morning and high school in the afternoon. Some mornings I get up at 5 to go run; one workout a week I do with the varsity team. Honestly, I try to put some good quality miles in on the weekends when I have the extra time so I don't have to stress as much if I miss a run here or there during the week.

It's hard to start new habits/routines. Make a plan and commit to it for a few weeks. Then, review the situation and go from there. When I take a break from training, getting back on the weekday schedule is hard. But, once I get back into the swing of things, it goes pretty smooth. FWIW, I get up at 5am every weekday morning to run, and I get home at about 4pm for another workout. I sleep in on the weekends and this seems to work for me. Good luck.

Maybe the Dingo Ate your Baby wrote:

Any advice, aside from man up?

I get up at 4:15, six days a week. I run anywhere between 5 and 10 miles before school. I shower, get dressed, and take my oldest daughter to school, and am still at my desk by 7:10 if not earlier. I'm nothing special as a lot of my coworkers follow similar schedules. And, I rarely get to bed before 10 if not 11.

I think from the fact that you included the "man up" bit in your post, you already know the answer. Don't drink during the week and don't drink too much on the weekends. Your body needs sleep for recovery, not for kicking the alcohol out of your system. Sneak in naps whenever you can, even if they are just 10 minutes once or twice a week. Pay attention to your diet.

It's not rocket science. I'm 20 years older than you and have a wife and 4 kids. I coached 3 sports for 15 years. If I can do it, there's no reason you can't, unless you choose not to.

I also teach at a middle school and coach at a high school that gets out slightly before my school. I've learned to get in my main run with the high school team most days. If they are doing a workout, I usually do a workout the same day, but after their practice.

Almost all of my doubles are at night now and usually on a treadmill due to darkness.

Occasionally, if I'm only running about 4 miles for the double, I'll do it before school. The amount of time it takes to run before school is very misleading- it takes me just as long to stop sweating and get ready to shower.

A typical "double" day for me looks like this:

6:10 wake up, shower, get ready

7:00-715 arrive at school (I only live 12 minutes away)

7:45, school starts

2:45 school ends

3:00 practice starts, get in my first run, usually 7-9 miles

5:10 practice ends

5:30, home, make some dinner

7-9:00, rest, tv, work, other hobbies

9:30- second, easy run.

10-11:30, quick shower and relax again

It's a long day, but I do it about 3 times per week. I hit a long run on Sundays. Saturdays can either be more mileage, an occasional race, or a workout.

It leaves me with only 6-7 hours of pure sleep, but I usually squeeze in a short nap somewhere too.

This week is an 85-90 mile week set up very similar to that.

i'm up b/w 4:45-5:30 5x/wk to run. twice a week i've just been doing 20 min morning runs (the rest are 8-10). might start doing my quality stuff in the morning now though. nice to get it out of the way rather than try to muster the energy at the end of an unpredictable day.

i never ever regret getting up early. i never find myself thinking, later in the day, "i should've slept in." plus, this time of year, you're probably running in the dark before or after work/school. might as well do it when there's less traffic. much more pleasant. and it's nice to see the sun come up when you're doing your strides.

Short hours and massive holidays - must be tough

Go for a run in your lunch time (+ 2 more in the mid morning and afternoon breaks)

Around 3 days a week I leave the house at 5:15. I'm not a morning person, but you become one when you want to train with a full time job (and kids). I love the feeling of having 12 miles under my belt as I drive to work.

Don't think about it, just get out the door.

Load up the weekends.

Load up your breaks. We do get around 3 months off a year, counting christmas, winter, spring break.

I give up my later tv shows when training. I often fall asleep with my kids at 8:30 - 9:00. But not always. I have at least 2 days that I use to catch up on my sleep - no morning run.

I always love it when people complain they can't find time to train. Everyone has the same 24 hrs in a day, so its a matter of prioritizing what to do with it. For me that is:

1. Family (wife and kids)

2. Work

3. Running

4. Hobbies/Entertainment

So lets say it takes me 7-8 hrs of sleep per night to be able to function optimally so I can do all of the above at my best.

That leave 16-17 hours for the other things.

During the work week:

Family takes 3-4 hours (including meals, family time)

Work takes 9-10 hours (including commuting)

That leaves me 3-5 hours to spend running or on hobbies and entertainment.

Running is more important to me that watching some silly reality show on TV or FaceBooking so it comes first.

I could theoretically run 2 one hour sessions and still catch an occassional TV program or update on friends, etc on Facebook.

Then weekends are wide open with much more time for hobbies and entertainment.

My suggestion is to look how you are spending your time and decide if that matches your priorities or if you are just caught in a rut or schedule that doesn't match up to them.

I also agree with the person who suggests going to bed and getting up at the same time each day (7 days a week). Do this and your body will adjust regardless of the hours you set to do this.

Heres my advice:Stop running so much its a dumb/boring hobby. Gyms are open till like midnight. Just start lifting some weights, using the pool treadmill after work and sleep as late as you can just to get to work on time. Running before work is senseless and immature. Grow up.