Can one night of imperfect sleep truly harm a race?

Is this a joke? I did one of my best races after I had done a night shift at work. My head felt a little dizzy but the rest of the body was excellent.

Frank shorter once spokde the day before the New Orleans half Marathon. He advised getting a good nights sleep two nights before the race, because you might not sleep well the night before due to nerves.

This is very common. A bad night before a race doesn't hurt; I think it can even help. I've noticed that disproportionately many workouts that go amazingly well come after less sleep because or work or just staying up too late. It only works for one night though, not more.

Also depends what you mean by bad night of sleep. One wake-up in the night / sleeping for 7 hours is different than constantly tosing and turning or sleeping for 3 hours.

I've always felt that having 1 bad night after doing really well the last week will have little changes. The problem comes if poor sleep persists

If you get no sleep at all and have been awake for over 24 hours straight that will certainly harm your race. So there’s a line somewhere between a perfect night of sleep and no sleep that will start to be a problem.

You are nowhere near that line though. I’ve consistently been nervous before races and had imperfect sleep, and it’s basically fine. Get to bed at a reasonable hour and don’t disrupt your sleep with caffeine or alcohol and you’ll be fine.

You're concerned that you woke up for 10 minutes?

I was so nervous before my first half marathon that I ONLY slept for 10 minutes the night before the race.

It's the sleep two nights before you want to nail.

I run better slightly sleep deprived…. It takes the edge off the pain and numbs the consciousness a little bit.