Amount of Sleep required???

How the hell do you people do it. I am working from 8-5; I come home, run and eat dinner; before you know it, its 9. I would love to see the schedule of someone working 40+ and getting in that mileage bc that is hard to do.

First off, I work 8 - 5 M-F, and have a fairly stressful job (I am an attorney). So I have to run to relieve stress!! Right now, for my 80 miles a week, my schedule looks like this:

M - F:

AM - 3 to 4 miles easy (recovery jogs)

M- 10 to 12 easy

T - 8 miles (track work out - 4 miles in intervals, the rest is warm up and warm down)

W - 12 miles easy

T- 10 mile steady state

F- 4 to 5 miles easy (or afternoon off)

Sat - 12 miles easy

Sun. - 14 miles easy

I live close to home, so I start running by about 5:30 p.m. and usually get home for the night by about 6:30 to 7:30pm (although my wife is starting to get a bit tired of me always getting home around 7 p.m. - she probably is goin get get even more pissed when I up the mileage).

At any rate, I then sleep from 10 pm to 6 am.

So, any info about the amount of sleep needed for 120+ miles??

Thanks

100 miles a week at a mere 7 minute pace is just over 11 hours of total run time.

168 hours in a week

-11 hours of running

-40 hour job

- 5 hours commuting (of course this varies both ways)

- 56 hours of sleep (8 per night)

= 56 hours (avg of 8 per day)left over for family, leisure, church, yard work, eating,etc,

Start logging your T.V. time (even 10 minutes or less) Most people will be surprised at the amount of time wasted.

holy crap,

Well, I'm not planning on getting up as high with the mileage as that guy, but there are some things I do to get my mileage in and still have time for the family and work. Here are some things you might consider:

Why work 8-5? Do you have to? Can you work 9-6 or 7-4 and then either do your running before or after work? Can you work from 7:30-5:30 and then have a two hour block of time to run over lunch? Hopefully you are working only 40 hours a week and not a minute more. I am of the opinion that anyone who works more than that is either a fool or someone who doesn't like to spend time with his/her family or doing anything else for that matter. Seems like you are neither since you said you work pretty much 40 hours per week.

Seems to me that up to about 85 miles a week or so (depending on how fast you train) doesn't require much more than just getting up early and getting either to work so you can run later in the day or just running early in the morning. More than that requires some give and take with a spouse and some serious time management.

Flagpole: Yeah I kinda have to work from 8-5. If I do a morning run lets say about 45 minute run, I have to run at 530am. It is hard, but I am going to work on getting to bed a little earlier. It just sucks to get home, run, eat and feel like you are going straight to bed after dinner. I am also a big believer in one workout per day. 3 miles in the am for recovery or whatever you wanna call it doesnt do it for me, maybe it should just for junk but in any case, this is where i stand. Like said before, DVD and TV are also pretty tempting to keep you up at night! haha'

I work 40+ hours per week, have 2 kids, wife, t-ball assitant coach, landscaping my backyard, etc. I regularly run 100+ miles per week and have a max of 140 miles in a week.

To me sleep is all a matter of what you are used to. When I am running 100 to 140 miles per week I get usually 6 to 7 hours of sleep per night during the week and 8 on the weekends.

My schedule is typically like this on a big mileage week:

5:00 AM Wake up/run 10 miles

7:00 AM Work

3:30 PM off work

4:00 PM run track workout, fartlek, tempo, hills, etc.

5:30 PM fix dinner/play with kids

6:00 PM Dinner

6:30 PM Play time with kids, baths, etc.

7:30 PM Kid's bedtime stories, tuck in, etc.

8:00 PM TV time

9:30 or 10:00 PM Bed

Ok, let me rephrase my question. I know everyone gets different amount of sleep, but does the amount of sleep you need proportionately increase with the amount of miles you run?

Professionals:- Two training sessions a day but also sleep in the afternoon.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/athletics/comment/0,10083,910489,00.html

'When I come home from training I just sleep in the afternoon...................................

'It's really helped to get lots of recovery. The intensity of my training now is much stronger because I'm able to give it 100 per cent every time, whereas before I may have been giving it 70 per cent because I wasn't recovered enough.

'I've worked it out that I probably now spend about 12 to 13 hours a day sleeping. I'm in bed at 10 o'clock every night.

http://www.observer.co.uk/osm/story/0,6903,849746,00.html

She runs some 22 miles a day (12-15 in the morning and another seven in the early evening).......................

'I'm usually in bed by ten and I don't get up until around nine,' she says. 'Then I have another two hours sleep in the afternoon. You really need that sleep when you train as hard as I do.'

sorry to say this, but it's no possible 130-140mi with a job, you might as well go pro. Seriously considering 130-140mi at altitude are what the Kenyans do with their lives. 80 mi is cool but after 100mi it's a different ballgame. You are tired most or all the time, you are also in soreness/pain half the time, the other half you are sleeping. Oh sH6^ then we got quality wrkouts. Regarding sleep with that kind of miledge 10 + hours easy. You also have to factor in naps. Trust me with a job you don't need this grief. Man I train full train and it's hell.

It is possible to run lots of miles while holding down a job but dont expect to be fast.

http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/02julaug/corbitt.htm

The American began training harder than ever before.

The workouts that followed are legendary. Two, sometimes three runs a day, or twice around the island of Manhattan (64 miles) for long distance work. Weekly mileage was often between 200 and 300 and there were times when he put in more than 1,000 miles over the course of a month. All this while working full time as a physical therapist at the International Center for the Disabled, raising a son, and carrying on running-related administrative duties at night.

"sorry to say this, but it's no possible 130-140mi with a job"

What? I do it all the time, so I don't get that one.

"It is possible to run lots of miles while holding down a job but dont expect to be fast."

What do you consider fast? Rod Dehaven is he fast? I heard he works like 32 hours per week.

by the way cornitt is a legend. Corbitt is the exception not the rule. Like Michael Jordan they manufacture these humans only like one in a million. How many people can actually attempt this without breaking down. Overtraining, burnout, injury, all that good stuff. All respect to Dehaven

but we are trying to be world beaters here not AR. I read DeHaven's log hate to sound cocky but I just had a good laugh.

miles and miles you sound like one tough mo&*^%. 140mi and a job. Give me some skin. "High five". Slap! Slap!! Keep it up, what did pre say to not go all out is to sacrifice the gift.

Hornet power,

I appreciate your input, but I didn't spend 3 years and 60k at law school to run full time, and I love to run and have the hope/dream of getting 2:22 in the marathon (yes, I am aware that a 2:22 isn't anything compared to the WR, and yes us Americans aren't shooting high enough, etc., but it is my goal and something I would be exceptionally proud of.) That being said, Hornet Power, pretend you had a full time 40 hour week job, what suggestions would you make to get in the miles and required sleep? Also, back to my original question . . . how many hours did you need to feel recovered when you were doing 80 miles a week versus the amount of sleep when you did 130 miles.

Thanks in advance for everyone's input.

just remembered Boston Billy was doing 130mi when he took a break I forgot work or school. He didn't even finish Boston the first time he tried. He was doing like over 200mi a week before his first win. Let me change my stance a bit, different people respond differently to training Khannouchi won CHicago on just 115 or so miles a week loads of quality. SO if 130 float your boat so be it. My impression is KK and all these "lower milege" winners had or preceeded their quality sessions with tons of milege. The quality sessions only acessed all this base that they already had.

Yo Smoo hard to say. Some people can get away with less. You seem to need less sleep. Really double edged sword. Most experts quote a range of hours. My feeling with this is go with how your body feels. The Kenyan's do this they don't force wrkouts rather they are more in touch with their bodys. If they had a ten miler planned and the did not feel up to it they just turned around and went home. But they are pro's so the benefit of this to you is limited. The one I think will answer you question nicely is miles and miles, he claims that he does 130 mi regularly and a job. Hard to believe but could happen. See what he has to say.

Hey, you are a lawyer? sweet... where did u go to law school? i wanna go to law school after i finish at tech...

Anyways, sleep is really important for recovery. If you neglect it your training will suffer in quality, and you are more likely to have a minor injury flair up into something larger... 8 hours of sleep, if it is really sleep, and not just when you go to bed, is fine. When you say 8 hrs though i assume you mean you go to bed at 10 and get up at 6 or so, which isn't really 8 hours of sleeping... I am a soph and have recently run 14:14 for 5k and 8:10 for 3k... I also have a friend who is very competitive in the marathon and is a bank manager that works 40 hrs. a week. If you want to email me I'll be happy to give you some training advice as far as your running schedule is concerned... I definately don't think that 130 mpw is necessary for you to reach your goal...

Smoo Matt,

I work 40+ hours per week. I run up to 140 mpw and I have run a 2:22 marathon. It is just about how you budget your time. If you are looking for a night life forget it. You could get 8 hours of sleep per night. I don't because I choose to spend time with my wife and watch a little TV, but not much. When I am running peak mileage I usually stay up to 10 pm and get up at 5 am. It is all a matter of priorities and planning.

I also sleep from about 10-5. I work 9:30-6:30. I'm out the door at 5:15, can run twenty-plus by 8:15 and still have time for a decent breakfast before my ten minute commute. If I'm running hilly trails or some kind of workout the mileage will be less but multiply by five and you've got a good start before you even get to the weekend.