Trouble sleeping the night before a race?

[Dave Taylor]

Do more races, the butterflies will go away with time

-As said above, no electronics 1 - 2 hours before
-Get bike, gear, food, directions everything ready 2 - 3 days in advance, make a checklist so there is nothing to occupy your mind the night before
-Load up the car/truck/van the night before also
-Mentally put a game plan together a day earlier too, breakfast, drive down, parking, registration, number plates, warmup, grid up, run the race.
-Melatonin is also a great sleep aid, may give you crazy dreams but will definitely knock you out

definitely does not go away with time. 2 whiskey/waters work great for me. Melatonin if you are mentally ok but if depression is an issue at all this stuff is awful.

 

[Dave Taylor]

TBH I love racing and always have. My bigger issue than sleeping is the morning of exciter crap. I wake up to my alarm, eat breakfast, take a decent crap and then head out. Well I get close to the event and it starts to brew. I usually have to stop 20 min before because of nerves but man does race day clean me out!

 

[wonderturtle]

Good news- the night before isn't critical for performance. There have been studies on this- but so long as you have solid 8 hour nights leading up to the race- you're set. Obviously, you should lay in bed the night before- but if tossing and turning its not a huge deal.

I also don't sleep well before an event. Agree that it doesn't matter much if you have a "base" of solid nights before that.

Sleepy time tea works a bit. If that doesn't work will make myself a very strong vodka drink..that usually does the trick