How much sleep is enough? I struggle with this question at times, it seems as though anyone seriously training needs to sleep whenever they’re not training or eating. Joe Friel of the ever popular training “bibles” suggests around 9 hours of sleep a night–as a minimum. The schedule he set up as a guide has the athlete going to be at 9pm and waking at 6am. Which is funny, because I go to bed at 10pm and wake up at 5am. There appears to be a 2 hour gap in there.
Certainly, a girl needs her beauty sleep. However, if I sleep more then 7 hours a night, I have serious insomnia the next night. If I go out on a hard 60-miler on Saturday, I will often end up taking a 1-3 hour nap in the afternoon, but other then that, it’s 7 hours a night and I feel perfectly rested. I guess I’m just special like that.
I did all my planned workouts this week, feeling fabulous. I did a hard 90 mins of yoga this morning (yes, it’s my rest day, yes, I consider 90mins of yoga ‘rest’), and I’m feeling strong and supple. I’m very, very bummed that tomorrow will be another indoor trainer session (at least with the team this time instead of in front of the tv), maybe I’ll be able to get out and put in some miles on Sunday. The following Sunday is the Worst Day of the Year Ride, and while I usually don’t do organized rides as such, this one will be 45 miles, lots of climbing, and TONS of food. Plus its on a Sunday so I can still put in my hard Saturday effort and use the event as a recovery ride. I’ll be shod in my kit, but perhaps I’ll have to dig through the Halloween box to supplement my costume. 
