Cycling on New York Greenway
Readers Question: How do you manage your training in spite of the jet lag coming home, and do you have any general advice for cycling and jet lag in general?
I travel to New York about three times of the year (April, August, October). Usually this is in the middle of heavy training sessions. Fortunately, five hours difference is not too bad. But, coming back from US to UK, can be tough on your sleeping patterns. But, when you travel across time zones frequently, you realise it’s not quite as bad as you fear.
Flying back from New York, it is best if you can get a morning flight. The problem is that back in England you don’t feel like going to sleep at 11pm because it is effectively 6pm. I find it very hard to go to sleep early, so I will stay up until 3am (avoiding sleeping in the day). Then the theory is to get up at usual time 6am / 7am. This can be difficult but it’s the best way of getting used to UK time and getting back into a routine. At various times in the day, you will feel very tired, but by evening you will again probably struggle to sleep at right time.
Usually on the first day back, I will either have a rest day or fairly light training. But, by second day I will do whatever type of training I need to. If you have a good training session, you tend to sleep better and in a way this can help with overcoming jet lag. The real killer is if you enter a race starting at 6am, two days after getting back. You just don’t feel like racing at that time with jet lag.
If you travel back on overnight flight it is more difficult, as you at best sleep fitfully on the plane, but if I do sleep overnight, I try and stay awake all day until you collapse at 10pm.
Other Tips For Jet Lag
- Stay well hydrated on the plane.
- Avoid caffeine if you plan to try and sleep early.
- Change your clocks and watches as soon as possible and forget about your old timezone.
- You may feel very tired at some points in day, but if you get on the bike you might not feel so bad after a short while.
- I don’t think there’s any reason to stop riding because of jet lag. But, you can plan fairly conservative rides for a couple of days.
- Don’t get frustrated if your are trying to sleep five hours earlier than your body clock expects. I find it better to stay up and read than fight a losing battle.
- Generally, try to get up at the right time, even if it means setting a couple of alarm clocks and forcing yourself to get up early. Also, try to eat at normal meal times.
- Naps may help, but be strict in how long you nap for. Try setting an alarm for 40 min or one hour. If you allow yourself to sleep, you may find yourself waking up at midnight and it’s even worse to get back into routine.
- Natural waking up. It’s helpful to set a natural alarm clock. i.e. drink two litres of water. It’s better to wake up naturally than rely on alarm
- Don’t mentalise it too much. I wouldn’t say jet lag is all in the mind. But, if you think about it too much it doesn’t help. Assume you will be able to ride perfectly normally and you probably will.
Supplements for Jet Lag
People have suggested melatonin, Siberian Ginseng, Ginger though I have never really bothered with taking supplements much.
Related
Yes, often natural remedies (light) more effective than supplements,
Good tips…
Melatonin is a double edged sword. It helps with some symptoms of jetlag, and yes, it’s involved with sleep timing, but taking exogenous megadoses isn’t the same as your own production. A bit like screwing with exogenous EPO; much better to let your kidneys take care of that for you, IMHO.
Exposure to light, or lack of it, seems to have a big effect on sleepiness. Certainly works for me – so I try to be careful about reducing light exposure at night, and waking up with plenty of light.