By Chris Price, Hobart Performance Studio
Rest for Mojo
Without a doubt the best preparation tool that is available to your right now is sleep. Now we are not going to suggest how many hours you need as everyone is different but the quality of your sleep does matter. You’ll be surprised at how many of your aches and pains dissipate after quality sleep.
When you embark on your Wilder Trail we want you feeling as energetic and alive as possible to take in and take on the beautiful wilderness beyond. The excitement and adrenaline of embarking on some of our shorter trails may be enough to get you through to the end relatively unscathed but when considering our longer trials the quality of your rest needs to match the intensity and load that you are about to place on your body. Respect the challenge that lies ahead and you will be rewarded with an amazing experience.
So how do you ensure quality sleep? There are some pretty common suggestions such as:
On top of these there is one additional thing that we suggest as a sure way to quality sleep and that’s to be active during the day. And by this we mean to create some real tension through your muscles as this stimulates a stronger recovery state at night time. Now we are not suggesting completing an intense training session the day before you embark on your Wilder Trail but consider remaining active with gym sessions, short hill repeats or other bursts of familiar activity in the days leading up. If you are physically prepared for your Wilder Trail then this continual exercise will not negatively affect your performance.
Let me explain this a little more with The Science of it all.
The Science
Our bodies are always in one of two states: sympathetic or parasympathetic.
The sympathetic state is our “working state” and it controls a whole range of processes, which all have the same aim - to create a state of readiness for attack or flight. Or in our more modern times our readiness to get out of the way of a fast moving car or think on the spot during a business meeting. Blood is shunted from our internal organs to the muscles of our extremities and our digestive organs more or less stop working.
The parasympathetic state is when our body switches its focus to our digestive, reproductive and recovery systems. Overnight is when the body is in this recovery phase, which is in full swing around midnight and ends about 1 hour after breakfast. The body also drops back into recovery mode slightly around midday.
In a healthy organism the switch between the work state and the recovery phase is well defined. A strong desire for food and rest gains the upper hand, blood flows back to the digestive system and adrenaline levels drop. This switch should occur without any influence on our conscious part but with our modern lifestyles this no longer occurs and is really only present in animals.
As a general statement our modern lifestyle with continuous stimulation has placed our central nervous system in a state of confusion. Our muscles often remain in a state of semi-tension and we can not “switch off” or relax. We call this distress (bad stress).
This “semi-tension state” where the body thinks it is stressed but is physically not can have long term health issues as is well documented. Asking someone who is stressed to “just relax” is pointless, what you should be saying is go get physically active and create some genuine tension in your muscles.
Genuine muscle tension is always followed by a relaxation - if we allow it. It is the body’s autonomic response. If quality sleep is one end of the spectrum then high muscle tension is the other. The quality of the recovery phase is largely dependent on the tension levels in the previous “working state”.
When we speak of “tension” we are referring to actively using your muscles with some intensity, whether it be strength training, running, rock climbing, tennis etc. This should take place during the sympathetic phase, the “working state” so that the following recovery phase is greater. And by doing so you will feel much better the following morning to then get wild on our trails. Enjoy your sleep and your running.
Without a doubt the best preparation tool that is available to your right now is sleep. Now we are not going to suggest how many hours you need as everyone is different but the quality of your sleep does matter. You’ll be surprised at how many of your aches and pains dissipate after quality sleep.
When you embark on your Wilder Trail we want you feeling as energetic and alive as possible to take in and take on the beautiful wilderness beyond. The excitement and adrenaline of embarking on some of our shorter trails may be enough to get you through to the end relatively unscathed but when considering our longer trials the quality of your rest needs to match the intensity and load that you are about to place on your body. Respect the challenge that lies ahead and you will be rewarded with an amazing experience.
So how do you ensure quality sleep? There are some pretty common suggestions such as:
- Reducing blue light and screen stimulation 1-2 hours before bed.
- Get as much sunlight during the day to increase melatonin levels.
- Don’t drink alcohol before bed, even if it helps you fall asleep easier it often disrupts sleep quality.
- Get your sleep in the PM and don’t think that sleeping longer in the AM is an equal substitute.
On top of these there is one additional thing that we suggest as a sure way to quality sleep and that’s to be active during the day. And by this we mean to create some real tension through your muscles as this stimulates a stronger recovery state at night time. Now we are not suggesting completing an intense training session the day before you embark on your Wilder Trail but consider remaining active with gym sessions, short hill repeats or other bursts of familiar activity in the days leading up. If you are physically prepared for your Wilder Trail then this continual exercise will not negatively affect your performance.
Let me explain this a little more with The Science of it all.
The Science
Our bodies are always in one of two states: sympathetic or parasympathetic.
The sympathetic state is our “working state” and it controls a whole range of processes, which all have the same aim - to create a state of readiness for attack or flight. Or in our more modern times our readiness to get out of the way of a fast moving car or think on the spot during a business meeting. Blood is shunted from our internal organs to the muscles of our extremities and our digestive organs more or less stop working.
The parasympathetic state is when our body switches its focus to our digestive, reproductive and recovery systems. Overnight is when the body is in this recovery phase, which is in full swing around midnight and ends about 1 hour after breakfast. The body also drops back into recovery mode slightly around midday.
In a healthy organism the switch between the work state and the recovery phase is well defined. A strong desire for food and rest gains the upper hand, blood flows back to the digestive system and adrenaline levels drop. This switch should occur without any influence on our conscious part but with our modern lifestyles this no longer occurs and is really only present in animals.
As a general statement our modern lifestyle with continuous stimulation has placed our central nervous system in a state of confusion. Our muscles often remain in a state of semi-tension and we can not “switch off” or relax. We call this distress (bad stress).
This “semi-tension state” where the body thinks it is stressed but is physically not can have long term health issues as is well documented. Asking someone who is stressed to “just relax” is pointless, what you should be saying is go get physically active and create some genuine tension in your muscles.
Genuine muscle tension is always followed by a relaxation - if we allow it. It is the body’s autonomic response. If quality sleep is one end of the spectrum then high muscle tension is the other. The quality of the recovery phase is largely dependent on the tension levels in the previous “working state”.
When we speak of “tension” we are referring to actively using your muscles with some intensity, whether it be strength training, running, rock climbing, tennis etc. This should take place during the sympathetic phase, the “working state” so that the following recovery phase is greater. And by doing so you will feel much better the following morning to then get wild on our trails. Enjoy your sleep and your running.