Princess Weekend 2022

[azrivest]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

 

[JJ2017]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

Great question! And I don't even know what "early" even means to me for the 2:30 wake up. My normal every day bedtime is 11:00ish and I wake up at 6:30 for work.

 

[Naomeri]

I finished up my packing list and timing list.

View attachment 648105

View attachment 648106

I’ve got my running gear bag 90% packed, and a bunch of random miscellany either in my big suitcase or on the floor near it

 

[DopeyBadger]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

Eat an early dinner, don't do anything exhilarating at the end of the evening, turn off the lights, settle in with no screen time, cover up any clocks or devices, tell stories to yourself that are not race/tomorrow related, don't worry about not falling asleep, or how long it's taking. Just try to shut off your mind and relax your body. My normal bed time is 8:30pm usually, so going to bed at 6:30-7:00 isn't dramatically different. I let the amount of sleep be a "it is what it is" in the moment and try not to dwell on it too much.

Easier said than done sometimes.

I was in bed at 7:30pm, but realistically I didn’t fall asleep until after 10pm. This was some of the worst sleep I have ever gotten before a race. And this was a 5k that I wasn’t all that nervous for. I just couldn’t fall asleep for the life of me.

In bed at 6:50 pm. After the last two nights of pretty bad sleep, I was finally able to fall asleep quickly and reap the full benefits of sleeping.

We decided to call it an early night and headed to bed at 6pm. The next morning was to be the marathon!

 

[QueenFernando]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

What I've found that works for me is to start now, about a week out, going to bed a little earlier than normal or at least getting to bed on time. I already go to bed by 9:30-10, so I'm ready for bed by 9. I may not go to sleep, but I get very strict about sleep hygiene (not being on phone, etc). I let myself sleep as much as I want, but as soon as I wake up in the morning I get up. That's usually about 6-6:30, but has been as early as 4am lately. The main point of this is to get yourself well rested leading into race weekend.

The next main point is to not try to "get plenty of sleep" the night before the race. It's nearly impossible to do that. Build up rest before going into the weekend.

I'm doing the Challenge, so I will go to bed between 8:30-9:30 the night before the 10k. It really just depends on how tired I am. But I do not try to force myself to go to bed earlier than I've been used to for the last week. I'll just lay there tossing and turning and end up sleeping less than I would have if I had just gone to be at a normal time. Get up at 2am and get ready to get on the first (or second) bus to the race. After the 10k, get food, shower, and have a spa day with friends. We may or may not take a nap before the spa, but will have some down time. After an early-ish dinner back to the room for down time. I'm usually ready to sleep by a decently early time on that day because of waking up early for the 10k. Doing this has worked so much better for me on challenge weekends than when I tried to force my body to do something it wasn't used to.

 

[MissLiss279]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

Besides my normal getting up early and going to bed early, I have found that my early flight (6am), with an hour drive to the airport, plus needing to be at the airport at least an hour early (I’m usually 1.5-2 hours early), plus an hour to get ready, really helps me to get tired early, so it starts the cycle well for races.

Soooo, get up really early the night before, so you get tired early???

 

[striker1064]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

Counterpoint: Give up on the idea. Party all night. Collapse after the race. Regret all of your life choices. Repeat the next day.

Real advice: I always try to go to bed early but it rarely works. I'm in bed 9:30-10:00 most nights, so I consider it a win if I can get to sleep by 9 the night before a race. And the wake up is so early, it typically calls for a light nap after getting back to the room anyway.

 

[QueenFernando]

Soooo, get up really early the night before, so you get tired early???

lol! I think this pretty much sums it up!

 

[SheHulk]

Besides my normal getting up early and going to bed early, I have found that my early flight (6am), with an hour drive to the airport, plus needing to be at the airport at least an hour early (I’m usually 1.5-2 hours early), plus an hour to get ready, really helps me to get tired early, so it starts the cycle well for races.

Soooo, get up really early the night before, so you get tired early???

Same same, every race weekend for me. Ridiculously early morning flight to start the trip = reset to race morning wakeups. That and, NO NAPS

 

[azrivest]

Soooo, get up really early the night before, so you get tired early???

My flight is Wednesday night and I won't get to the hotel until around 11p'ish. Sleeping in for this family is getting up at 7am, so I'll at least try to do that on Thursday.

But I am planning on doing all my remaining runs early, like get up at 4:45 and run at 5 early. So apart from Thursday morning, I'll be up at 4:45 Mon-Tue-Wed next week. That should also help to move my bedtime earlier for the week.

 

[Naomeri]

What I've found that works for me is to start now, about a week out, going to bed a little earlier than normal or at least getting to bed on time. I already go to bed by 9:30-10, so I'm ready for bed by 9. I may not go to sleep, but I get very strict about sleep hygiene (not being on phone, etc). I let myself sleep as much as I want, but as soon as I wake up in the morning I get up. That's usually about 6-6:30, but has been as early as 4am lately. The main point of this is to get yourself well rested leading into race weekend.

The next main point is to not try to "get plenty of sleep" the night before the race. It's nearly impossible to do that. Build up rest before going into the weekend.

I'm doing the Challenge, so I will go to bed between 8:30-9:30 the night before the 10k. It really just depends on how tired I am. But I do not try to force myself to go to bed earlier than I've been used to for the last week. I'll just lay there tossing and turning and end up sleeping less than I would have if I had just gone to be at a normal time. Get up at 2am and get ready to get on the first (or second) bus to the race. After the 10k, get food, shower, and have a spa day with friends. We may or may not take a nap before the spa, but will have some down time. After an early-ish dinner back to the room for down time. I'm usually ready to sleep by a decently early time on that day because of waking up early for the 10k. Doing this has worked so much better for me on challenge weekends than when I tried to force my body to do something it wasn't used to.

I’ve spent every weekday of February moving my wakeup time (and also my bedtime) earlier. I’m not a morning person, so I had to do it gradually. I’ve gone from a 7:45 wake-up to a 4:45 wake-up. I might not actually get out of bed at that point, but I do stay awake (mostly—I might’ve dozed off once or twice ). And I have a 5:45am flight on Wednesday morning, so that’ll help start the trip off on an early foot.

 

[JJ2017]

Should I drink my coffee at that early hour? I normally have my first cup of coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

 

[SheHulk]

Should I drink my coffee at that early hour? I normally have my first cup of coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

I do! Why not?

 

[QueenFernando]

Should I drink my coffee at that early hour? I normally have my first cup of coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

There must always be coffee!

Seriously though, I always have my coffee that close to waking up too, no matter what time I wake up. There was a time when I tried going for my runs in the morning before coffee. That didn't work out well for anyone!

 

[striker1064]

Should I drink my coffee at that early hour? I normally have my first cup of coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

How to answer this delicately... it is entirely dependent on your reaction to coffee. For some people, drinking coffee then going for a run is playing with fire. I myself drink coffee every morning, and give myself a decent buffer before heading out for a run - or I get out of bed and run immediately, then have coffee after.

For past rD mornings, I've gotten up a little earlier than usual and had a bit of coffee before heading for the bus. That never worked out very well for me. For this past W&D, I simply skipped it until after the race was over.

Worth noting, there is a Joffrey's truck you can buy coffee from, if you'd rather do that.

 

[The Expert]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

Same same, every race weekend for me. Ridiculously early morning flight to start the trip = reset to race morning wakeups. That and, NO NAPS

I'm coming from the Mountain time zone, so the transition is the hardest part for me as I'm already at a two hour deficit (ie midnight feels like 10pm when I arrive). I've started taking a redeye flight for race weekends, landing about 6am the day of the expo. I make myself stay up all day and am ready for bed by 8pm. It worked great for Dopey! I also eat my biggest meal for lunch and do an early, light dinner, along with the other advice given above.

 

[corn princess]

I'm up every weekday at about 4:15 to run or workout so it won't be a huge change for me. As long as I can get about 5 hours of sleep I should be okay! Plus we do have a very early morning flight.

 

[jennysdcc]

Hey hey running royals!

Only 7 days until the Expo!!

I won’t be getting in until late Friday night so I’ll be missing out on Expo shopping - I hope everyone posts their hauls so I can live vicariously through you since I expect pickings will be SLIM come Saturday lol!

 

[bumbershoot]

Does anyone have any tips on going to bed early?

I'm bringing some melatonin that was prescribed for my son's ADHD.

Anything else?

Have you taken melatonin before? If not, try it between now and the events.

I personally react terribly to it. Massive, huge technicolor dreams (and I tend to dream dramatically anyway). And it's best if I'm doing my best to sleep like an adult; proper bedtime, proper wake time...

L-theanine gets me to sleep, though. Ooh I should pick some up.

I'm on the west coast, so going to sleep at 7 is really 4 for my body.

Should I drink my coffee at that early hour? I normally have my first cup of coffee within 15 minutes of waking up.

If your body has certain reactions to coffee, make sure you have time for the bathroom. You don't want to be on the bus when the coffee hits LOL.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I am coming from mountain time.... so I will already have a 2 hour different... my plan is to take nyquil, but the stuff just for sleep. I use that when I need to sleep really early. We shall see if it works. Disney excitement keeps me up.