Sleep is essential for every endurance athlete to feel restored and perform well the following day. During sleep, endurance athletes allow their hearts to rest and their cells and tissues to repair, recovering from physical exertion and promoting cardiovascular health.

Only a few endurance athletes face so many demanding conditions as long-distance skiers do. Both professional and recreational skiers must ski for hours, many times mainly using their arms strength along the way, enduring across long and steep mountains or cold forests.

Quality sleeping is essential for long-distance skiers to be able to face these tough conditions all over the winter. Both increased quantity and quality help long-distance skiers to improve performance related to long-distance skiing events.

Sleeping an average of 10 hours a night helps skiers become faster, have quicker reaction times during turns, and help the body memorize the effects of training. Also, it helps to keep a good mood and motivation to train day after day.

On the other hand, lack of quantity and quality of sleep hurts the performance of long-distance skiers. It reduces the ability to react quickly and think clearly and increases the chances of illness.

But how much value do elite athletes give to the power of sleep?

According to an earlier interview with Anikken Gjerde Alnæs, Team Ragde Charge, lack of sleep has a negative impact on her performance. “I need a lot of sleep,” said Anikken and added: 

“Ideally, I need to sleep 9 hours a night. But there are periods in which I need to sleep more or fewer hours, depending on my training load and training cycle. But one thing is certain: lack of sleep makes me feel off and affects my performance.”

For Øyvind Moen Fjeld, a former long-distance skier, quality and quantity of sleep are essential to recovery. 

“Sleep is very important; it is the most important part of recovery. It needs to be prioritized and become one of the main parts of the job as a skier. When you lack sleep, you feel more tired, and the training effect is limited. Sleeping bad one or two nights in a row is not a problem if your overall sleeping pattern is good,” and added: 

“You must remember that sleeping is like training; you see the effects over a long period. While competing, I had several nights before the race where I hardly slept, but I was feeling good the next day.”

How should elite and recreational athletes develop their sleep hygiene to improve their performance? Some tips are creating a nice environment, avoiding caffeine after lunch, and staying away from electronic devices before going to bed. It is also important to avoid overtraining, training too early or too late, and thinking about the competition at all when nighttime approaches.

With quality and quantity of sleep, elite and recreational athletes can more easily recover from long-distance ski training and competition challenges.

Are you interested in training for long-distance and traditional cross-country skiing? Click HERE and read more.