How much sleep is needed to train properly for a marathon?

How much sleep is needed to train properly for a marathon?

Pat Connelly (Running Coach for LA Roadrunners and Valencia High School) gives expert video advice on: What is the best surface on which to run?; Is it better to train in the morning or afternoon?; How much sleep is needed to train properly for a marathon? and more...

Some people need less sleep than others, but as a rule, normally, you need if you are going to be working a full day work or going to a school full time, handling home responsibilities and then going out and running for an hour or two hours, then your body needs a proper rest cycle to rebuild all of those cells that you have torn down, and so that's usually about 8 hours to rebuild all those cells. What happens if you don't understand: If I tear down 5 million cells in a day and I sleep for 6 hours and replenish only 3, I made a 2 million deficit, right? If I continue that for several days, I am going to fall into a valley and be tired, flat legs, and not really mentally spontaneous towards running and so rest gives you an opportunity to build everything that you have torn down.