Just been watching the Hyvee ITU world cup coverage on NBC (Pretty good coverage i might add too) and I noticed only one of the athletes wore any kind of head gear on the run. Not sure what the weather temps were exactly but it was certainly sunny and I am guessing it was pretty damn hot and humid.
So my question is, what do they know that 99% of us age groupers don't? Is there a point where humidity reaches a certain level that wearing a hat simply retains hot water and hence offsets the benefit if the shade it provides? Personally for long course triathlon I get a lot of cooling benefit from putting ice in my hat but perhaps in a short course tri when ice is less likely to be in abundance (and you aren't willing to slow down too much at an aid station) the "no hat" option allows greater heat loss?
As a side note, I recall PNF, Babbit, Huddle, Welsh etc being stunned to see Chrissie Wellington not wearing any kind of head gear during the Kona coverage on Ironman.com last year...
So my question is, what do they know that 99% of us age groupers don't? Is there a point where humidity reaches a certain level that wearing a hat simply retains hot water and hence offsets the benefit if the shade it provides? Personally for long course triathlon I get a lot of cooling benefit from putting ice in my hat but perhaps in a short course tri when ice is less likely to be in abundance (and you aren't willing to slow down too much at an aid station) the "no hat" option allows greater heat loss?
As a side note, I recall PNF, Babbit, Huddle, Welsh etc being stunned to see Chrissie Wellington not wearing any kind of head gear during the Kona coverage on Ironman.com last year...
