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Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming
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I just recently got back into cycling after a 2+ year hiatus and have noticed that I am sweating like crazy on hotter days especially on climbs when I speed is slower.

First of all let me clarify that my body composition is around the same as when I was doing triathlon competitively.....roughly 138-140 lbs at 5'6". So it's not like I am carrying a ton fo extra fat insulating.

I have been swimming around 100K per month pretty well every month since Dec 2015, so it's going on past 2.5 years. That's been my main exercise. I'm not doing any hot weather running in oppressive humity and heat anymore and no real trainer rides until quite recently.

In any case, when I was more of a runner (with the same body composition), I would just get instantly cold in most pools. Unless I was swimming hard, I'd freeze. If I went to competition pools, I'd get close to hypothermic if I tried easy swims. They all needed to be hard. In warmer pools I could do easy swims, but only so long.

Fast forward 2.5 years, I don't get cold as easily in pools. I have been chalking it up to actually doing much harder swim sets, focusing on IM and fly training and since it's my main workout I am doing the swims harder than when I mainly ran and biked.

But last month I started some good riding. I was on a hiatus from riding due to disc issues. While they have not cleared up, I can ride now on smooth roads and am getting back control over my left leg. My sessions on the trainer suggest that I am generally riding at the watts I used to previously, maybe a tad less. So it's not like I am producing a large amount of watts at higher weight creating way more heat. If anything I am probably riding at 90-95% of the former wattages.

So my only thought is that with all this swimming in a cold environment, my body has started adapting to generating more heat for the same/similar workload just to stay warm but now that I am doing other forms of exercise it's poorly adapted for environments with less cooling.

For the swimmers around here, have you experienced any of this.

Of note, when I used to return from Kona or St. Croix, and get on the trainer, I would barely sweat for 2-3 weeks even if I did reasonably high watts....then it would be back to normal sweat rates.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Heat acclimation comes and goes pretty quick. I go through the same thing every spring, here in Texas. It takes about 2 weeks with 30-60 minutes of heat exposed exercise a day. Running seems more effective than cycling to me. Maybe that's because of the lower comparative cooling effect. I always make it a point of getting out in the heat as soon as it starts warming up.

Initially I feel like im sweating like a pig, and it burns my eyes. After a couple weeks, the sweating seems more controlled, and it doesn't sting even at the end of an hour. I also notice I gain a couple pounds (plasma volume) during that time.

I also notice that it goes away pretty fast. I spent 10 days in Colorado on vacation two weeks ago. I think the high while we where there was 76, and my average workout temp was like 66 or so. I came home and I was down 4 lbs... And my sweat was back to burning my eyes. Also, I really noticed the oppression from the heat...even in the mornings. 10 more days later... Pretty much back to normal. I'm back up 3 lbs.

One Texan's experience.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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What is interesting is that i would spend winters when I would XC ski in a cold environment, but I would also be running both outside and on the treadmill. But even training outside in really really cold weather, when you are bundled up, you get your core pretty warm from all those clothes. In the pool, its constant cooling.

Its been a month since getting back on the bike and I am still sweating a lot and as you said, there is still a lot of cooling. Even on hills nearby, I may drop down to 10-12 kph at times, which is running speed, but its not continuous like a full run. I don't think without running I can become as heat efficient as I used to be.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
In the pool, its constant cooling.

You should see the looks I get on Friday evenings, after D'Wife & I have had our weekly swim date, and I walk into the pizza shop to pick up our "large white, spinach and tomato, light garlic, please" wearing a hoodie when it's 90+ degrees out

When the meets are on TV, I can totally understand why the pros wear parkas on the pool deck

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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Tom_hampton wrote:
Heat acclimation comes and goes pretty quick. I go through the same thing every spring, here in Texas. It takes about 2 weeks with 30-60 minutes of heat exposed exercise a day. Running seems more effective than cycling to me. Maybe that's because of the lower comparative cooling effect. I always make it a point of getting out in the heat as soon as it starts warming up.

Initially I feel like im sweating like a pig, and it burns my eyes. After a couple weeks, the sweating seems more controlled, and it doesn't sting even at the end of an hour. I also notice I gain a couple pounds (plasma volume) during that time.

I also notice that it goes away pretty fast. I spent 10 days in Colorado on vacation two weeks ago. I think the high while we where there was 76, and my average workout temp was like 66 or so. I came home and I was down 4 lbs... And my sweat was back to burning my eyes. Also, I really noticed the oppression from the heat...even in the mornings. 10 more days later... Pretty much back to normal. I'm back up 3 lbs.

One Texan's experience.

^^^^
This
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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My experience is that the heat index needs to exceed 95f, or better 100, to cancel out the cooling effects of cycling at speed. Below that and I'm totally comfortable. Running thresholds are a good 10-15f cooler than that. So 85-90f heat index trips the "ugh its hot" threshold.

I haven't ever done the math to see if those numbers jive with physics... So, again just one Texan's experience.

I've run at noon 4-6x per week, in Dallas, all summer long.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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it's more individual Tom-95 is just your number...

everyone has a 'set point' and the overall picture of heat acclimation is much as you described
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, this one falls into the ‘easy come easy go’ category.

_______________________________________________
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [dtoce] [ In reply to ]
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dtoce wrote:
Tom_hampton wrote:
Heat acclimation comes and goes pretty quick. I go through the same thing every spring, here in Texas. It takes about 2 weeks with 30-60 minutes of heat exposed exercise a day. Running seems more effective than cycling to me. Maybe that's because of the lower comparative cooling effect. I always make it a point of getting out in the heat as soon as it starts warming up.

Initially I feel like im sweating like a pig, and it burns my eyes. After a couple weeks, the sweating seems more controlled, and it doesn't sting even at the end of an hour. I also notice I gain a couple pounds (plasma volume) during that time.

I also notice that it goes away pretty fast. I spent 10 days in Colorado on vacation two weeks ago. I think the high while we where there was 76, and my average workout temp was like 66 or so. I came home and I was down 4 lbs... And my sweat was back to burning my eyes. Also, I really noticed the oppression from the heat...even in the mornings. 10 more days later... Pretty much back to normal. I'm back up 3 lbs.

One Texan's experience.


^^^^
This

Yeah, but I think what you guys are missing is that even living in cold Canada, when I was running I could get on a plane from here to St. Croix or Kona and perform in the heat better than most people from Florida or Texas....but that's when I was running which is almost constant heat training no matter where you live. Even when you live somewhere cold in the winter, you have to put on so many clothes just to survive the first part of your run that your core quickly heats up. This almost never happens while cycling and never while swimming. Without running or constantly sitting on a trainer wiht no fan, I don't think I am getting exposed to enough heating....and all the swimming may be flipping it the other way, where my body is wanting to generate more heat than normal just to remain comfortable in cold water.


Running in some ways is constant heat training, its just degrees of heat training. Air speeds are low meaning less cooling and its easy to work at high cardio load. I think with a few years of sporadic to zero running and lots of swimming my body is missing the running just for the heat training side.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Just get out and ride. If you’re hot, take in plenty of fluids, salt, electrolytes, and ease into it. Do shorter rides with proper hydration and nutrition. I rode 42 miles today. I had a huge climb near the end in BFE 30 minutes from civilization, had run out of fluids and the heat index was 94. It sucked, but the body is used to it. You just have to give it time to acclimate again.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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I'm not missing that aspect. I'm just not aware of a long term anti-heat adaptation associated with swimming/lack of heat exposure.

Everything I've read, and experienced says it comes and goes quickly. So, while you may not be getting much heat exposure (elevated core temps), once you do... The adaptations will occur quickly.

I'm in sort of the opposite boat as you right now.... I'm trying to decide how quickly to transition from heat exposure to training in the cool. When I run in the cool, I'm a good 60s per mile faster... I dont want to wait until fall to begin adapting to that faster pace. It's a different aspect of the same problem.... But, my A race is in late October.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]
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Tom_hampton wrote:
I'm not missing that aspect. I'm just not aware of a long term anti-heat adaptation associated with swimming/lack of heat exposure.

Everything I've read, and experienced says it comes and goes quickly. So, while you may not be getting much heat exposure (elevated core temps), once you do... The adaptations will occur quickly.

I'm in sort of the opposite boat as you right now.... I'm trying to decide how quickly to transition from heat exposure to training in the cool. When I run in the cool, I'm a good 60s per mile faster... I dont want to wait until fall to begin adapting to that faster pace. It's a different aspect of the same problem.... But, my A race is in late October.

There were a few studies and I can't quote any, but some guys on ST pointed to a few that showed some good cardio adaptations that came from heat training vs at higher load....that's all well and good until you race in the cooler race for running and suddenly you can run faster at the same cardio load. Except your mechanical load goes up so your quads CAN get pounded worse. Same problem as the guys coming down from altitude for running. It can be a challenge. So I hear what you are saying. Why not do some cooler runs in air conditioning so you jack up the mechanical load. When I used to travel a lot to Taiwan and Japan in the summer, I would cut my runs short outdoors and return to the hotel and get on the treadmill and do the quality work on the treadmill. Running with a jacked up heart rate at barely faster than a shuffle/walk did not really feel that productive!!!!
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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That's exactly what I've started doing---my medium runs on the treadmill with a big fan, and let the pace drift up comfortably.

Just trying to balance that with enough heat exposure to maintain the positive benefits you mention. I'm also prone to running injury (the BarryP plan has been a miracle for that) so I need to be gradual in applying the elevated pace.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [RandMart] [ In reply to ]
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RandMart wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
In the pool, its constant cooling.

You should see the looks I get on Friday evenings, after D'Wife & I have had our weekly swim date, and I walk into the pizza shop to pick up our "large white, spinach and tomato, light garlic, please" wearing a hoodie when it's 90+ degrees out

Ha! This is me. I always wear the hoodie. Last week, it was 85 degrees outside and I turned the heater on in the car after my swim. It takes me a while to get the cold out after a swim
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Spartan420] [ In reply to ]
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Spartan420 wrote:
RandMart wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
In the pool, its constant cooling.

You should see the looks I get on Friday evenings, after D'Wife & I have had our weekly swim date, and I walk into the pizza shop to pick up our "large white, spinach and tomato, light garlic, please" wearing a hoodie when it's 90+ degrees out

Ha! This is me. I always wear the hoodie. Last week, it was 85 degrees outside and I turned the heater on in the car after my swim. It takes me a while to get the cold out after a swim

Me too, I turn the heater on 30c in the car for the drive home, take ages to warm up after a swim.

I think your body adapts to the cold, I swim outdoors and cope better by the end of winter in 23-24c water.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [TriguyBlue] [ In reply to ]
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TriguyBlue wrote:
Spartan420 wrote:
RandMart wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
In the pool, its constant cooling.


You should see the looks I get on Friday evenings, after D'Wife & I have had our weekly swim date, and I walk into the pizza shop to pick up our "large white, spinach and tomato, light garlic, please" wearing a hoodie when it's 90+ degrees out


Ha! This is me. I always wear the hoodie. Last week, it was 85 degrees outside and I turned the heater on in the car after my swim. It takes me a while to get the cold out after a swim


Me too, I turn the heater on 30c in the car for the drive home, take ages to warm up after a swim.

I think your body adapts to the cold, I swim outdoors and cope better by the end of winter in 23-24c water.

OK so I'm not the only idiot who has been turning on the heater and the heated seats after a long swim when it is 34C outside. I literally feel like I need to convert my car into a sauna before heading back to the office. I have found I am also jacking up the heat to full force BEFORE swims so that I am really hot before to deal with the cold water!
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [RandMart] [ In reply to ]
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RandMart wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
In the pool, its constant cooling.

You should see the looks I get on Friday evenings, after D'Wife & I have had our weekly swim date, and I walk into the pizza shop to pick up our "large white, spinach and tomato, light garlic, please" wearing a hoodie when it's 90+ degrees out

When the meets are on TV, I can totally understand why the pros wear parkas on the pool deck

Total opposite of me. After a good swim workout I produce heat for hours. Shorts and sandals even when it is cool out.
At a meet the parka is to keep warmth from warming up and to be ready and warm to work in the race.
Could be more pure swimmer, slightly padded body vs runner/triathlete body with no fat at all.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Rumpled] [ In reply to ]
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I'm 63kg with veins sticking out everywhere.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [TriguyBlue] [ In reply to ]
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TriguyBlue wrote:
I'm 63kg with veins sticking out everywhere.

Awesome! Exact same here. We seem to be identical.
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Re: Did I Lose My Heat Tolerance from all this Swimming [Spartan420] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, as no-one mentioned, the simple solution (though I presume you would have thought of this yourself) would be to wear your wetsuit more in the pool. a) you would have a layer between you and the cold water b) you would have the added insulation to effectively raise the temperature of the water. If it is too hot, then if you have a DeSoto T1, you could rotate between no wetuist, full wetsuit, top half only (plus trunks ;-)), bottom half only.
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