I'm guessing you listened to an ITU podcast of USAT athletes where for the majority of the time they race in the mid afternoon race times. In that instance we've (coaches and federations) been using those for years (I've had athletes iced vest up for "hot" races since '16) when the race is in hot conditions. But for 99% of most races you start at 7am and thus it's not hot enough nor is the body hot enough that it needs that cooling factor.

4pm race start in cozumel itu mexico, we had the guys and gals in ice vests all the way up until they walked to the starting line. But that's because it was what 98*+ at race start and in the warm up. We'd not be doing that if it was 72* at 7am because putting on a "ice" vest at that temp would be a bad idea for their core temp and ability to not be affected (IE shivering would burn a lot of energy).

This was the vest I have for athletes

https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

another more fun option is having a slushy / frozen drink leading up to the start. That will lower temps better than the majority of the vests out there.

Hyperkewl makes some cheap'ish ones that are alright, I have one I wear around the track on hot days before an event starts.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

On a sort of related note, would it be legal to wear a cooled vest that contains some longer-cooling gel than water for the first part of the run before it runs out of cooling ability? I've always wondered why I see no special cooling clothing aside from white arm coolers at Kona, yet everyone's complaining about heat, and stuffing ice into their jerseys all over the place.

I know there are some theories about how an ice-filled specially designed hat might actually hinder cooling for some weird heat regulatory reflex, but I'm unaware of any hard evidence on that speculative concept. I always wondered why they don't just make hats with ice pockets on them so pros can stick the ice in there.

Please educate me about my errant ideas on this!

Purely speculative but my guess is something like that in Kona for the run isn’t going to be cold for long and how do you keep it cold up to the race. If you leave it in transition it will be melted hours before the run starts and even if it was frozen when the run started, it would be fairly heavy and hinder performance while only providing cooling for a short period of time before your body heat/kona heat does it’s work.

Sounds pretty reasonable - I guess there's some rule that your coach can't suddenly drop a supercooled gel vest into T2 so you can get it when it still works?

How about those ice-holding hats? For sure somebody has tried this given that it's so obvious and debunked it, so please enlighten me!

I think it’s just that the current system doesn’t really have a need to be improved. Taking off the hat, throwing some ice in it and putting it back on every aid station with any old hat is pretty easy an effective. If you are running a decent pace any pocket would be more of a nuisance. My speed suit has an ice pocket at the neck but when I’m racing, I can’t for the life of me find a way to get it in there anyways lol

Fun fact / note. In an ITU elite event lets say you could actual put an vest on to actually cool before it melted....if you put it on in T2 (let's say for reference it hadn't melted yet).....you would have to serve an penalty before run finish for uniform violation.

The only way in an itu event you could wear the vest would be from start to finish + it would have to be lettered out with decals / name since that would then be the outermost "uniform".

ETA: On 2nd thought unless the vest didn't show your mid-drift at all, it would never be allowed. NVM

Ok now back to your regularly schedule discussion.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I've tried the ice-under-hat thing several times in very hot races (90+F, no shade whatsoever) and it worked terribly. The ice never stayed put - it pretty much slid out right away. I was dreaming of a hat with pockets to put the ice during the race! (I put like 2 cups of ice down my trisuit which ended up in my crotch area, which apparently isn't such a bad thing given the vessels that run through there.)

The guys in ITU run too fast to need something like this and the races are short enough

I was thinking more for Kona IM specifically, or even HIM events that are really hot.

Recently was listening to a podcast that touched on how USA olympic athletes train and wear an ice vest for an hour before a race and during warm up to cool their body temperature.


Dr. Trent Stellingwerth is a good friend and a consultant to Athletics Canada for World Championships and Olympic Teams. They have been doing extensive research and experimentation over the last few years, owing to a BIG increase in the money flowing into Heat Research because of the double whammy of the 2019 World Athletics World Championships in Doha, Qatar, and then the Olympic Games in Tokyo (very hot and humid there). Also - the 2022 FIFA World Cup is going to be Qatar. So all tolled - there has been a great deal of interest in the sports physiology community about how athletes can get ready for, and be at their best in hot and humid conditions.

Ice or Cooling Vests are part of a a whole routine of things that athletes will do to optimize the situation.

When I was doing the Announcing at the 20219 Canadian Track & Field Championships, in the 20km Race Walk Evan Dunfee, Canadian Champion, and the Bronze medalist in the 50km Racewalk in Doha World Championships, did the race with one of these bio-pills that he swallowed, before the race, and it was linked to an App, that was on Trent's phone and on each of the 2km laps that he came by the Start/Finish area, where I was standing with Trent, it gave a readout of Evan's Core Temp and some other data as well!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Oh I was just bringing up more of an "what if".


And that very issue has actually happened before. ITU swimmers thought they could wear a legal swim top thingy (cant remember the specifics of it). About 8 guys did it in a race and took it off in T1, made for the easiest penalty's for the officials.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Pro cyclists use nylons filled with ice to make little bags they stick in their jerseys. Once the ice melts you're just left with this tiny piece of stocking. They get them handed up from team cars during the race. Of course it's easier to have it stay put when you are cycling than during running.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

The ice vest might work if you could put it on for a few minutes at a crew accessible aid station where you plan to stay for a while to sit, eat and refill your bottles.

I have seen people use a hat that expands like Jiffy Pop to place ice in during hot ultra trail races. A lot of people stuff ice in their arm coolers, shirts or pants. I use a long sleeve De Soto Skin Cooler shirt and stuff ice in the pockets that run down the back in hot Ironmans and ultra trail races. You can refill at aid stations and it helps with cooling. To me it is a comfortable way to carry the ice on my body without having to wear a big hat or actually have the ice against my skin.
I have had a lot of people ask me where I got the shirt when they see how well the ice pockets work. Of course, all of the other tri geeks out there recognize the De Soto brand and give you an energy lifting fellow tri geek high five (pre pandemic).

I raced Augusta 70.3 in 2018 and 2019. Blazing hot run, high humidity, and no shade.

I found if I put my elastic race belt a tad higher up, just above my pelvis, all the ice I dumped in my suit would get held up by the race belt.

This was a good thing as the ice melted slower and when I wanted to, I could reach down and push the ice up some or just pull my race belt out and let some go towards my nether regions.

It worked really well. I actually still had solid ice in my suit when I crossed the finish in 2019.

If I can get a deal on one, I may get one for Zwift workouts. My only option is to have my setup in a 30" x 8' bifold clothes closet. Airflow is acceptable with my blower unit but I still get hot. No doubt this limits my capability to do higher power stuff repeatedly.

So, I may try one.

I've worn an evaporative cooling vest like the below in a few hot (non-humid) races. Works super well (don't feel hot during the race, and you're flying by people by the end of the run).


https://www.thewarmingstore.com/hyperkewl-cooling-vest.html