A few I know/will try.
Hat for ice/water
Cooling sleeves
Ziplock to go down suit with ice
Carrying a bottle on the run (maybe)
Frozen bottles for the bike
What else you got?
Acclimate, acclimate, acclimate. There is no substitute. If you don’t have actual hot conditions for training, make them for your indoor trainer.
Prepare: train in the heat, sauna after workouts, bath protocols
Execute: slow down, once you overheat its too late, HR is king, you will push lower power:HR
.
Follow a heat acclimation protocol like this one:
https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/freetrainingtips/improve-triathlon-performance-in-the-heat-with-the-sauna-protocol-heat-acclimation-training
Have used it for my last 3 races, but only 1 ended up being hot. I was surprised how well I was able to tolerate the heat. I normally don’t tolerate heat well. For the races that ended up being cooler, I thought it still helped, at least mentally.
A few I know/will try.
Hat for ice/water
Cooling sleeves
Ziplock to go down suit with ice
Carrying a bottle on the run (maybe)
Frozen bottles for the bike
What else you got?
Go slower.
Heat index is 100 around me right now and the next 10 days or so. I ran 8 miles this morning in 77 and it felt cool.
race isnt until end of September so it may be cooler by me by then, but will still likely get some hot days.
I did the sauna protocol a few times with good success.
Instead of Ziplock bag of ice, try panty hose. This allows the water to drain out, cooling more of your body as it flows down and reduces the weight you carry as it melts.
If you take a bottle on the run (I carry a 24oz/750ml even for Oly length), be sure to test carrying it. There are a number of different belts or hand-only methods. Some may work well for you, others not. Personally, I find carrying it like a running back carries the ball works best for me (someone else suggested it to me), but I do have to watch out about the bottle rubbing on my Garmin HR strap (at the connection). That easily rubs a sore on me if I’m not careful.
Light colored clothes - hat, kit, everything (even shoes).
I’m sure you’ve considered your pace adjustment for the run. I’ve seen several tables with guidelines for adjusting your pace (here’s one: https://runnersconnect.net/dew-point-effect-running/). You can test the personal effect on you with these guidelines. I run and bike in the heat half the year here in Houston. One thing for sure, once you overheat you’re done and it hits with little warning. I’ve been at mile 7 or 8 in a 70.3 run feeling pretty good, and then by the end of the mile I was cooked - and I’ve done it too many times (slow learner). It’s a whole lot better to go out slow and finish strong than to stop for 10 minutes to cool down enough just to finish at a much slower pace. Personally, my failures in the run have more often been because of overheating (and in the summer I train in +105f often) than bonking or blowing up, because I went too hard on the bike or too hard early in the run.
You’re racing against people, not time. Set your goals based on the position your want to finish and not a time-based goal. Look at the results and weather for previous years and set your goals based on that. For example, if you want a top-10 in your AG, if the run pace is x:xx/mile for that position and you normally run x:xx-:30/mile, don’t go in thinking you’ll run x:xx-:30/mile. You won’t need to. Run x:xx and finish strong.
Follow a heat acclimation protocol like this one:
https://www.purplepatchfitness.com/...acclimation-training
THIS!! It is the goal standard. All of the other things mentioned are great, but this REALLY works.
On fluids - figure out how much you can process. Test this over and over until you get it right. It doesn’t matter if you sweat X if you can only process Y. Get a tri suit with lots of pockets and stuff it with ice! Head, neck, crotch are the best areas.
Accept that slower might be faster competitively.
Survive the day and celebrate!!
Thanks for your thoughts on looking at previous run times. I had done that a little before, but not as closely as just now.
The run times are much slower than I would think for top 5 finishers in AG. In fairness, Chatty is hilly and hot. But I am going to adjust my run goal time to be less aggressive.
Stop at aid stations and stuff ice into those cooling sleeves. On the run, grab some ice in your hands and just squeeze until it melts. Cool the blood as it flows by.
Acclimate, acclimate, acclimate. There is no substitute. If you don’t have actual hot conditions for training, make them for your indoor trainer.
A friend of mine trained for Badwater by putting a treadmill in a sauna (or built a sauna around her treadmill; I forget which, exactly)
She finished both times she was entered
Prepare: train in the heat, sauna after workouts, bath protocols
Execute: slow down, once you overheat its too late, HR is king, you will push lower power:HR
^^^^^^This.
Race on HR, not power. The power/pace may seem too slow, but that’s what your body is capable of in those conditions. As mentioned, once your core gets too hot it’s very hard to come back.
Prepare: train in the heat, sauna after workouts, bath protocols
Execute: slow down, once you overheat its too late, HR is king, you will push lower power:HRI am the most unorganized person when it comes to training, but the bolded is key.
I do this crap all the time, even today. It was supposed to be a cooler day today than any in the previous week, so I planned a ride. Initially, it was only going to be about 35-40 miles, but I made the decision on the fly to stretch it out to 56. I had hydrated and brought plenty of water for a 35-40 mile ride. Still had a little water left over at the end of 56, but I was already in a dehydrated state. Fortunately, I did not have anything else planned today. That’s a good thing because I’ve only recovered enough in just the last hour or so that I can walk around for 10-15 minutes without feeling exhausted.
This is timely as I’m doing an oly distance race this coming sunday in Virginia. The high temp for that day will be 95 degrees with a dewpoint that will vary between 70-72 during the race. Trying to figure out how hard I push the swim and bike to get to the run as early as possible. Looks like I’ll have to back off between 10-12% on my typical 10k pace regardless though.
This seems backwards to me. Figure out how easy, not hard, you can go to save yourself for the run. If you push even a little too hard on either the swim or bike, you will be disappointed in your run and overall race (IMHO).
This seems backwards to me. Figure out how easy, not hard, you can go to save yourself for the run. If you push even a little too hard on either the swim or bike, you will be disappointed in your run and overall race (IMHO).
this is great advice–
exactly what I did in my last HIM race when everyone else pushed and I went by them all and won my AG on an unexpectedly hot day…
edited to add:
and I had 2 ziplock bags with me that I filled at the ice stations and had one on my back and one down my front-drank the iced water once it melted–
OMG, so good
Love the pantyhose idea.
Know of any racing tops/compression singlets? I was thinking of changing into running clothes and not running in trisuit.
I cant seem to find too many that would be tight enough to hold in ice in a bag or pantyhose.
Ice in your hands. leave every aid station on the run with a handful of ice, if available. Believe it or not, cooling the hands and feet is the most effective way to cool your core while racing, carrying ice in your hands makes you feel cooler than putting it in your hat or anywhere else.
I’m naturally adapted to hot and hate cold, so I’ve never used ice on a run or bike - it’s TOO cold against my skin. The panty hose idea comes from my son-in-law, who is the opposite of me when it comes to temps. What he does is load the ice and then tie the end. He drapes it around the back of his neck, with no ice on his neck and ice draped on both sides of his chest, inside his shirt. He doesn’t stuff the panty hose full. It kind of lays flat, not rounded. He can untie and refill at aid stations as needed.
Does this describe it better?