Planned on a 114mi ride + 4 mi brick today. Nothing I haven’t done before, but previous workouts have been in low 80’s and mostly cloudy. Today it was 90, kinda humid, and bright and sunny. Thought it would be good training as my last workout before IMLOU, but I finished the ride absolutely cooked and couldn’t resist skipping the run. Rushed into a cold shower before passing out in bed - I didn’t even have the will to at least eat before passing out! On the ride I went through about 1.5 times the amount of fluids I usually do, nutrition and hydration felt ok, but my head was just throbbing from the temps.
As I understand, 90* is a conservative estimate for what Louisville has in store, so now in addition to being 10 shades more tan I’m also 10 times more worried about the heat. Is there anything I can/should be doing during my taper for this?
Relax, get hydrated and do NOT let this ride get in your head. You may want to look at your pacing and dial it back a bit for your race if the temps are high but if you have done the training you will be fine as long as you don’t have a mental let down. Oh and wear sun screen
- don’t read too much into 1 ride
- be a slower hokie
- if conditions are like this race day slow way down
same thing happened to me in WI yesterday. 110/5 brick became 95 ride and major recovery from heat and wind and dehydration. After 30 minutes and some cold shower and water I felt better and my legs were fine. 16 run this am…
IM is a long day; adjust for conditions…
The heat whooped up on me quite a bit last weekend at Ultramax KS- much hotter than my last long training ride the week before.
like others said:
- slow down- start the run fresh, and keep it easy.
- hydrate steadily- no big deluge of fluids to catch up, as you’ll just end up worse off
- sunscreen!!! apply early and often- make sure you ask the volunteers to hit under the edge of your tri top- the aero position will expose more skin, and you end up w/ these painful “burn wings”
- keep motivated w/ thoughts of Va Tech kicking the shit out of Alabama at the season opener!
Nope, nothing you can do now. It is gonna be 100 F race day. Bike much slower!
youll be tougher next time thanks to today
spend lots of time in the heat
learn to love it
slow down, there’s strict physiological limits when it comes to body temp, don’t try to defeat them on race day.
I agree with Jackmott, your body has limits. Once you go over the edge with heat it can have very bad consequences. It is not like bonking where you can back off eat some food and be back in the race in 20-30 min.
Once you go over your body’s temp, it can no longer regulate normally the only solution at that point is to stop and get your core temp down with an ice bath.
If you have not trained in heat then do not expect to go jut as fast in hot conditions. A recipe for disaster. You can end up with heat exhaustion/stroke
Read this http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heatillness.html
Like others have said, don’t get hung up on one ride. Learn from it though. How long ago was your last long ride/run in proximity to this one? Have you been cramming them closer together with the race only being a few weeks out, and this one may have put you over the top?
If it makes you feel any better, I bailed on my workout today too. It was supposed to be my last long ride for IMC, and I planned on doing 120+, but cut it off at about 108. I was trying out an 11-28 cassette, and I purposely hit as many hills and climbs as I could, but after about the 4th hour, I was cooked so I changed directions and made my way home. It happens.
During the race pour water on your head and back and put ice down the back of your jersey at aid stations to aid the cooling. Plus follow the above advices.
You don’t mention electrolytes. You need more than just water, you need to replace the salts you are using.
We had 2 very long, very hot days last weekend and CaptainCanada was out in it for 10 hours each day. Day 1, not enough electrolytes. Incredible painful cramping, exhaustion, headache, overheated, etc. Day 2, very regular on electrolytes, no cramping and felt much better coming off a 170 mile ride.
You’ve gotten advice on keeping cool but you need to be sure you are replacing your electrolytes too. I use S!Caps and they work great.
During the race pour water on your head and back and put ice down the back of your jersey at aid stations to aid the cooling. Plus follow the above advices.
- Forgot about this, but used it last weekend- wear a jersey that has pockets on left and right, not just one in the center. Put ice in those pockets- lots of blood flow to the kidneys, good way to bring the temp down.
Yea, I’m drinking gatorade endurance and didn’t have problems with cramping, I feel my electrolytes were fine. I was probably pushing too hard to try and match my previous training paces, it quickly fried me out.
I’ll definitely use the ice+water cooling ideas at the race, I just didn’t have the water to spare on a training ride to soak myself. I’m going to Las Vegas this week for business, maybe I’ll get my fill of the heat there…
I hear you!! On my last big prep ride before Timberman next weekend I set out on a very hilly 80km ride in plus 90 and very humid conditions. Its a 20km loop so was planning on doing four. The first two were exactley the same speed and then I started to struggle towards the end of loop 3 and came in 90 seconds slower and then the end came quickly as I totally collapsed 5 km into the last loop and barely made it home to sit in the ice bath and take in my fluids. Humbling to say the least.
Living in the Arizona desert, you quickly learn where all the convinience stores, drinking fountains and parks! : )
That was me last weekend ( I live here in L’ville)- 114 miles and I bonked big time 1 1/2 miles from home. I almost called the Gf to come pick me up ( had a run scheduled after but didn’t do it)- it was very ugly. Yesterday’s ride got tough at the end- I did do the run though. Here’s the deal - today wasn’t IM day. Today made you more aclamated to the temps. Personally, if it’s this hot race day, I’m adjusting my bike effort so I don’t flame out early.
Put ice in those pockets
I never thought of that…brilliant!
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-Reduce bike effort
-Reduce caloric intake
-Increase fluid intake
-Wear strong sun screen - sunburn inhibits the body’s cooling ability
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