So been out here getting killed on my training runs in this Florida heat. Wanted to know if the feeling of dry heat is different. Never raced in a desert so not sure how my body is gonna react, so seeing what others think.
It’s very different.
I live outside of Jacksonville a couple miles from the ocean. Prior to this I was in the Houston area. Very hot and humid in both places.
My one and only DNF was in Whistler the year it got up to 90 degrees. I didn’t realize how hot I was because I wasn’t a dripping disgusting sweaty mess like I would have been in FL or Gulf Coast TX. I got behind on my hydration and nutrition. I ended up totally cramping and could not shake the leg cramps. Tapped out about 10k into the run.
Just stick to a hydration and nutrition schedule to be sure you’re getting your liquids and electrolytes. Set alarms or whatever.
Humidity does one thing (mostly). If prevents or slows the speed at which your sweat evaporates. Sweat evaporating is what allows your body to keep cool. Drying sweat can draw a lot of excess heat from your body.
Dry heat can of course be equally hot, but your body can keep much cooler because sweating (and the cooling effect) is far more effective.
If the temps and solar loads are identical, you are going to get better exercise performance in dryer conditions (all other thing being equal of course).
Yea I drink every 5 minutes. I have 2, 1 liter bottles and one aero bottle. I normally grab a water bottle on the last two aids and chug as much as I can then toss it. Has worked for me in training and the one 70.3 I did which was gulf coast but it was mild temps.
So been out here getting killed on my training runs in this Florida heat. Wanted to know if the feeling of dry heat is different. Never raced in a desert so not sure how my body is gonna react, so seeing what others think.
I grew up in Utah then moved to the South. I was working at a Scout camp in the Uintah mounts at 10,000+ feet above sea level before the move and thought that I would be running circles around my peers at sea level. That was NOT the case. Running in heat and humidity is much more difficult that running in dry heat at high elevation. I returned to the Rockies for college and would be in the South every summer running in the heat and humidity then back to 7,200 feet elevation in Laramie, Wy. It was always easier to go from the South to the elevation than it was from the Elevation to the humidity. I did IM Boulder 70.3 in 2018. That is an August race so I though it might be hot so I did 3-4 mile recovery runs at lunch 3 times a weeks in 100+ deg F heat. I had to do those runs at about 2:00 min/mi slower pace than my morning runs is the coolest part of the day. They we difficult but they got me ready for racing in August. At the finish line of the IM Boulder 70.3 a lot of people we complaining about how hot it was and them not being about to execute their race plan. I welcomed the heat and was able to plow right through it. If you can run in the hot Florida heat you will be well prepared for the dry heat in Utah.
So been out here getting killed on my training runs in this Florida heat. Wanted to know if the feeling of dry heat is different. Never raced in a desert so not sure how my body is gonna react, so seeing what others think.
It is much easier to run in dry heat than humid for a variety of reasons. However, as others have said, the thing that desert does is suck the water out of you and you can become very dehydrated very quickly.
The heat and humidity of Florida is the poor man’s elevation training. It will prep you to handle Utah heat just make sure to come with a plan for hydrating. The difference is noticeable. Nothing as suffocating as the humidity in Florida.
I lived in SoCal for 30 years and I can do Utah heat as long as I properly hydrate. I tried a long run in Tampa once in June and I had to cut out after 15 miles as I was starting to shiver. It’s a whole different thing.
I finished IM Cozumel and IM Arizona. I live in Chicagoland and midwestern summers are pretty humid and miserable.
I found IM Arizona a lot easier on the run 95+ degrees vs. IM Cozumel low-80s on the run.
With Arizona you don’t feel like you are sweating. Your face just turns white with the salt remnants of the water evaporation.
Btw I’m generally a heavy sweater and I am definitely a better cold weather runner.
As long as you hydrate well you should be okay.
It’s very different.
I live outside of Jacksonville a couple miles from the ocean. Prior to this I was in the Houston area. Very hot and humid in both places.
My one and only DNF was in Whistler the year it got up to 90 degrees. I didn’t realize how hot I was because I wasn’t a dripping disgusting sweaty mess like I would have been in FL or Gulf Coast TX. I got behind on my hydration and nutrition. I ended up totally cramping and could not shake the leg cramps. Tapped out about 10k into the run.
Just stick to a hydration and nutrition schedule to be sure you’re getting your liquids and electrolytes. Set alarms or whatever.
Bingo! This is a super common experience among folks who move to a hot dry environment from hot & humid or even moderate temp and mildly humid place.
In humidity, you know you’re sweating heavily. You act accordingly.
In dry heat, you don’t feel like you’re sweating heavily, until you feel your skin and it’s crusty from salt. Way too late, of course.
You actually do sweat more in hot & humid, and thermoregulation is actually *more *challenged in hot & humid environments, than hot & dry. But…
Being from a relatively humid, or even average humidity place, and then going to a very dry place is a recipe for underestimating sweat rate. We non-arid dwellers can typically rely on how much sweat is on our skin as some indicator of how heavily we’re sweating. Not at all the case when it’s >90 F and 18% humidity. You’ll evaporate 2 L per hour of sweat, easily, before it ever drips off you.
Even if it is slightly reduced in the drier environment, folks from non-arid climates tend to under hydrate on first arrival. Compound this with altitudes slight dehydrating effect and reduced exercise capacity and you can be in for a world of hurt!
I live in SC and run with a Camelbak outside. I sweat a lot.
I live in Central Florida. Before my last Ironman, 2019, one of my long runs was during a 3 day stay in Colorado. I thought this loop around a national park was about 12 miles. It ended up being 23 and I absolutely loved every mile of it. I grabbed water at the stops on the trail. Much MUCH different than our miserable heat/humidity. My wife rides next to me here. Her gravel bike holds 4 bottles. We also refill along the way since I use one or two to rinse the sweat off and cool my head.
The heat and humidity in Arkansas is brutal now. I have trained in CO and in the Middle East, which is even more extreme, but not at bad as a hot and humid environment. Like everyone else has said you don’t notice sweat loss as much in dry heat. In the crazy sun of the Middle East your sweat evaporates so fast that it feels like your not sweating at all and that is dangerous. You have to drink more than you think you do.
The key number to look at is dew point. At 64 and above your sweat will not evaporate and your bodies ability to cool itself decreases rapidly.
I live in Tucson. We had an exceedingly hot early summer and an exceedingly wet late summer.
I also spent time in Georgia and Florida this year.
Here are my thoughts on heat.
Heat is either negotiable or non-negotiable.
Dry heat has the quality of being negotiable up to fairly high temperatures.
Being wet, well hydrated, in the shade, in a breeze- you can perform decently up to fairly high temperatures.
When you start removing these modifications, however, heat can become unmanageable even at lower temperatures.
70.3 St. George will have the following advantages:
- The high temperatures of the day might not be reached until well after our races are done.
- It will be mid September. The sun is much brighter in April, May, June, July and August.
- Plenty of opportunities to stay hydrated and moist.
- Nice breezes…
As for humid heat.
I see it as being non-negotiable.
Being moist, well hydrated, in a breeze, even in the shade---- these things only help a little.
The bottom line is - you have to make less heat.
This will usually mean you can ONLY go slow.
Non-negotiable…
One extreme I have noticed is swimming in hot water. My local swimming pools have been in the 90s since June.
My body permits me to swim very slow, with frequent cooling breaks. No other type of swimming is possible. My body refuses to negotiate.
Thanks guys and gals for the reply’s. Been struggling these past couple weeks due to having to train later in the day and was getting down on myself a little. At first I was just gonna do this race for the experience but it’s not in my nature so set my A,B,and C goals like normal.