Heat Acclimation/Sweating

Triathlon Forum
1

I’ve got Eagleman coming up in June and for the past few weeks I’ve been trying to do a bit of heat acclimation. Coming from New England, I feel anything could help. I’ve done a weekly ride in a bathroom with the shower on and no fans. This morning was 1 hr 20 min and I went through 4 bottles of water. I weighed myself before and after the ride and I lost two pounds - if I factor in the water, that seems like a lot of water weight to sweat out. Does this seem normal?

In terms of effort, I’ve been shooting for around a HIM effort HR, but watts have come in at least 20% under what they’d be on race day at a similar effort. I’ve also been sitting in the steam room after each swim for 15-20 minutes.

By the way, the bathroom rides suck (but hope they’ll help a bit).

2

Search Sauna protocol (not steam!) - 7 days at 170 degrees for 30 minutes stopping 5 - 7 days before the race.

3

Just wondering, what is wrong with the steam room? Or, what makes it inferior to the sauna?

4

steam isn’t hot enough . . . only 110 - 115 or so. Sauna is 170+

5

steam isn’t hot enough . . . only 110 - 150 or so. Sauna is 170+

What about the humidity factor? My upcoming race will be very humid, and I was thinking the steam room may help in that regard. The temp in the steam room at the gym I go to is around 120 degrees.

6

steam isn’t hot enough . . . only 110 - 150 or so. Sauna is 170+

What about the humidity factor? My upcoming race will be very humid, and I was thinking the steam room may help in that regard. The temp in the steam room at the gym I go to is around 120 degrees.

Nate, I think if you just ride 2-3x per week on the trainer for 45-60 min with a section of that at 90-100% FTP (like 20-30 min of the total which will be hard to do), wiith no fan that should be enough. No need to reduce the quality of your training too much.

My understanding is that your body won’t know the diff between steam room at lower temp vs sauna at higher temp. They will have the same physiological affect. Probably the best thing you can do before a humid race is get as lean as possible. The leaner the better. If you can lose any layers of built in wetsuit, it will be a “win”.

I am not a big fan of losing too much training quality to acclimatize. Living in a cold place can be a training advantage due to the quality of training you can sustain. I have always been amazed by how well I have done in the spring in St. Croix keeping quality up and mainly focusing on getting lean and doing the no fan on trainer routine. All other training, full cooling.

7

Also can you find a really warm pool. If you do some super hard sets in a “hotter pool” I have found that to be really good for heat prep. On the surface it does not make a ton of sense, but really when you think about it, it can be additive to the overall heat training.

8

Be sure to hydrate and continue to hydrate after each session. My training partner had the pleasure of passing two kidney stones the week of the race (Gulf Coast). We can’t confirm the correlation, but he was a extremely dehydrated when admitted to the Hospital.

9

Re. 4 water bottles in 1:20, still lost 2lbs. For me, if those were standard size water bottles, that would be at about the limit of what I think I could process. If those were big water bottles, then I guess you sweated a helova lot and ended up a little dehydrated.

I don’t know what the science says re. how much water a trained endurance athlete can go thru under extreme conditions, but I live in the deep South (US) and during Summer rides I plan for a big water bottle every 30min. Because of the humidity, the fluids just pour off of you w/o doing much cooling. Going thru that much fluids, one has to pay attention to electrolytes too. Can’t just guzzle water.

I ran in college during the 80’s. During the hot afternoon runs in Aug and Sep, we could lose as much as 10lbs. That’s about 5qts. These days that would be understood as a real problem, but we were kids and didn’t know any better.

10

The goal is not the humidity but rather to stress the body systems to adapt physiologically. There are a number of studies out there (some conflict) but my experience (I’ve tried both) is that the high heat of the sauna produces better results.

11

Re. 4 water bottles in 1:20, still lost 2lbs. For me, if those were standard size water bottles, that would be at about the limit of what I think I could process. If those were big water bottles, then I guess you sweated a helova lot and ended up a little dehydrated.

I don’t know what the science says re. how much water a trained endurance athlete can go thru under extreme conditions, but I live in the deep South (US) and during Summer rides I plan for a big water bottle every 30min. Because of the humidity, the fluids just pour off of you w/o doing much cooling. Going thru that much fluids, one has to pay attention to electrolytes too. Can’t just guzzle water.

I ran in college during the 80’s. During the hot afternoon runs in Aug and Sep, we could lose as much as 10lbs. That’s about 5qts. These days that would be understood as a real problem, but we were kids and didn’t know any better.

I took two salt pills before the workout, a 20 oz Gatorade before and after the workout, and another two salt pills afterwards as well. Still a bit dehydrated as gauged by urine. Maybe I’ll just do a harder trainer ride instead of a ‘sweat fest’ next week.

To David on the sauna protocol - I only swim at the pool 2x a week, so 7 straight days won’t work - I guess I can switch to the sauna instead of the steam room for the next two weeks leading into Eagleman, with a week w/off before the race.

12

Heat acclimation occurs pretty quickly…2-3 weeks is sufficient…likewise the adaptations also decay quickly (but, slower than the acclimation). Thus there is little (if any) benefit to adapting early (and compromising training in the interim). The adaptations of hot/dry conditions are different than hot/humid conditions, so you should aim to mimic the conditions you will be competing in.

I agree with Dev, train like normal (which is also a weak acclimation stimulus), until a couple weeks out from the event to maximize your training quality, and overall performance potential. Then enter a focused heat-acclimation period.

See linked article below…which lists several protocol methods, and discusses hydration strategies, as well.

http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2015/06/11/bjsports-2015-094915

13

steam isn’t hot enough . . . only 110 - 150 or so. Sauna is 170+

What about the humidity factor? My upcoming race will be very humid, and I was thinking the steam room may help in that regard. The temp in the steam room at the gym I go to is around 120 degrees.

Nate, I think if you just ride 2-3x per week on the trainer for 45-60 min with a section of that at 90-100% FTP (like 20-30 min of the total which will be hard to do), wiith no fan that should be enough. No need to reduce the quality of your training too much.

My understanding is that your body won’t know the diff between steam room at lower temp vs sauna at higher temp. They will have the same physiological affect. Probably the best thing you can do before a humid race is get as lean as possible. The leaner the better. If you can lose any layers of built in wetsuit, it will be a “win”.

I am not a big fan of losing too much training quality to acclimatize. Living in a cold place can be a training advantage due to the quality of training you can sustain. I have always been amazed by how well I have done in the spring in St. Croix keeping quality up and mainly focusing on getting lean and doing the no fan on trainer routine. All other training, full cooling.

when doing heat acclimatation protocol… it is not needed to go as high as 90-100% of FTP to get the adapation…and you wont get more adaptation by going harder. 70-80% will get you there.

That said, for good adaptation… 10 days with some session daily is needed. There is many ways to do this, but essentially as long as core body temprature rise… it will work. You can bundle up on a run outside, run or bike inside in hot condition etc. 2-3 session a week is better than nothing but for individual that dont have natural disposition to performing in the heat… it simply wont work and daily session are needed. Those session dont need to be very long…40-60min is enough to provide adaptation

The other important aspect for the athlete is to be aware that performance will drop down at the beginning of the protocole…body will be very tired and heavy. that is very normal and something athletes need to go through

14

steam isn’t hot enough . . . only 110 - 150 or so. Sauna is 170+

What about the humidity factor? My upcoming race will be very humid, and I was thinking the steam room may help in that regard. The temp in the steam room at the gym I go to is around 120 degrees.

Nate, I think if you just ride 2-3x per week on the trainer for 45-60 min with a section of that at 90-100% FTP (like 20-30 min of the total which will be hard to do), wiith no fan that should be enough. No need to reduce the quality of your training too much.

My understanding is that your body won’t know the diff between steam room at lower temp vs sauna at higher temp. They will have the same physiological affect. Probably the best thing you can do before a humid race is get as lean as possible. The leaner the better. If you can lose any layers of built in wetsuit, it will be a “win”.

I am not a big fan of losing too much training quality to acclimatize. Living in a cold place can be a training advantage due to the quality of training you can sustain. I have always been amazed by how well I have done in the spring in St. Croix keeping quality up and mainly focusing on getting lean and doing the no fan on trainer routine. All other training, full cooling.

when doing heat acclimatation protocol… it is not needed to go as high as 90-100% of FTP to get the adapation…and you wont get more adaptation by going harder. 70-80% will get you there.

That said, for good adaptation… 10 days with some session daily is needed. There is many ways to do this, but essentially as long as core body temprature rise… it will work. You can bundle up on a run outside, run or bike inside in hot condition etc. 2-3 session a week is better than nothing but for individual that dont have natural disposition to performing in the heat… it simply wont work and daily session are needed. Those session dont need to be very long…40-60min is enough to provide adaptation

The other important aspect for the athlete is to be aware that performance will drop down at the beginning of the protocole…body will be very tired and heavy. that is very normal and something athletes need to go through

Jonathan, I was more focused on getting to most of the heat adaptation without sacrificing much training quality. It’s not really 100% heat adaptation approach, more along the lines of “a bit of both”. I think it is different if you are pro and looking for peak performance at an away event and have a ton of time to get the fitness in before getting into the heat prep phase. To my best understanding, that’s not Nate’s scenario.

15

i usually advice to start this process 2-3 weeks before the race so most of the fitness as been build already. We never do those session during the key weekly workout. we use the endurance/easier session to stress them with heat protocol.

Like Nate mention, RPE goes up really high…performance goes down (that s temporary) and lost of water and electrolyte might be very high at first. But if the athlete stick to it… within a few days…big changes will happen.

It s a balance as there is a cost to adapting to the heat in term of fatigue but i see it as much more important to be as well adapted as you can over gaining a few more % of fitness.

just me experience anyway on how to make white Canadian athletes running fast in hot races!!!

16

I think people try to get too cute with the sauna/steam regimen when trainer w/ no fan does magic. I sweat like crazy even when setting my 1BR apartment to 60 degrees. I lost 7 pounds last Saturday after 2 hours bike + 1 hour treadmill run with 4 water bottles and some nutrition. I under-fueled for sure, but it was a good learning experience. Next time, I will take much more water, salt, and cals. Good nutrition and gut practice as well since digestion works differently in the heat.

17

i usually advice to start this process 2-3 weeks before the race so most of the fitness as been build already. We never do those session during the key weekly workout. we use the endurance/easier session to stress them with heat protocol.

Like Nate mention, RPE goes up really high…performance goes down (that s temporary) and lost of water and electrolyte might be very high at first. But if the athlete stick to it… within a few days…big changes will happen.

It s a balance as there is a cost to adapting to the heat in term of fatigue but i see it as much more important to be as well adapted as you can over gaining a few more % of fitness.

just me experience anyway on how to make white Canadian athletes running fast in hot races!!!

I see your angle about most of the training having been done by 3 weeks out. So if you couple your plan with cleaning up the diet and maybe losing a few pounds of fat during those 3 weeks, I can see the big performance gains for a pasty white Canadian winter hibernation athlete having to go down South. Did pasty white Peter Reid patent that program before doing the sprint finish with Chris Legh at IMOz?

18

A lot of good (and correct) advice has already been given. From a medical perspective, good heat acclimitization can occur in about 2 weeks, and you only need about 45 minutes of daily “sweating” do get it to occur. That doesn’t mean you need to limit your training to 45 minutes a day, but do 45 minutes of it at those warmer temperatures, and the rest can be done with good cooling, so that you can get the performance that you need from your training plan.

The reason for not starting earlier isn’t so much to get most of your training in, but that it’s simply not needed…you can heat acclimate well in just 2 weeks or less.

That being said there are some studies that heat training alone can help improve Vo2 max, which in turn can allow you to train at higher intensities during your training as well…but that’s a matter to incorporate into your plan carefully since too much of it can lower the quality of your overall training.

Lots of good things to think about.

19

I come from a hot humid southern state and yes that sounds normal. If your race is in June you don’t have enough time to acculmate. It takes even us southren folks time to get used to the heat each summer too. Heat is a problem but its the humidity that really hurts. It takes time and a lot of water to be able to race when the humidity is high. You can’t excape it even if its windy but that does help.

High humity: you will sweat a lot more, sweat doesn’t evaporate effectively so you stay wetter longer and feel hotter, you need more fluids, HR will be artificially higher, and it just plain sucks. If the sun is beating on you its even worse. Here we have to do our runs in the summer before the sun comes up. The humidity is at least bearable then but when the sun is up is super hard to run any distance. On the bike its different because you generate your own breeze but your HR will be artificially high as well and your fluid intake will be higher than normal. Hope this helps.

20

The secret to my success at Eagleman was driving down to the race with the heater on and windows up. Also overdressing for workouts, space heater in my office, extra blankets at night and lots of time in the steam room.