I’m more interested in experience with external cooling e.g.:
Article list that visor/hat will reduce heat (i personally more see it as something that holds the heat close to the head)
Sponges/ice cubes, is there an effect and is there anything is should be cautious of? (ice not directly on the head?), should i just throw ice cubes inside my tri suit or back pockets or what is the best way to get some cooling out of is, same with the sponges.
is there any beneficial effect to e.g. take in very cold drinks during the bike (pre freeze the starter bottles before the race). Bags of ice on race morning any effect there?
Anything else that is useful but i have forgotten about?
My first 70.3 had quite a hot and humid run. I don’t have a huge amount of experience but my strategy was to slow down at each aid station, dump ice down the front or back of my trisuit, dump water over my head and take on fluids as required. I did feel symptoms of heat exhaustion briefly about 3/4 of the way through the run and had to slow my pace a little but otherwise this strategy worked for me.
In terms of headwear, a visor will allow for more cooling than a hat but with a hat you can load ice inside and get it straight on your head.
One of the weirdest ways was with Torbjørn Sindballe with a latex glove to put the ice in…apparently it helped…But i think basically where it can get the best exposure to the bloodflow. https://www.triathlete.com/…-heat-training_29149
Yes Frankfurt!
And where would one obtain best exposure to bloodflow?
One of the weirdest ways was with Torbjørn Sindballe with a latex glove to put the ice in…apparently it helped…But i think basically where it can get the best exposure to the bloodflow. https://www.triathlete.com/…-heat-training_29149
Yes Frankfurt!
And where would one obtain best exposure to bloodflow?
I remember reading Rinny shoving ice down her shorts in one of her first Konas. There’s a huge artery in your groin so that makes sense I guess…
Visor/hat keeps the sun off your face which will be cooler and the hat has the added bonus of putting ice in it to cool you down.
Don’t worry about the ice on your body it will pretty much melt within a minute if not sooner. Put in everywhere hat, down the back if wearing tri suit, and especially your crotch.
Don’t bother pre freezing, it’s just one more thing to remember on race day. An Ironman is stressful enough without having to add remembering to grab your water bottle out of the freezer.
Make sure you take your time at the aid stations on the bike and run, for hydration and just as important cooling. Grab a water for drinking on the bike and also spraying on yourself mostly your back/neck. On the run ice everywhere, grab sponges hold in hands. Taking a few extra minutes at the water stations, could save yourself hours.
Ice inside the hat and back pockets. The back pockets are right over the kidneys which has a lot of circulation. Then the melting water flows down your but and soaks into the shorts. I don’t think you want quick cooling as much as maximizing the time the cooling water is in contact with your body.
I live in the southern USA so all we have is heat. Here are a few tips mainly for the run…which is were the heat can really kick you in the junk
Sun visor is better than a hat. It keeps the sun out of your face and your head can still lose heat. You can dump water on your head and your head will lose heat faster because a visor doesn’t retain heat and it will keep the sweat out of your eyes.
Lot’s O’ Salt. Where water goes salt goes. On a hot race you can lose up to 1000mg of salt an hour. You need to replace that some how.
Ice and wet sponges work. Don’t worry about them being directly on your skin if you put them in your shirt. You will not notice when its hot. The visor comes into play here too. You can put a cold towel on your head, put your visor on top of it and discard the towel when it dry’s. Its a pretty good way for your head to dissipate heat.
Sunscreen that will not come off when your wet.
Fluid intake will increase but too much is just as bad. Just remember to increase your salt with your fluids.
When your hot you eat less so nutrition is easier if its liquid or gels especially on the run.
When its hot your feet can get squishy because of sweat and fluids. Body Glide your feet!!! It will prevent blisters and your feet will feel better in wet running shoes.
Pretty much body glide everything. Your clothing will rub in places you didn’t know you had when your wet.
maybe last minute for a purchase, but Kona last year.used a cap with neck flap on it. A little annoying in the wind, but was very grateful for keeping the sun off the neck in energy lab.
Have tried with visors, but never got on with them, found better to have something protect my bald spot from the sun.
One of the weirdest ways was with Torbjørn Sindballe with a latex glove to put the ice in…apparently it helped…But i think basically where it can get the best exposure to the bloodflow. https://www.triathlete.com/…-heat-training_29149
Yes Frankfurt!
And where would one obtain best exposure to bloodflow?
I remember reading Rinny shoving ice down her shorts in one of her first Konas. There’s a huge artery in your groin so that makes sense I guess…
I just had a scare with heat exhaustion after a hard swim and time in the sauna immediately after and a guy who was nearby me in the locker room as I begun to cramp and hyper-ventilate, happened to be an EMT. He had me cover my neck in ice and also throw a bag on my junk, stating those two were the most effective places to cool. Next time I do a hot race, I am throwing all the ice down my kit!
Apart from all the suggestions already, I’d like to disagree on the “just dump ice down your shorts”. I did this last year at Frankfurt (warm, but not as warm as forecast for this year) and at some point it looks like I over-did it. I was locally cold, unpleasantly so, and with clumps of ice in my shorts it was getting rather unpleasant. My rear pockets are ~kidney height and it turned quite painful at some point. This year, I’m planning to dump water on me and wipe myself with the sponges, but use the ice with more moderation.
Last year I raced with a hat, this time I’m not 100% sure about it. It’s nice not to have direct sun exposure but it does trap heat - you win some, you lose some I guess. I’ll have it in my T2 bag and will make the call based on how the day goes.
IME- the exact opposite. Hats are better than visors, especially running hats with plenty of ventilation. First, they reduce the amount of sun hitting your head. Second, you can put ice or sponges in your hat and replace them at each aid station. Visors don’t allow you to do this.
If it’s not humid, arm coolers coupled with getting soaked at aid stations worked like a charm during my last half distance. It was 93*F and I never felt overheated. Cost me 10 seconds per aid station but it’s better than melting.
Took some ice down my back on the last lap of the bike. That felt nice.
Frozen bottles will still be warm by the end of the bike, but I’d still start with those anyway.
I live in the SE US and have done my share of hot races. The best thing I’ve found on the run is ice in my hat at each aid station, and ice down the front and back of my tri-tank as well (I’m female, and the sports bra seems to hold the ice in place). Every now and then I get to an aid station that is out of ice and all the ice in my hat melts before I can get more, and I notice a huge difference in how hot I feel when that happens and I’m without ice in my hat briefly. On the bike I dump a bottle of water over my head, chest and back at each aid station. Keeping my hair and jersey wet on the bike course seems to help.
When I sweat too much I also have a cramping problem.
So along with salt try magnesium (small doses).
But you have to train with it.
For me there are side effects that resemble the effects of taking a laxative.
Consider arm covers
I have raced in really hot weather with a running hat on backwards on the bike, so that the bill covered my neck.
There may be better ways to accomplish that. Neck cooler, bandana…?
On long rides I have also cramped in hot weather on the abductor muscle (inside thigh).
Cold water sprayed directly on them helped.
I just did a hot, sunny 15hr ultra (5:39am sunrise to 9:03pm sunset) on one of the first hot days we’ve had in this area this year. There was a lot of carnage due to the heat and lack of shade, but I managed to survive ok despite being pretty chubby from a triathlete’s perspective (6th overall, 2nd woman - set a 48min PR for 100k).
A hat wicks sweat (evaporative cooling) and reflects solar energy off your head. I have long hair, and have run with and without a hat - without has always felt hotter. A light colour is best. I have never used a visor, but since it wouldn’t reflect solar energy from the greater part of the surface area that the sun is hitting, I can’t see it being as helpful as a hat.
Ice or cold water on as many high blood flow areas as possible. For me, that’s packing ice in my bra (yeah, not an option for most guys - Faris might be the exception?), in a pocket on the back of my skirt (just above my butt, not kidney-level), and in a tubular neck gaiter around my neck. Fold the ice into the tube and turn it around so it sits on the back of your neck. To the person who said it only lasts a few minutes, I still had solid pieces of ice in my bra at least 20mins after shoving a handful in there.
I wore cooling apparel. A pair of cooling/sun protection sleeves and a cooling tank top, plus the neck gaiter I used has the same cooling technology. These work best when kept wet. I did put some ice in the wrists of the sleeves once, but it didn’t much want to stay in so I just wet them down periodically after that.
If I’d been smarter, I probably would have just worn my De Soto Skin Cooler long sleeve (which has pockets for ice at the back of the neck and in the lower back), but it was cool before the sun came up and I actually started with a 3/4 sleeve shirt over my tank top.
As the day grew hotter, I carried a collapsible cup in the pocket of my skirt to fill at the unmanned (and cup-free) aid station at the turn-around on the 4k loop and dump over my chest and down my back, plus to slosh over the sleeves.
Re: eating less (as Scottxs said) in the heat. Don’t expect your nutrition to sit the same in hot weather if you’re taking in the same amounts. There was a whole lot of barfing and stomach shut-down happening out there, but I never had any GI issues and kept eating every 30-40mins (basically once each lap). The same mixture of solids (an occasional slice of bacon, couple of pieces of banana and watermelon, a Skratch bar, a couple of small turkey & mustard wraps, and quite a few of my homemade salted maple crisp rice squares) and liquid (EFS Liquid Shot, Endurance Tap and Gu Roctane for caffeine toward the end) that I’d trained with, but I found myself gravitating more toward the gels than the solids during the hottest part of the day. I’d go through most of my 600ml hand bottle of water and take an S!cap each lap as well - no cramping, and the buffering agent in the caps may have helped my belly stay happy. If you let yourself get behind on calories in a long day you’ll suffer mentally first (bad mood), then physically (poor performance), so hopefully you have something you can just shove in your face even if you don’t feel like eating. For me that’s EFS and Endurance Tap.
BlisterShield powder in your socks/shoes is far superior to any other anti-blister substance I’ve ever found. I did a 50k last month with epic, above-the-ankle-deep mud in places and came out with no blisters because I filled my socks before the race. For body chafing, the same company makes SportShield, which is about 800x better than BodyGlide. I can hardly believe BG is still in business considering how poorly it performs compared to other stuff on the market.
Finally, you’ll have to adjust your pacing and expectations in that kind of heat. No amount of cooling or nutrition can help you if you go out at 90% of your max heart rate, and if you let yourself overheat it’s bloody difficult to shake that off. Ease into your effort and pay attention to what your body is telling you - it might cost you a few seconds per mile, but that’s a hell of a lot better than blowing up and having to walk it in, stop entirely, or ending up in the med tent.
Being a larger than average triathlete with red hair I don’t do well with the heat and sun. But during my full last year in 90F+ heat with 50%+ humidity I tried a ton of new stuff on race day to deal with it and ended up doing pretty well. Honestly I didn’t even notice it was that hot!
As others are saying, take in extra salt and fluids. You sweat more out so you need to take more in. I carried around a nasty zip lock bag the entire race and averaged over 1000mg of sodium and 40oz of fluid an hour.
Arm coolers on the bike. Get them wet and they help with evaporative cooling when moving at speed. I took mine off on the run because I wasn’t moving as fast and it was humid.
Run with a visor. It keeps the sun out of your eyes and off your face, but it’s open at the top to let more heat out.
Ice. At the end of every aid station I grabbed two cups, some went down my shorts and the rest I held in my hands.
Cooling towel wrapped around your neck. After remembering Ben Hoffman’s wearing it and running to a great finish at Kona a few years ago (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Ben_Hoffman_at_2014_Ironman_Hawaii.jpg) I gave it a go and it was amazing. I wrung out the old water before every aid station, dunked it in an ice bucket, and wrapped it around my neck. This was the biggest help I think. It protected my neck from the sun, had a cold source right next to the blood vessels in my neck, dripped down cold water everywhere else, and best of all it looked stylish!
Body glide. With all the extra sweat and water running down, there will be some chafing, so load up.
New socks in your special needs. This goes with point 6. By mile 8 my socks and shoes were soaked from all the water, thankfully I left new socks and shoes in my special needs and got to experience some nice dry feet again.
Despite the heat, walking every aid station, and swapping out socks/shoes at special needs I ended up running my first marathon in 3:14. My legs were thrashed from pounding them on concrete for so long, but the heat was a non-issue!
Being a larger than average triathlete with red hair I don’t do well with the heat and sun. But during my full last year in 90F+ heat with 50%+ humidity I tried a ton of new stuff on race day to deal with it and ended up doing pretty well. Honestly I didn’t even notice it was that hot!
As others are saying, take in extra salt and fluids. You sweat more out so you need to take more in. I carried around a nasty zip lock bag the entire race and averaged over 1000mg of sodium and 40oz of fluid an hour.
Arm coolers on the bike. Get them wet and they help with evaporative cooling when moving at speed. I took mine off on the run because I wasn’t moving as fast and it was humid.
Run with a visor. It keeps the sun out of your eyes and off your face, but it’s open at the top to let more heat out.
Ice. At the end of every aid station I grabbed two cups, some went down my shorts and the rest I held in my hands.
Cooling towel wrapped around your neck. After remembering Ben Hoffman’s wearing it and running to a great finish at Kona a few years ago (https://upload.wikimedia.org/...4_Ironman_Hawaii.jpg) I gave it a go and it was amazing. I wrung out the old water before every aid station, dunked it in an ice bucket, and wrapped it around my neck. This was the biggest help I think. It protected my neck from the sun, had a cold source right next to the blood vessels in my neck, dripped down cold water everywhere else, and best of all it looked stylish!
Body glide. With all the extra sweat and water running down, there will be some chafing, so load up.
New socks in your special needs. This goes with point 6. By mile 8 my socks and shoes were soaked from all the water, thankfully I left new socks and shoes in my special needs and got to experience some nice dry feet again.
Despite the heat, walking every aid station, and swapping out socks/shoes at special needs I ended up running my first marathon in 3:14. My legs were thrashed from pounding them on concrete for so long, but the heat was a non-issue!
I thought the IM events no longer returned special needs after the races. So, did you just leave your old shoes behind, or did you get them back after the race?
