Well, I just got back from a 24 hour in and out biz trip to Houston. It was not that warm there (around 75F) this morning, but already quite humid. I’ve been training in cool weather in Canada (and dry) and have not started any heat training (YET) for spring racing down south and really suffered on a short run today. I did not realize how humid it was. And I am normally very good in heat and humidity…I was just thinking it is as 15 degrees F warmer with the same humidity and couple that with the concrete all over Houston (running surface) and you can see why the marathon splits at IM Texas as so slow. Just a reminder for you guys training for it, that you’ll need to do some heat training in April if you are not from the gulf area where they have the heavy heat and humidity by April. I remember one year doing IM 70.3 Galveston, and running 1:38 in crazy humidity and moving UP to 3rd place in my age group (45-49). The humidity can be a brutal penalty around there on the run course.
100 degrees and 100% humidity, that is why they call it the South. Purdy damn hot down there. But somedays it rains.
but already quite humid.
That made me laugh to myself. Like it ever stops. Lol. Houston is Hell with stoplights.
It has actually been really cool and dry here the last few weeks. It feels like we live in CO instead of Houston. What humidity are you talking about? This weather is perfect!
Dev, Galveston is a walk in the park compared to IMTX.
One of these years IMTX is going to have very nice weather. Heck, last year it was 70 degrees with hardly any humidity just three days before the race. Then race day was just brutal.
90 degrees + high humidity + early season is a recipe for suffering. I’m local and won’t do the race again. I think you folks coming from the cool climates are certifiably insane.
On the flip side, one of these years it’s going to be 100 degrees (instead of 90) and the race course will look like a scene out of some apocalypse movie. In 2011 we dodged a bullet by a week. Race day got up to 91. The following Saturday the temp hit 100.
Yesterday was actually pretty mild.
Galveston is usually less humid than The Woodlands. The wind blows it out in Galveston and the trees hold it in here in The Woodlands.
It was gorgeous yesterday! I wish we could have weather like that on race day.
Yesterday was actually pretty mild.
Galveston is usually less humid than The Woodlands. The wind blows it out in Galveston and the trees hold it in here in The Woodlands.
I know yesterday was pretty mild. That’s exactly my point for the people who come from up north. Usually by the time I head to St. Croix, I am nicely heat acclimatized with my personal heat zone on the trainer and treadmill and I tend to race well relative to others (even people from the south). But even yesterday in mild temps and much higher humidity than back home I could notice it when I cranked up the speed and the body temp started rising and it less ability to dissipate than back home where it is cold. Oh yeah…and all that concrete in Houston sucks too! Remind me again why I signed up for IM Tex?
Dev
Because you’re not scared of a challenge.
The challenge right now is to actually do a bit more training than running and weights in hotels. 4 out of the last 5 weeks disrupted with business travel and 3 more in a row coming up, so the challenge is getting on the bike and in the pool so that I can get to T2 and actually try to run!
Hopefully it snows and stays cold until mid-May up north so all the northerners wilt in the Texas heat. And hopefully it stays mid 80-90’s from now until raceday in the south so we can all acclimate and be prepared. I’ll take every advantage I can get. 
There is another thread floating around here somewhere that had set their bike trainer up in their bathroom with one or two space heaters to build the heat. To add in the humidity they had their wife turn the shower on. As unpleasant as that sounds, it might be a good way to acclimate.
Hopefully it snows and stays cold until mid-May up north so all the northerners wilt in the Texas heat. And hopefully it stays mid 80-90’s from now until raceday in the south so we can all acclimate and be prepared. I’ll take every advantage I can get.
At least where I live, you barely have a single day of riding in shorts before the IM Texas race date. Having said, that guys who live north getting ready for these races can often do better than guys 'living in the middle" because we’re stuck on the trainer. The folks who live in between end up heading outdoors and lose a lot of the heat tolerance they develop on the trainer. I noticed, riding my training before and after the week in Kona last fall. When I came back from Kona I was sweating less at the same wattage. I probably should have spent more time on the trainer before but it’s a lot nicer training outdoors, which actually does not help you as much when the weather is temperate and you’re heading to a hot-humid race. For us going to Kona in the fall is probably very similar to the guys living a bit further south from us but not as far south as the gulf. Those guys I think can have he biggest trouble if they don’t pay attention to proper heat training.
The thing that kills us is sun exposure. You spend 6 months with not a single part of your skin other than face seeing the sun and suddenly get pounded all day. Even in a half IM that hurts.
Dev
There is another thread floating around here somewhere that had set their bike trainer up in their bathroom with one or two space heaters to build the heat. To add in the humidity they had their wife turn the shower on. As unpleasant as that sounds, it might be a good way to acclimate.
I don’t know how much that’ll actually help, but I plan to use a space heater in my trainer room. It’s already warm in there, as it is. I won’t do that until mid April, though. IMO, anything more might be overkill.
I fully expect for conditions in Texas to be fairly grody…Having a good nutrition plan, in addition to being well trained, is going to be super important.
At least where I live, you barely have a single day of riding in shorts before the IM Texas race date.
Yesterday in Northwest Houston I ran outside with just shorts and a short sleeved shirt. I sweated heavily due to the high humidity. There is no way for the body to cool itself. Heck, every couple of miles I had to clean my glasses because they had accumulated so much moisture on them.
The official temps yesterday ranged from 68 to 77 but they are artificially low. The humidity was 94% in the cool part of the day and dropped to 60% in the middle of the day. This is our “spring”. The farmers are starting to plant their fields. I will plant my spring herb garden tomorrow.
You cannot undervalue what Devashish is stating. Come May, it will be closer to 100 than to 80. And the humidity will be just as bad.
IMTX will be a heavy combination of heat and oppressing humidity so prepare your mind and body for it.
Born and raised in Houston. Live up in Maine now. Even lived in the Woodlands back in the late 90s, would love to do this race. Why can’t the move the race to March? There needs to be an early season IM race in the USA - this one is perfect.
Even us locals can struggle at IMTX if the weather during training doesn’t cooperate. Last spring it was cool and comfortable up until race week. I tried moving my Sunday long runs to the middle of the afternoon but it rarely broke 80. Come Thursday before the race the clouds parted and the sun started beating down.
Even us locals can struggle at IMTX if the weather during training doesn’t cooperate. Last spring it was cool and comfortable up until race week. I tried moving my Sunday long runs to the middle of the afternoon but it rarely broke 80. Come Thursday before the race the clouds parted and the sun started beating down.]
Perhaps we will get lucky and Rapp will chime in on this thread, but you don’t need to do every workout in the heat and certainly not your long workouts. I’d still keep the bulk of my training to cooler temps and get high quality training and save some specifically for heat training that will be lower quality due to slow pace or lower wattage. Heat is like a tax that does not help you gain fitness in day in day out training. That’s why most of your trainer workouts you should have a big fan and lot of air flow to get maximum quality workouts! Even then core temp will rise a bit more than outdoors because you can’t generate the same airflow as when riding at 30-40 kph.
Just having a little fun here with the ol’ weather watch.
Accuweather is predicting a high of 84 for the 17th.
Now I have to change my whole strategy! I was planning on it being hot.
Does anyone have an idea of the water temperature over there?
Since temperature’s have been mild recently, I was wondering if this influences the water temperature.