Need last-second heat racing tips - Forecast 95F @ StGeorge half-ironman this Saturday! (And ironically the water will still be cold, around 60F)
I (and I suspect most people) are totally non-heat acclimated. Haven’t trained in anything hotter than 72F this entire past 5 months.
I’m in good shape, but it could get ugly out there! Any advice to lessen the damage is very welcome in this last-second moment!
Go slower than you planned, a lot slower after T1. Bring double your salt pills and take them religiously. Your slower pace should allow you to absorb the calories you were planning on, but the pace you thought you would go in 75 degrees would be a death blow to your stomach’s absorption.
Just remember this one thing, if you go too slow early, you can make most of that up coming home fast. If you go out too hard, well race over and it is just a survival death march that you will absolutely hate. And you will hate yourself too for not listening to this advice… (-;
Oh ya, have fun out there!!!
Great tips. So you do advise going easier on the bike even with the wind cooling effect? I was going to go just slightly lower than expected perceived effort but the power drop would depend on how hot I was (slower on climbs, faster on windy downhills.)
I would imagine it won’t be 95F when you get on the bike. I suspect that maybe it si barely 70F at that time, so you should be able to get through 80% of the ride and only when you climb Snow Canyon you will have heat effect. I had the same thing going on at Puerto Rico 70.3. My last long workout one week out with a 40km XC ski in minus 10 followed by a 7km run (also in that temp) and the next weekend I was racing in 90F but super humid in the Carribbean. I just went jogging on the run to avoid a blowup and my three laps I only slowed down 1 min on lap 2 and 2 min on lap 3. Now blowup but nothing heroic. Just run slower than you think you need to to avoid the blowup at the back end. Each run loop is largely all uphill going out and downhill coming back so definitely don’t overcook the outbound run legs.
Coming back to the bike it’s going to feel like a bit of an inferno on the bike up snow canyon as you’ll barely be going faster than running at points, so not a lot of airflow cooling on that part. If I recall correctly there is no aid station during the snow Canyon climb, just before and after but the one after, you have a short amount of riding and then you’re descending at 50 mph so top up on fluids as much as possible before you get into the high speed stuff so that you have the entire descent to digest what you stuffed in, because right out of T2 it is straight uphill so not ideal for digesting anything initially.
The only other thing you can do at this point is visit a sauna Wed+Thu. It won’t hurt just getting used to the feeling!!! You can’t really do much in terms of run or bike workouts right now. My last two weeks before Puerto Rico I was doing trainer rides with no fan, and I was layering up and wearing winter clothing on some transition runs
There is no wind cooling affect when its 95. Like I said, probably ride at least 30 watts lower than you planned out of T1, for at least most the ride. The thing about overheating is, once you do it, you do not come back from it until hours after the race. Same for the run, go about 20 to 30 seconds a mile slower than your target pace, and if at 8 or 9 miles you feel great, put the hammer down and get some time back.
But just know that your goal time you set before is going to be 20 to 40 minutes different on a day like this, and that will be with perfect pacing. It really is too bad, it could easily have been 60/70’s with cloud cover and perfect conditions, but not to be this year…
ANd to add about the weather and someone saying it will be 70 when you start the bike, balony. The low of the day is just under 70 and that will probably be at 5am. I was there when it was hot like this and it heats up quickly and early. I would guess high 70’s early on the bike and climbing fast, until going up snow canyon it will feel like a furnace. Most of your run will be high 80’s to low 90’s too…
That’s good advice - having done a similarly hot race one about 8 years ago, I feel that you’re right - I was walking most of the run when I was in 7:20-30/mi shape. Def agree that once you overheat, you’re done for - can’t come back from that as the day is heating even more.
I"ll stuff as much ice as I can in my suit during the run and try and douse myself with water (if there’s any left!)
I see an overnight low in the high 60’s and it does not get warm until well into the bike according google:
According to this it won’t get over 80F until the bike is over and humidity is in the low 20s. So it should not feel too bad at all on the bike
Stay hydrated, inside and out.
Ride/run to HR, not power/pace. It may feel slow, but it’s what you can hold w/o blowing up.
If there is ice on course, have ways to use it: cap, trisuit pockets, etc.
Remember that temperature is measured in the shade. So if you find a shady tree, it will be under 80. Since the course in St George doesn’t really have any trees. Expect suffering.
Low to mid 80s by 12pm with 17% humidity and a 5mph wind looks like perfect conditions to me. It isn’t warming up until the run and pouring water over yourself with that low humidity will keep you cool just fine. Guess it depends on what you are used to though.
Go out as hard as you’ve ever done and hang on
Pink
I do think however that quicker airflow around the body accelerates the evaporation of sweat (=cooling). That’s why running in the heat is always worse than biking. I agree that the bike impact will still be in the tens of watts even at normal speeds, not just on climbs.
Absolutely! Evaporative cooling in environments with low dew points works fantastically when enhanced by air flow. Now if you have a tail wind that matches your ground speed you’re in for not that great evaporative cooling even with low dew points.
Back when I would race IM Louisville, when it was in August, at each aid station on the run I’d always grab a paper cup with ice to hold in my hand. As the ice melted, I’d either take sips of it or pour it on my head (felt so good). The aid stations are so frequent that it was easy to refill the ice, or grab another ice filled paper cup each time. I believe there is research now that shows cooling through the palm of your hand is a good method to counteract the heat.
With it being dry out there (big temp swings) I think the heat won’t really hit until the run, just looking at how much it changes throughout the day. Take in more fluid than you normally would on the bike. The last 10 miles or so if I remember right are all downhill, so not as much opportunity there to drink.
You’ll definitely feel it in Snow Canyon, but there’s usually one last aid station at the very top, before descending back into St. George. Pour water on yourself there so you have a chance to cool down a bit on the way down to T2.
Another question for the group: Helmets. I have an Aerohead, which is more aero but hotter, and an Evade 3, which is definitely cooler. Any opinions on which one I should bring?
I find it very difficult to slow down on the run - the body has a pace it is used to and even when I look at the watch and slow down, very soon I’m back up. As other said, once you overheat, its very difficult to keep functioning.
So one thing you can do is set an alert on your garmin watch based on HR/pace. You get a constant reminder to slow down.
I have my Aerohead. I suspect will be hot on the climb but short lived vs the rest. We will see if I’m wrong.
