Last year at IM Western Australia, I got pretty badly sunburnt on the bike. It was 33 deg celsius. I was wearing a tri-suit that exposed a lot of my back, and despite lathering sunscreen on before and during the run, the damage had been done. I ended up with weeks and weeks of pain (blistering, weeping etc) and marks that have not even faded one year on.
Very interested to know if there is any research out there (or anecdotal evidence) on whether the effects of exposure to the sun could have had a detrimental impact on my run split…?
Cheers.
Chris
From what ive read, being sunburnt affects your body’s ability to cool itself and causes it to lose fluids as well. Plus you’ll look like an idiot. I wear sunblock, not sunscreen anytime i do longer races/training in the sun. Huge difference. Im sure there are studies to back all of this up, im just too lazy to find them for you
After a quick search this was pretty interesting(PE part). http://www.fitness.gov/digests/Digest-June2007.pdf
“*** Sunburn***—When exercising in a hot environment, sunburned individuals exhibit an impaired ability secrete sweat. In addition, sunburn increases ratings perceived exertion and thermal sensation, which that sunburned individuals feel more hot and fatigued when exposed to a given exercise-heat stress.2”
I don’t know about that, but within hours of the sun overexposure inflammatory mediators are released into the body. It can even cause fever, lethargy, etc. Could this be quick enough to effect the run? I don’t know. I would put a VERY WATERPROOF sunscreen on before the swim, and the bike and the run. Antioxidants-fruits and veggies, green tea in large amounts before and after the exposure might mitigate this. (I’m speculating here.) The temperature has nothing to do with it, BTW.