How To Beat The Heat | Prepare For Your Triathlon Race Day

[@PhiruzGo]

Living on the island Samui, Thailand, and mostly run, I have to say that you nailed it down pretty well. As you get yourself acclimatised to the heat, it's really important to find the right hydration and electrolyte levels. When it comes to food, I still have problem eating during my long runs but for anything medium distance of than 15km-20km, I mix up a fruit shake that I bring along, which gives a nice boost [even though a warm shake isn't refreshing :) ]. When I go for a train run, longer than 30km-40km in the hills here, I will often force food into my system and is currently into a sandwich with fried egg, onion and a spread of peanut butter on the base of it. That's my recipe for 'beat the [tropical] heat'

[@allo2u85]

Great vid! Thanks! I took part in a study designed to provide insights for athletes who participated in the Olympics in Japan. One interesting find was how some people seem to cope quite well with heat, but then showed a core temperature that kept on rising to dangerous levels and they had to stop for some time to cool. Others simply couldn't perform like normal, therefore never reaching high vore temperatures. Adaptation works quite well though, as stated in this video. One question I still have; what to do with heart rate when racing in the heat? Should we still watch our (an)aerobic thresholds and stay under their normal values on an Ironman race, or can we slightly neglect it?

[@precisionfandh]

What a great question! 

If we start by stripping back what happens physiologically when racing/training in the heat. Firstly, you'll be sweating a lot more than usual, especially if it's humid too. When you sweat, you lose fluid from your blood plasma, thus the overall volume of blood reduces if this isn't replaced appropriately. 
 When your blood volume decreases our hearts will need to pump faster to transport the same volume of blood around the body and this causes your HR to rise when trying to maintain a set power or pace. This is known as cardiac drift. Understanding your body's response to the heat is important as if you continue to let your HR rise and/or, in extreme cases, you let your core temperature rise too high you risk heat stress injuries which can be serious and result in increased susceptibility to future heat-related issues. 

 Ultimately it’s important to understand your body's response to heat and become flexible with how you counter (increased fluid and electrolyte consumption) or react to the effects (reduce exercise intensity).

[@dmchugh526]

Time in the sauna does wonders. Also makes for a good stretch session post long swim days.

[@Ivan_Nano]

Trained in the heat of Texas at 38 degrees Celsius. For the 30K run trainings I could barely make it, I could tell it was the heat and not the distance. By the time I got to Ironman Austria, I did the 42K without stopping once and without feeling that tired. It was 32 Celsius that day. While a lot of people ended up collapsing or in the hospital, to me it felt like a nice day. It’s amazing what training in the heat can do for your race day, especially if the race is cooler than what you trained for.

[@greglummis]

Fill your running hat with ice

[@CSWells-uq4jx]

I don’t do Tri, I just run. But, I find that a bandanna filled with ice tied around my neck helps me get through my runs in 98 degrees at 80 % humidity here in the summer

[@richhold7775]

I found hot yoga to be very helpful in adapting to the heat while training for an Ironman.

[@jan-andreasfroesematos6384]

Great video! I'm definetely on the "I just don't do well in the heat" team. Got a big triathlon this weekend and it's supposed to be well above my comfort zone, so videos like this one are really giving me back some confidence. Cheers

[@gtn]

Glad you found this useful to you! What would you like to see us cover next? 🤔

[@elizabethigrisan6880]

"You're not a camel" 🤣

[@Underdog_Triathlete]

Good timing, given how the heat kicked everyone’s butt at Age Group Nationals last weekend! Lot of us are looking for exactly this information-thanks for providing!

[@jonathanzappala]

3:30 Sweating is much less productive at cooling your body in tropical heat. Evaporation off your skin is where the cooling is happening, those are the words you were looking for.

[@shiruchan4661]

Just what we needed!

[@iggalan]

I’ve done a fair share of triathlons in the heat. In my case electrolytes and gels are not enough, I had to get some fluid salts as well. My sweat is salty, my clothes are full of white marks after a race.

[@jobanski]

“You’re not a camel.” Couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite movies, “Dumb and Dumber”. Thank you James!

[@gregvandell]

I train for full distance tri's in South Florida summer tropical heat and have found having salt with me (like Base Salt) is absolutely critical

[@3WalkingPoles]

Thanks God I don't have to worry about racing in Kona heat. 😉

[@josephforeman4850]

Great Video guys! I did the midnight man last night and 2 things stuck me on the last laps of the bike and 13 mile run. In the area, it was dirty air and very stifling due to being nr the M25 in Dartford. The lack of wind/air movement coupled with the dirty local atmosphere on the industrial site with added lorries that time of night made is really hard to get a breathing pattern and also eat any food/energy. Any tips for this please are so welcome. Joe

[@mikew6840]

I guess James knows a thing or two about hot conditions! 🇿🇦 👍

[@Jack-fn4mu]

SA for ever😎

[@shoaibakther1453]

Great👍

[@lewisdwheeler]

Great video! @GCN would help to have text on screen for your 'tips' like in past videos! I find to beat the heat, especially in a race - ice down the race suit helps keep temp down! And water on my head/hat. Also 'pre-loading' with sodium & electrolytes to make sure you're 'topped off' helps before race or humid workout. 😅

[@jaydesimone4297]

I've found that sitting outside in the morning until it becomes too warm really helps. Obviously, you need to be able to still work from home to be able to do this, but the volume helps compensate for the lesser effect of sitting rather than training in the heat. I've even brought out a fan to help extend my outside time in the heat.

[@BernardoAmorim]

I live in macau and been runiing in heat for a long time even at night average temps is 30C. its a wet but keep pushing it

[@donnawilliams1825]

Great 👍 video, very informative, to say the least.

[@jonathanzappala]

I did a race last year in September, the lake was 70 deg, the air was 59. September tris don’t have this problem haha. Ideal weather.

[@oldmandice2731]

Come to Florida, you'll change your mind.

[@dggarcia89]

Texas too 104F 😂