I sent out an SOS e-mail to a former professor of mine who specializes in environmental physiology. His research is based on heat, so he knows all about this acclimating that I am trying to do. For the record, I have declined to participate in any of his "studies" because they require that you have your temperature taken rectally. Not my idea of fun.
So I e-mail him asking what else I can do to get ready for the heat and his response is:
"Your best bet is to go to the environment you will be racing in and spend a couple of weeks training there. Your next best bet is to simulate the environment you will be training in. In other words, train in a environmental chamber. But that's probably not an option. There's really not a magic fix here. You can try the sauna thing (probably not at an extreme temperature that saunas are usually set at), but you may be dealing with training at a reduced capacity. In other words, training dehydrated a bit possibly. Think realistically about this though, it's just a race. Your not an Olympian or a sponsored professional so even though you are big into racing it's really not a huge deal if you don't do as well as you would like. And let's say that you are as heat acclimatized as you possibly can be, even then would you be at the top of the pack? I don't know the exact answer to that question and I'm not saying you wouldn't be, but I'm just trying to get you to think more realistically and just have fun. So what if you finish a few minutes slower than you want to. JUST HAVE FUN and try to be more prepared for the next race. I hope you don't take this as me insulting you because I'm not trying to. I just want you to look at the big picture."
Take care and good luck,JW
Clearly the Dr. doesn't understand the importance of me being a professional age-group athlete! :) But I will try to listen anyways!
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5 comments:
I don't buy that if you're not a pro athlete you shouldn't do heat training. It's not about being in the top of your age group or near the front of the race. It's about *getting the most out of your body*. What can I do to have the best race day performance with the time investment I can make?
What this professor is saying goes against the sportsman's ethos... against the nature of sport. It's cool though... he's an academic and we need him to understand cellular energy production, dehydration rates and all that. Somebody's gotta formulate the next Cliff Bar.
But let's entertain the "just have fun" angle a bit. If you're not heat trained the heat may explode you and make it so that you're miserable no matter what pace you're operating at. If you're exploded you can't have fun. Mythbusted.
This time of year is tough because Atlanta is cool and Florida is hot as balls. Can I say balls on your blog?
Oh... and... SAUNA ROCKS THE HOUSE BOYYYYYYY!!!
I meant to say "sportsperson's ethos."
I agree with Joe 100%
Truth be told, going to the spot is the only true way to prepare. However, most of us with jobs don't have that option. Indoor heat training is the best way for us regular peeps, but even that is just a guessing game. All you can do is give it a shot and stick with your plan. With IM's, nothing is written in stone anyway no matter how well prepared you are. You just have a better chance of nothing going wrong. The best way to enjoy the race and have fun is to prepare the best way you can. So in my old opinion he is both right and wrong. You might have to do most of your workouts in the middle of the day as well. Hey, you'll do great so plan your race and race your plan.:) Trial and error so start now.
hopefully a few days in the sub-freezing canadian weather will get me right where I need to be for Gulf Coast. . .
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