IM Loo - how to beat the heat?

scott dinhofer

4 weeks to go til my 2nd IM. Chose KY since it was in the right place on the calendar. I was able to do the biggest part of the training while my kids were away at camp. Being divorced there are no SAUs to earn, though my ex and I have actually rebuilt a pretty cooperative friendship, so i do get help when the kids are around.

My one IM was last November's IMAZ. Coming out of training in the fall in the Northeast, i was a little concerned about the hi 70ish tems one should have expected. I guess, fortunatly for me, it was a "cold" day at 65 and even a few rains showers. It all worked out well.

I know enough that i can't begin to have time expectations of comparing the two IMs, one is a flat/false flat bike course, vs one with some short hills. One was in 65 with some rain and the other problaby very hot and very humid. I know that success will be a percentile of AG as opposed to time.

I have read of numerous issues with the heat. lack of ice at aid stations, aid stations running out of water, etc.

i would love to hear everyone who has done this race share their strategies for beating the heat. anything you do, ice paks, items in special needs, run or bike, etc.

if anyone hasn't seen it, there was an excellent article in Runner's world recently on exacty this issue, here is the link:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-238-267-269-14027-0,00.html

 

thanks all, looking forward to learning a thing or two...

Chris M.

 I won't even attempt to tell you exactly what to do because I know Matt S. is going to have it all dialed in so I'll leave that to him.  I will tell you that last year in Louisville it was in the mid 90s, my entire body turned into one big cramp at mile 6 of the run, and I proceeded to suffer like I never have for the next 20 miles.   I continued to "run" until mile 15 when I simply couldn't any longer, at which point I started walking/running for the remainder.  I went too fast on the bike, didn't drink nearly enough, and also took in too many calories.  I felt like crap for 3 days afterward.  This was all pre-EN.  

If it's in the 90s again, which is more likey than not, the bottom line is that you have to slow down to a pace that allows you to continue moving.

Nate Parady

After pulling off the better part of my back skin this weekend after IMLP (sunburn is finally healing up), I would add to the discussion, "how to avoid sunburn"...I applied sunscreen several times throughout the day but was still pretty fried by the end.

my .02...

GO IMKY Team!!!!

ironmtngrl

I did IM Lou last year and put ice in a white mesh hat at every aid station. It made a tremendous difference. I had to shift the ice around so it wasn't sitting directly on my skin, cuz that hurts, but with hair as a buffer is was comfortable. I stopped doing this around mile 18 or 20 when the sun was going down, thinking I didn't need it any more, and very soon started feeling overheated. Started it again and cooled off. It's very effective!

I also wore a white tri top and light blue shorts. You definitely don't want black or dark colored clothing absorbing more heat!

Barbara Spitler

x2 what everyone has said. I DNF'd at IMLOU last year. Not enough nutrition, wicked heat/heat index 95/110! Sun, heat, humidity were relentless. Some folks, such as Matt S., ROCKED it! Others, such as myself, did not. THey say that ignorance is bliss. I felt more pumped and ready to complete the race last year, than I do now! Still deciding on nutrition. Ordered Infinit, and expecting it any day. Hope to have it for my training ride down there this weekend. S Caps! Succeed, are da BOMB! I sweat buckets, so I need atleast 2 caps each hour, to keep me from dehydrating. Probably will need 3 per hour this year, as I'm still wilting in the heat during training.
Bev is right on about wearing a hat/vs. visor! I recently did Muncie 70.3 and it was HOT, HOT, HOT! Louisville HOT! I constantly put ice under my hat, in my tri top, cold sponges in back/front of tri top, kept up w/S Caps, and walked a hell of a lot. I finished, but it was miserable. I am trying out CoolWings by DeSoto. Just got them, and wore during a ride yesterday. Jury is still out on them, but I think they helped. Coolwings are white mesh material like arm warmers, only arm coolers, attached like a small jacket/vest. Covers part of your neck, both arms. Supposed to direct heat away from your body. Has anyone else used them?

kjanracing

Jan and I did IMLOU last year. We figured it was going to be hot so we did our workouts in the heat of the day. I paced well on the bike, stuck to my nutrition plan, and jsut made sure not to overcook things on the bike. At mile 80, there were quite a number of people curled up in the shade off their bikes, they were done. On the run I only ran as fast as I could and not overheat. Lots of ice and cold sponges and water over the head. HTH!

Gordon Cherwoniak

Scott,

I've never done an IM in that kind of heat but things so never used a lot of the techniques that I have read about.

- Water on the head even on the bike.  When coming in to an aid station pour the remaining water on your self get a new bottle. 

- Never used the arm coolers but people pour water on them to help regulate temperature. 

- freeze part of a bottle for the special needs so that its cold.  You could do this for your nutirition and a water bottle as well if you wanted.

On the run

- ice as you mentioned; in the hat, cup in the shorts, couple in the hands, put some down the tri top.

- sponges; if available stick them in your tri top for use 1/2 between aid stations.  Come to think of it you could put a couple sponges in your transition bag if you really wanted and tuck them in the top.

- water over the head at aid stations if no ice. 

One word of caution with the water is the shoes can get soaked and this may affect the feet.  I try to bend over to avoid shoe fill up but there are some shoes that are better than others when wet.  I know mancona made a post about some of the zoot shoes he uses being very good at water drainage.

Gordon

 

ri133ck

This will be my second year racing at IMLOU and fortunately living here in Florida helped me a lot when it came to the heat on race day. I am sure everyone knows by now that nutrition is the key, pace yourself while staying cool and hydrated without drinking or eating too much. I had arm coolers on as well as a full EN cycling Jersey, what a blessing when it came to sunburn and sunscreen. Wear some cool cloths that will cover your upper body, I think its better than sunscreen since it can make you feel hotter and sweat more. When you get to the point of the run and they have that chicken broth in a cup, drink it, I felt so good after I downed a cup.

Finally, the key to the complete race is get in line early for the swim. Thanks to Matt S. and his wife for telling me to get my grilfriend to save me a spot in the swim line while I was checking on my bike in transition. I was off the dock in the first 10 minutes of the race which ensured that I had cold water and ice at every point of the bike and run. Take your time and pace yourself to finish.

Joseph Lombardi

...um...my plan...finish quickly and get inside for airconditioning and a really cold beer ?!....Just kidding...sort off...at the the finish quickly part...I have been concerned about the heat since I signed up....I lived in Cincinnati for 10years and know the kind of heat indexes you can run into...I have been trying to train in the middle of the day during the past weeks...and have put in some long rides in 100+ heat index...can't say that I felt great and ready for a marathon after them...but I put in the work....

All I can add to the conversation here is that I think dialing back expecations based on race day conditions is very very important....Bike Pace/Watts/HR zone ...and run vDot pace.....whatever you use...have a range in your plan to accomodate the conditions...if you are ready to race on a good day at X....under good conditions...already have a X-y for bad conditions....and then execute to that ...

There is a positive impact to having that already planned out.....this may sound newbie-ish or simplistic....but I know from my running days of going into key races with only my planned pace for good conditions and then - at best-  being disappointed in not hitting my goal when what I did run was probably spot on for the conditions...or at worst - having a nightmare day and not finishing (rare to not finish but an Ironman is significantly different from a marathon)....

much of success is physical but much of endurance is mental...have the mental game plan prepared.

 

scott dinhofer

all good stuff, keep it coming
i have a friend for the swim line up, so that is set
have my hat ready, have sunscreen that i swear by (coppertone sport) i have also been a competitive sailor and i swear, that i put that stuff on in the AM before i sweat and i don't have to reapply ever.
i have been going out and training in the heat of the day and living in suburban NY, there is plenty of that. the runs are clearly killer and i am developing my non heat and heat plans for wattage on the bike and pacing on the run.
sponges - do they give them out? or do you need to bring your own?

JClishe

Keep your core body temperature under control. Most has already been said, but what I found effective last year was spraying water on my head during the bike, and putting a sponge under each shoulder strap of my tri top at each aid station (and squeezing one over my head). Those sponges are Da Bomb! And yes, after mile 80 or so on the bike it looked like a warzone, riders were laying everywhere along the sides of the road. A woman in front of me crested a hill then passed out; her feet were still clipped in and she simply fell over without even attempting to brace her fall. On the run, I honestly think there wasn't a single minute that went by which I didn't hear an ambulance somewhere. Lots of runners losing their lunch all throughout the course (although Ironman Perform has been blamed by many for causing much of the upset stomach issues).

I have to believe they won't run out of fluids again on the bike, I can't imagine a race director making that same mistake twice.

Most importantly, slow down. I know it sucks to train for so long to PR a single race and then have to dial it back because of the heat, but that's simply what must be done if conditions are like last year.

Matt Samojeden

@ Scott, Good timing on a solid issue –Racing an IM in the Heat and Humidity. I had been working for a few days on a overview of the factors we can control in those extreme conditions including some good reference information of heat acclimation and how quickly we can loss the acclimatization edge. I have posted that summary to a separate thread not tied to IM Lou in the hopes that we can get the whole team into the mix and develop WIKI set of best practices. That thread is here http://members.endurancenation.us/Training/TrainingForums/tabid/101/aft/6714/Default.aspx

Great comments above in this thread. The main issue with IM LOU likely will be the Humidity on top of the heat. Your ability to cool, drops significantly and therefore your pace must adjust. Last year they ran out of water on the bike course and ice became scarce latter on the run course. I plan to get into the swim line as early as I can to get out on the course a quickly as possible.

There is some shade to be had on the bike and the run, direct sun adds up to ~ 15 degrees to the relative temp from your body’s perspective. There is reasonable patches of shade on the bike and the run courses. The level of traffic you are will likely dictate weather you can route yourself though the cooler patches.

If you assume that they will fix the water and ice issues this year , someone targeting say a 12 -14 hr finish time may chose to lay back and start the swim toward the end. This would put more of your running time at net cooler temperatures in the afternoon. Just a thought. If you are concerned about making the cutoff time try to have someone hold a spot for you in the swim line. Let me repeat a point in the longer post mentioned above, Don’t underestimate how much water you will lose in the swim in warm/hot water. My sweat test showed a 4 lb loss in a test 2.4 swim at pace in similar temperature water. I drank 30 oz of water waiting to start the swim. Peed once during the swim (TMI) and as I ran up the transition shute they have water in the first 50 yards. I grabbed 2 cups and drank both on the way to the gear bag.

On the bike if you don’t have to pee you have not drank enough fluids.

Looking forward to meeting all at IM LOU!
Matt

Paul Hough

@ Barbara - I've done a lot of long rides in Tampa with Cool Wings, DeSoto Arm Coolers, or Zoot Arm Coolers. They all work. For the 100+ mile rides, I'll put the cool wings on first then my tri-top. That leaves a small crescent shaped area uncovered near the back under each arm and my wife will pull the material aside and spray lotion there so I don't get burned. If it's a partly cloudy day and I'm only going 70-90 then I'll use the arm coolers and apply a lot of lotion between the tri-top and the top of the arm coolers. They aren't going to make you feel like you are in air conditioning but they do work! However, the primary reason I wear them is to avoid excessive sun damage, not to avoid the heat. When you are in the aerobars a long time, your forearms will get fried...just not good for the skin.

brandonsaid

My strategy is to be aware of the heat but do everything I can to not think about it.

This means I do all the things to deal with the heat:

Drink extra water
Take extra sodium
Poor cold water all over my body
Stay in the shade
Lots of sunscreen

But I try everything to ignore the heat and not thing about it. Especially on the run I'm just thinking about my running technique and stride and do everything in my power to be in the moment.

JClishe

Matt makes a great point about water loss during the swim. Last year, if my memory is correct, the Ohio River was 85 degrees for IMLOU. At this point there's no reason to believe it will be any less than that this year, unless there's a drastic weather change over these next few weeks.

Joe Matchette

I recently got some instant cold packs that I ordered from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RBUE3A . (slightly cheaper now than when I ordered...) These are not supposed to get down to freezing so they can be applied against bare skin. And they are *much* less expensive than what CVS and Walgreens had in my area.

I will be testing them out on the bike tomorrow and on the run thursday. My plan for the bike is to just put one in the tri-top pocket and see if I even notice it. For the run, I will take a couple with me for the first hour (simulating I picked them up at T2) and see if I can hold them in my hands without them being too cold. I also want to see what they feel like against bare skin -- either inside the jersey or under my hat. Unlike Beverly, I don't really have any hair to be a buffer....

A post-ride/post-run report will be forthcoming.

Coach Patrick

Great info here. Other things that come to mind for me as I read about that and know that you are all preparing:

* stay hydrated race week but don't OVERDO it. Too much fluids and salts can pre-dispose you to hyponatramia (sp?)...just consume till you pee clear and you are good.
* set a water consumption goal per hour. A starting place for you would be 2 bottles...and that's in addition to your nutrition.
* at each aid station it's: drink your water/dump it on head/toss the bottle/get bottle 1 and rack it/get bottle 2 and drink and dump and toss it.
* you should be peeing on the bike, even in the final 2 hours...if not, you need to drink like mad b/c you can't drink like that and still run.
* first 6 miles pacing is critical...will be your hottest miles, so be very smart here.

Can't wait to see you guys!

scott dinhofer

Patrick raises a question i actually came back to this thread to ask.

My current infinit mix is my first ever and seems to do the job. I have been out there on every hot & humid day training with no issues. If this race is extreme like last year, would it be too much to add a salt tablet say 1x every 2 hours or 3 in total? or just stick with what is in my infiinit mix?

I just looked at the mix i have and the electrolytes are at the 25th percentile roughly. i have not done a sweat test, but i suspect i am a higher than average sweater

mattsull

I would up the electrolytes in your mix and take 1 (maybe 2) salt tabs per hour.

I have 500mg sodium per serving in my mix and supplement with S-Caps. I supplement with one S-Cap per hour on very hot days. That's what works for me. I've had situations where I feel cramping coming on and I will take an S-Cap immediately with a good amount of water. Works almost every time!

Steele

I too am worried about the heat - on one recent long run, I lost almost 5 lbs. I have been training in the heat ( as much as possible in NE .........it will be 72* today ) .

My plan is too use IM Perform on the course - I have been training with it and at this point I have had ZERO issues. I will supplement with 2-3 ECAPS per hour, as well as gels on the bike. This plan goes to sh*t if they run out of Perform on the course - I tried Infinit for training and the GI issues I had on the run made my decision to use Perform easy.  If a race director allows this to happen two years in a row..........well then he should be drawn and quartered.

The swim is another concern - I am flying solo for this race, family will be at home....so basically I have no one to stand in line. Getting in line @ 4:30 am is really not making me feel all warm and tingly inside.

If anyone has a blow-up doll, kid, or well behaved dog, say a nice big Mastiff to put in line for me - there would be a nice dinner on me for them. LOL!!

Lori Ames

The IAMTRI site reported Tuesday night that race officials will not allow friends/family to stand in line for 2011.  Apparently, they will have folks patrolling to ensure only race participants are in line.

Al Truscott

Posted By Lori Ames on 04 Aug 2011 10:06 AM

The IAMTRI site reported Tuesday night that race officials will not allow friends/family to stand in line for 2011.  Apparently, they will have folks patrolling to ensure only race participants are in line.

This makes sense. It always struck me as unfair outside assistance, even though it wasn't technically *during* the race. But what about one athlete "sacrificing" herself to save a spot for three others, so they can get the rest in the morning?

Barbara Spitler

I hope that Aimee Hedrigan reads this, as she is racing IMLOU again this year, and last year we took turns in line, so the other could use the bathroom, etc. I plan to be at the swim line by 4:30 ish, and whenever they allow us to start getting in line, I am getting there. If Aimee and I don't find each other, I plan to make a deal with someone in front or behind me, to watch their stuff/hold their place, while they go to transition/bathroom/whatever, if they do the same for me. That is an equitable way to do it, without involving family or friends. Of course, I will have my friend hanging out in the vicinity, to take my water bottle, and whatever else, when we start moving. If we can all find each other prior to race morning, and make a time to get there, we could help each other out in the manner I described. To me, it is most important to get in line first, then hit transition. What do you guys/gals who are doing IMLOU, think? Want to work together on this one?

Barbara Spitler

Also, who else will be in L'Ville Saturday, for the bike course ride?

Michael Johnson

 

Im actually just considering getting in line toward the end and not worry about it. Might be motivating to pass people throughout the day (more than usual)....Since Im a FOP swimmer, I usually just see hundreds pass me. Might be a nice change of pace.

IF you're worried about making the swim or bike cutoff, get in line ASAP

 

Lori Ames

Barb, I am definitely in for some EN teamwork in the swim line.  I would also like to get in line early.

scott dinhofer

count me in for the teamwork on the line, i think if we get everyone together, we can go take care of our bikes in groups..
@ Michael: read Matt S's post on being in the back of the line and therefore setting up to be late on the course and risk them running out of fluids, etc.

Joseph Lombardi

As I very likely will be traveling to L'ville solo I would welcome this teamwork opportunity!....great idea.

liebs45

@Dinhofer dude definitely do a sweat test, so easy to do and such vital info to calculate necessary fluid volume. A few ounce difference over anchor or two no big deal; over 14 hours 48 minutes however (ahem could be devastating. And I learned hard way my Infinit maxed on sodium and still give me nowhere near what I needed; I supplement Infinit with 1 Succeed S-cap every 30 minutes around the clock the whole day. Don't even think about it. Gives me about 1000mg sodium per hour, which based on my practice and my sweat rate works great. Hope this helps. Ps-I use SaltStick brand *dispensers* tucked slickly in both aerobars, expensive at $22 each but keeps capsules dry and easy dispensing at 20mph, looks cool, holds enough for 6 hours between both aerobars, and oh yeah looks cool