Triathletes love obsessing over the weather forecast leading into race day. And for good reason! Weather conditions play a huge role in performance. While you can't control what Mother Nature serves you on race day, you can control how you manage the conditions, both physically and mentally. On this episode, coaches John Mayfield and Elizabeth James give you tips for handling heat, humidity, wind, thunderstorms, and chilly temperatures. They even discuss how you might turn awful weather into a competitive advantage on race day.
TriDot Podcast .094
Take on the Elements: Adapting to Adverse Weather on Race Day
Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.
Andrew Harley: Welcome everyone to the TriDot podcast! We've got a topic that no matter where you are and what your race distance is, today's talk about handling the weather on race day is for you. Joining us for this conversation is pro triathlete and coach Elizabeth James. Elizabeth is a USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach, who quickly rose through the triathlon ranks using TriDot from a beginner, to top age grouper, to a professional triathlete. She’s a Kona and Boston Marathon qualifier who has coached triathletes with TriDot since 2014. Elizabeth, thanks for joining us!
Elizabeth James: My pleasure!
Andrew: Next up is coach John Mayfield. John is a USAT Level II and Ironman U certified coach who leads TriDot’s athlete services, ambassador, and coaching programs. He has coached hundreds of athletes ranging from first-timers to Kona qualifiers and professional triathletes. John has been using TriDot since 2010 and coaching with TriDot since 2012. John Mayfield, are you ready to chat about the weather?
John Mayfield: Yeah, I think it's one of the triathlete's favorite topics. It seems to be interwoven in every race report and every conversation of a race coming up. We like to joke that every race is done under the toughest conditions ever, and that usually revolves around weather. So we have a couple examples of perhaps some races that were toughest conditions ever, so yeah. Ready to talk about weather.
Andrew: Well I'm Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always we'll roll through our warmup question, settle in for our main set weather-related conversation, and then wind things down with our cooldown. Lots of good stuff, let's get to it!
Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.
Andrew: The people, places, and things that become a large part of our focus during the day can also infiltrate their way into our dreams at night once we're asleep. I think we've all had that moment where we've woken up from a dream that is tied to a real-life event and needed to tell someone about it. So for our warmup question today, has triathlon, your swim, bike, and running, ever made its way into your nightly dreams, and if so, tell us about one of your tri dreams. Elizabeth, we'll start with you.
Elizabeth: Okay. Gosh, I'm trying to think of one specifically, but I know that mine are usually nightmares–
Andrew: Oh good.
Elizabeth: –and they usually involve disasters like showing up to transition, and there's no wheels on my bike, or I'm swimming and I'm swimming in place, and I'm just never getting out of the lake. That's an awful one. Eating expired nutrition that makes me sick, stuff like that. So yeah, my tri dreams are not so great. I'd like to frame it in the way that I'm just preparing my mind to adapt and overcome those situations on race day, but not very pleasant dreams on my end here.
Andrew: I can see why, with all of them being that way. I can see why you've kind of put the specifics out of your mind, and you don't have a specific one to recall, because you probably wake up and want to forget about those dreams as quickly as you possibly can, right?
Elizabeth: Yeah, you're like, "Ugh, let's not have that happen!"
Andrew: John Mayfield, have you ever had triathlon make its way into your nightly dreams?
John: Uh, often, but like dreams, I have a hard time remembering anything specific. I'm not one that really does. But one did come to mind. So we're less than a week removed from Ironman Coeur D'Alene, and I do recall vaguely the night after the race, after staring at the Ironman tracker for effectively 17 hours of the day, and circumventing that day with some weather-related issues; a very hot, dry day, hot conditions, I was probably extremely dehydrated and extremely exhausted as I went to bed, and I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember my dreams involving the Ironman tracker. It was something like– I don't even remember. It was just like a recurring theme, like things weren't reconciling or weren't matching, I don't know. It had to do with the Ironman tracker. So yeah, that was my most recent triathlon dream.
Andrew: Very interesting. And what a coach experience to have, right, because a lot of times your race day revolves around tracking your athletes. John, when you and I, or you, me, and Elizabeth, when any of the TriDot staff are at these races, we have all the TriDot athletes in our app so we can know when they're coming on the course and cheer for them as they're going by.So yeah, we end up spending a lot of the day looking at the tracker app, and looking at the map to see where all the athletes are on course. Yeah, that little bugger just made its way into your dream after staring at it all night. That's fascinating.
John: Yeah, 17 hours wasn't enough. I needed some more.
Andrew: The one I'm going to share, and I do have a specific one, because it came to me pretty recently, so I remember the specifics of it, and it kind of inspired this particular question. At the time that we're recording this, at the time this episode is coming out, a lot of TriDot athletes are preparing for Escape from Alcatraz; the famous bucket-list triathlon in San Francisco Bay. Really excited to see a lot of the TriDot athletes there. Man, ever since signing up for that race, every time I go to the pool for a swim session, that Alcatraz swim is in my head. Just a few weeks back I had a very specific dream where for whatever reason, all the TriDot athletes that are racing Alcatraz, we were on the San Francisco beach, looking at the Alcatraz Island. We were all in our wetsuits, and we were going for a shakeout swim. Which is a very normal thing for us to do before a race. Before any of these Ironman events, we get there and we'll do a swim at the race site to see what the water looks like and get acclimated to it. That's a TriDot event we always put on at TriDot at the Races. So a very normal thing to do, but for some reason, we were doing it at midnight. So John Mayfield, you were there in my dream, you were in charge of this shakeout swim, and we're out on the shoreline at midnight, and I remember thinking, "Why the heck are we doing this at midnight? This is really weird, it doesn't feel safe." But you were convinced, we needed to do this at midnight. And one of our athletes, I don't remember who it was, I don't remember a face or anything, started questioning you. "Hey John, why don't we do this tomorrow morning when the sun comes up? Why are we doing this at midnight?" And you were adamant: "No, we need to go for this swim right now." And I'm not confrontational as a person, and so I didn't say a word, but John, I want you to know, in this dream I disagreed with you, and I agreed with this athlete who was confronting you about what a bad idea it was to swim in San Francisco Bay at midnight. In my dream we never ended up getting in the water. We just kind of argued about it on the shore, and eventually I woke up. So that is the most recent occasion of triathlon infiltrating my dreams.
John: Yeah, I think we absolutely need to go for a midnight swim in San Francisco Bay here in a few weeks.
Andrew: Well, you won't find me there, I'll tell you that right now. Alright, so guys, we're gonna throw this question out to you. Make sure you are a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group. Every single day a new podcast episode drops, we post our warmup question out to the group. So go find this question: has triathlon, swim, bike, run, race day, any of it, has it made its way into your nightly dreams? Go find the post today and let us know what you dreamed about.
Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…
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Andrew: Most athletes hope race morning will usher in pleasant conditions for a beautiful day of racing without having to worry too much about freezing, overheating, or getting blown off the course. Sometimes we show up to the swim start with ideal conditions ahead of us, but other times the forecast shows tough conditions are in store. We don't get to choose what weather race day will bring, but we can make smart choices in how we deal with the conditions on the day and John and Elizabeth are here to help us do just that. We're going to talk about the heat, and the cold, and the wind, and how to deal with all of it. But before we talk about anything else, I want us to hit pacing. Because pacing properly in any condition can really just make or break how it goes when you're out there. We've talked about TriDot and RaceX's ability to tweak our paces to the environment for our training sessions and for our race day pacing itself. Talk to us a little bit about how to leverage RaceX pacing to adjust for tougher weather conditions.
Elizabeth: This piece is so critical. As you mentioned we’ve talked on the show before about ENorm or environment normalization. I mean everybody knows that doing a race in 55 degrees is so much different than a 105 degrees and your pacing has to adjust so that you can sustain your best effort in the conditions for that day. One of the things that's fantastic about RaceX is that you aren't guessing about your pacing. You aren't at the starting line thinking, “Man, it’s really hot and humid today. I wonder how much I'm going to need to back off my pace.” Instead you can look at your race execution plan and know, “Hey, okay it's hot and humid today and this is how much I'm going to need to slow down my pace in order to match my best effort in these conditions and therefore perform my best.” So it takes away any guesswork that the conditions may have kind of created with what you're headed into on race day.
Andrew: Yeah and it's is accounting for the temperature, it's accounting for the wind…and John correct me if I’m wrong, but if we check our RaceX prediction and pacing plan weeks out from the race, it's basically referencing the average weather for that time of year for that course. Then once were a day or so before the race is actually pulling in the actual weather report, weather projection, weather forecast for that day. Is that correct?
John: Yeah that's right. So as you look at your RaceX predictions weeks and months out it’s going to be based on the best information that we have and that will be those historical averages. But yes, as race day approaches it does actually switch over from the historical averages to the actual forecast because sometimes there can be big differences. Some races are largely consistent in their weather from year to year. Others can vary widely. So yeah, it gives you a good idea as you're training, as you're doing those race rehearsals and beginning to plan your gear selection and even your hydration and nutrition strategy, all that. But then as that more precise, more current information becomes available it'll switch over and adjust accordingly.
Andrew: Yep, no that’s great. Most of us leading up to the race you know we're checking the weather multiple times during the week and when we see less than ideal conditions on the horizon– when we see it might be really hot, might be really windy, that can start getting in our heads well before we actually wake up on the day of the event. What insight do y’all have on mentally wrapping our heads around the forecasted weather and not being thrown off by it?
John: I think something that's important to remember is every race is unique and there are no two races that are ever going to be the same and largely one of the main factors that makes a race different is the weather. You're never going to have the exact same weather two times in a row. We always want to go into a race, or most times we want to go in and we want to PR. We want to do better either at the same race or we want to do better at a given distance. That's oftentimes how we judge our improvement. We worked hard, we want to do better, we're more experienced, we’re more fit, we want a faster race time. But sometimes that's just not the case. it's not feasible, it's not possible given those conditions. So controlling expectations, defining what is a good race, what is a successful race is important. Oftentimes as triathletes, as those type A personalities we always want to be better. We want to be faster and if we're not faster, if we’re not better then we did something wrong, but that's absolutely not the case. I think controlling those expectations and making sure those expectations are reasonable and in line– so if your 70.3 PR was in 70 degree conditions, chances are if you show up to a race that's going to be 90 to 95 degrees, you have a good chance of not beating that time. You may be more fit. You may perform better given those conditions, but it may not necessarily reflect in the times. So it's important to look beyond just the splits, just beyond the finished time, and have a more objective– it’s hard to say more objective, but a more objective metric for your success. Maybe it's more a subjective metric for a successful race.
Elizabeth: Yeah, I mean definitely triathletes are that type A personality type and they are going to be checking the weather multiple times. I think that's understandable and that’s okay. You do need to know what the conditions are going to be to prepare for the day and how that's going to impact your pacing and your nutritional needs, but I mean as John kind of was getting at here, there's no need to obsess about the weather. That's something that you can't change and I'm sure that many athletes have heard this before but it's so true so we're going to bring it up here again too. Control what you can control. As an example, I recently raced Des Moines 70.3 and the weather forecast for race morning predicted major thunderstorms. So as I'm checking the weather the week before and in the days leading up to it, you can just see that it's like 90% chance of major thunderstorms that morning and I was like, “Oh boy. Okay, that doesn’t look good.” The night before we received information that the race would be delayed at least by an hour. They were already looking at the forecast too, saying, “Yep, there’s no way we’re racing at 6:45 a.m. tomorrow morning.” And they said, “There's additional delays likely. Just tune in to these couple places. We’ll keep you posted.” So at first, you know, no big deal. One hour of extra sleep sounds good to me. So I'm going to bed the night before. I did know that there was a good possibility of the race being canceled, but still followed my pre-race routine as I normally would. I'm going to plan to continue on until I hear otherwise. So then waking up on race morning, I mean got out of bed and there's just this huge thunderclap and it's pouring rain, there's a brilliant lightning show outside and I’m like, “I’m not even sure–
Andrew: You say, “Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.”
Elizabeth: I was like, “I really don't think we're going to race.” It looked so unlikely, but I still proceeded to eat breakfast, put on my race kit. I'm like, “Alright, positive mindset.” We're still going to prepare and just wait for the official announcement and then when additional delays were announced it's like, “Okay, now we’ve got to adjust.” So found out that it was going to be delayed an additional time. I ate a second breakfast. I had already burned through the first breakfast and needed some more calories. I started doing some dynamic exercises in our rental apartment just to kind of start my warm up. Then we found out that it would be delayed, but we would be able to race. So we had a two and a half hour delay, but it would be quick transition. Basically it's like go pump up your tires and we're going to get started. Even arriving at transition I had no idea how the delays were going to impact the setup of the race. We didn't know if we were just headed into a time trial bike start and then we'd have a run. We didn't know if it was swim, bike, run. It’s like, “Do I grab my speed suit yet? Do I need my cap and goggles?” I mean again, control what you can. We had no idea how that was going to impact the course, but you just go and prepare and wait for the official announcements. We did end up being able to race. Due to that delayed start we had a full distance swim, half the bike course, and then the half marathon at the end. But this was a really good experience for me in just adapting to the situation and controlling the parts of the morning that I could, making sure that I was still prepared by adjusting my nutrition, making sure that I was warmed up and ready to go even with that quick delayed start and change of course on the day.
Andrew: Yeah, I mean and talk about weather conditions that can get in your head. When you know there's potential for it to be storming and you don't even know what your race is going to look like or if it's going to happen. I mean, that I can be in your head all week. That can be in your head the night before. That can be in your head the morning of. You can walk into that scenario totally thrown out of sorts, and then boom. You actually have a swim, bike, run race to do and you're already mentally defeated before it even starts. But you were able to keep yourself calm, keep yourself going through the motions of the morning as if it was a normal race day, controlling what you can control, and I guess that's the message for athletes. If you're looking at the forecast and it says 100 degrees on race day when you were expecting 70, or stormy, or cloudy, or whatever. Just control what you can control, go through the motions like it's any other race day, and do what you can when you get out there. That's great stuff Elizabeth. Thanks.
Elizabeth: To take another viewpoint on this, less than ideal weather conditions could actually play to your advantage if you are prepared both physically and mentally. I think that the hot and humid day that I had at Ironman in Chattanooga in 2017 likely played into my Kona qualification there. I mean, yes it was hot and it certainly affected my pacing, but it was hot for everybody and while I slowed down some, I didn't slow down as much as some of the other competitors. So if you race well in the heat, you may have an opportunity to place higher and get a qualification spot in hot and humid conditions. If you race well in cold temperatures and have cold race day temperatures, then take advantage of that. But I'd say no matter what the weather is, keep that positive mindset and don't let the weather derail you. All of your competitors are going to be facing the same conditions and if you just focus on controlling what you can control instead of stressing over the weather, you're going to be at a mental advantage over your competition.
Andrew: I really want us to just walk through heat, cold, winds; you know some of the big, major things that athletes are going to face whether wise on race day. So let's talk about heat for a little bit because this is the one that can really, really throw a kink in our race plan and pacing. Racing in the heat we know it's all about hydration and it's all about doing whatever it takes to stay as cool as possible. What tips do you both share with your athletes on accomplishing those tasks on a hot day?
Elizabeth: What you mentioned there about staying cool, do what you can to keep your core temperature cool. Go into the event properly hydrated and make sure that you're choosing appropriate gear for the conditions. Then during the event itself stick to your hydration plan on the bike and consider grabbing extra bottles of water at the aid station just to kind of pour over yourself and keep yourself cool as well. On the run utilize the aid stations for both hydration and cooling protocols such as using cold towels or sponges or ice; kind of whatever there is available. Then companies now are making fantastic cooling gear such as arm sleeves or hats with kind of that longer piece of fabric in the back to cover your neck. So utilizing some of those pieces of gear may be very appropriate as well if you know that it's going to be a hot or very, very sunny day. One of the things that I think is a tip that maybe is not as thought out is knowing the spacing between aid stations and how that relates to your nutrition plan. For example, my first 70.3 was kind of a local race and it was over a 100 degrees and the run aid stations were 5K apart from each other.
Andrew: Wow! That's a ways.
Elizabeth: So that can be a ways. I carried a bottle with me that day and that ended up being a very competitive advantage for me because I was able to hydrate more often versus athletes that were just going– at the aid stations they were like, “Oh my gosh! When’s the next one?” So if they didn't look ahead of time and know that they had a 5K to run in between each of those aid stations to get a little more hydration and it's over 100 degrees, a lot of them weren't able to stick to their nutrition plan anymore. Then I guess kind of the last step I’ll say is if you know that you're going to be racing in a hot environment, you can help prepare your body ahead of time by some heat accommodation practice. So kind of knowing what it's going to be like and then preparing for that ahead of time too.
Andrew: Yeah and for more tips on how to do just that we have podcasts episode 34 which is called Keep Your Cool: How to Handle the Heat While Training. We talk quite a bit about kind of easing yourself into some hot training sessions, which training sessions it's best to do that with so that your body can kind of get used to being out there in the heat. So to do that in training before you get out there on race day is great. Elizabeth, I always carry a handheld water bottle anyway. I do that on long training rides so I’m just used to it and I just like, even if aid stations are well supported and are only a mile apart at a big major race– I don't know. I just like being able to take a sip whenever I want to take a sip and so I just always carry one anyway. But a lot of great tips there. John, what do you tell your athletes to stay hydrated and stay cool?
John: Largely the same thing that Elizabeth said. It really starts the day before the race with your gear selections. There are certain things that you can do. Some of those things that she mentioned that can help offset the effects of the heat, help deal with that, and then it also starts with the swim which is oftentimes something people don't think about, but especially if you have a cold water race followed by the heat…a warm event. Even which wetsuit you wear or maybe it has to do with whatever swim apparel that you're wearing, because you can come out of the swim warmer or cooler based on that– sometimes. If it's not wetsuit legal and you're swimming in a warm body of water there's really nothing you can do about that, but sometimes if you have that decision between a full sleeve suit and a sleeveless suit or a wetsuit in a swim skin that sort of thing, that can help set that early precedent of where your temperature is going to be. What's your core temperature when you come out of the water? Because again, as Elizabeth mentioned that’s the critical component in racing in the heat is controlling your core temperature. So even thinking about that of, what's my core temperature when I exit the swim? Then from there on the bike always take a cold bottle. So if you're relying on those aid stations for your nutrition, always– it doesn't matter if you still have 3/4 of a bottle. Discard that one and take a cold one. Then I always recommend, regardless of what your nutrition plan is, to take cold water every opportunity that you have in an aid station. Take a cold water bottle even if it's just to spray your body which I always recommend especially in the heat. Hit your face, hit your back, get as much of your body wet with that cold water as possible and then be sure to take a couple of swigs of that cold water. Get that down as well. So using that cold water to cool your outside as well as your inside. And then from there, drink like it's your job. This is something that I struggle with. That’s a mantra that I tell myself and I have alerts set on my bike computer to remind me to drink. It sounds counterintuitive, but there are times where I get there even in the heat and I get behind them on my nutrition, I get behind on my hydration because I almost forget to drink. So for me something that I do is I have that timer that goes off. I'm drinking in between, but then I always make sure that every time that alert goes off– it's set for me every 15 minutes, I'm gonna take a pretty good pull on my water bottle or my nutrition just so that every 15 minutes I'm sure to take in a significant amount. Then I also use that to check on my nutrition protocol so if I'm trying to take in a bottle an hour, I know every time that 15 minute timer goes off I need to be a quarter of the way through that particular bottle. That's something that again– hydrate, take in the nutrition like it's my job. Oftentimes that's kind of the one thing that's a little more abstract in your race plan. You know, your power is what it is and you're constantly monitoring your power, you're constantly monitoring your cadence and your heart rate and I think that's how nutrition and hydration can sometimes slip your mind. It’s like, “Oh, how long has it been since I last took a drink? Well, I don’t really know. I was navigating this technical part of the course or climbing a hill or a fighting headwind,” all these different things that can distract us. So make sure– because when you get behind it is so hard if not almost impossible to catch up and get back on. So staying ahead of that is really critical.
Andrew: John, you said something along those lines. You said something really interesting to me when we were in Coeur d’Alene for Ironman Coeur d’Alene. We went out there for the swim start. We went out there and saw a lot of athletes go through T1 and once the majority of our athletes were on the bike course, you know they're out there for 5, 6, 7, 8 hours, you and I went back to the hotel, put on our run clothes, went for a nice 45 minute jog, and it was already– it wasn’t at the hottest part of the day, but it was already in probably the, what would you say, maybe low 90s. It was pretty warm, but it felt nice outside. It didn't feel swelteringly hot yet and so you and I were running down this path in Coeur d’Alene, we ran under a bridge where you could see some of the cyclists going over. Some of them were coming in from the first lap, some of them were going out on their second, but we were seeing cyclists go over this bridge and at that particular moment it was warm, but it felt nice out. And you said something to me that I'd never thought about. You were like, “I wonder how many these athletes are under hydrating right now because they woke up this morning, they knew it was going to be a 100 degrees, they knew it was going to be a hot day, but they got out on the bike course and they're like huh it feels kind of nice outside right now. Maybe I don't need to take in as much fluids as I initially thought I would need to.” So for the first potentially 30, 40, 50, 60 miles the bike they may not have been drinking as if it was going to become a 100 degrees that day because in that moment their brain was tricking them into the thinking they felt okay, but they weren't thinking about the hours from then where they were going to be dehydrated in the 100 degrees running the marathon. So even if…I say all that to say, a very concrete example to say even if you feel like in the moment, “Oh I'm comfortable. I'm okay. I don't need to be drinking. I don't need to be taking in extra electrolytes like maybe I thought I was going to.” Be thinking ahead. Be thinking to the next step of the race. Be thinking to what the temperature is supposed to be maybe an hour or two or three from now because it can be, if you're racing long course or middle distance, it can be a long day, right?
John: Yeah. So even like I was saying, that was a cool water swim. The water temperature was around 70 degrees I believe. So you can come out of the water nice and cool. There was very low humidity and the day started relatively cool. I think it probably started around 70 degrees, so the pre noon temperatures weren't that high. When you're moving– if you’re descending those hills in Coeur d’Alene you're probably doing 20, 30, 40 miles an hour at times and that's going to cool you off. You have that ambient cooling from just your natural speed of moving. That's going to keep you cool, but it also can be deceiving. So on those sunny days the sun is still hitting you whether you feel it. That dry air is still causing the hydration and your moisture in your body to evaporate, so yeah it's really easy for that to be kind of deceptive. Again you're thinking about other things. That is where having that dialed in plan is so critical and then having the discipline to stick to that plan regardless of how you feel. You need to have the flexibility to modify the plan, but stick to it until it's not working and in that case you know your plan is dialed in, you know your plan works so that's important to maintain that. Something you mentioned that's important too, being electrolytes. That's something too that oftentimes athletes can get behind on, but are critical for performance specifically salt, but also the other electrolytes as well. That should be part of that plan and as long as you're sticking to that plan you're going to be fine. Then when you get out on the run, one thing that is important to do, I refer to it as hiding from the sun. For me I'm blonde hair, blue eyed, fair skin. The sun and I do not get along so I do everything I can to minimize my exposure to the sun. So that starts with covering skin. For me I loved years ago when we started adding sleeves to our kits and then even using things like arm sleeves that provide covering from the sun. A hat. Sometimes even a neck covering. I think Elizabeth mentioned some of those things that just reducing the amount of skin that's exposed to the sun can help with that. Then also using sunscreen. Ice can be critical. There are a lot of different things that you can do with ice that can help control your core temperature, especially out there on the run course. I always recommended in a hot race taking as much ice as possible especially because you don't know how long it's gonna last. There have been lots of races where second, third loop or back half of the run they may be running out of ice. The ice may have been melted. So I take it as early as you can, take it as often as you can and then from there just shove it everywhere. Anywhere that you can shove ice, shove ice. Some of the more practical and effective places are under your cap. Keeping your head cool is important, so shoving some ice under your cap is great. In your jersey or ladies and in the sports bra is great. Then everyone's favorite, down the pants. It really does work. That's one of those like triathlete tricks. That's something none of us have any shame in doing.
Andrew: Talk about cooling down your core.
John: Yeah exactly! Think about wading into a cool pool, that's when it gets hard. It's because there's a lot of blood vessels down there and that's really how ice works and really even having a wet kit or cold kit. It's all about having the blood vessels at the skin level be able to cool. So we talk about that's why we have an increased heart rate in the heat is the body is reallocating blood to the surface of the skin so that heat can dissipate through the skin. That's what you're doing is helping that process along. That's why having things like the arm sleeves that you can keep wet, having ice on the skin is going to help dissipate that heat through there, and anywhere you have a large density of blood vessels like the crotch, like the head it’s going to work that much more effectively. Another great opportunity is, I love to hold in my fist. Again, there's blood vessels there that can help with that and to me it just feels cool. I think that's one of those places where you really feel almost a tangible benefit of that ice is I like to have a fistful. Then be sure to consume some as well. You always want to– you want to cool from the outside and cool from the inside as well. So take that cold water and then every chance I get in aid station I chomp on some ice, get as much of that down as possible. For me the biggest treat is taking a cup of cola and a cup of ice and pouring them together and that's kind of my mid-race cocktail that keeps me going from aid station to aid station. Then something– a bit of a tip that becomes somewhat of a last resort is especially, it's really only practical at Ironman racing when you’re out there all day, sunset can provide some relief. If it's really hot in the afternoon, just do what you can to survive to sundown. What I usually mean by that is stay up on your hydration, stay up on your nutrition so that when the sun starts to get low in the sky the shadows are going to get longer, the temperatures begin to drop. Now it may be more conducive to picking up your pace. So do what you can to prepare for that time and just stay patient and see that perhaps when those temperatures begin to drop, the shadows get a little longer, now you may be able to pick up the pace and close out the race strong.
Andrew: We already talked a little bit about RaceX adjusting our pacing for the heat.So in theory, hit those paces and see how it goes. But within that, everybody's body responds differently in the heat regardless of your fitness level. What are some of the signs that we should back off our pace even more or should maybe start employing a run/walk method to, John, to do what you're saying to just you know live from one hour to the next, one mile to the next on those long courses in the heat?
John: So an elevated heart rate is going to be an early indicator. Oftentimes that’s going to be your body's response to the heat so you'll be able to see that. As you start in those first couple miles of the race if you're expecting a heart rate of X and now you look at your watch and all of a sudden you're at a heart rate of X plus some amount, that you're higher. Effectively your body's working harder than it normally is. A lot of that has to do with the process that I just mentioned where instead of pumping blood to your working muscles your body is having to pump blood to the surface of the skin to dissipate that heat because your body has to maintain a healthy core temperature. Your body is not going to allow itself to overheat to a dangerous level. So that process is happening automatically and that elevated heart rate is going to be indicative that that's going on. So you’ll know that your body is working hard to maintain that core temperature and you're going to need to do what you can to assist which kind of leads to the next point. At some point your body is going to have a natural governor that's not going to require you to push beyond a certain point. I've hit this lots of times and I know even in training and racing it's there. It's a little different for everyone and so once you begin to experience that, that your body just won't let you push anymore. It's kind of hard to describe, but once you hit it it's one of the things you know when you know. You'll see that on the race course a lot that at some point you just can't go anymore. Your body is not allowing you to push. Your heart rate may be good, your energy level may be good, but it's just, it's hot and you just can't push anymore. Then the obvious things like when you become lightheaded, nauseous, or once you stop sweating, those are signs that not only do you need to back off your pace, but more so need to really think about safety and make sure that you're not doing actual harm to your body.
Andrew: Okay. That's a lot of coverage on talking about the heat. I hope there's a lot of helpful tidbits for y’all in there for the next time you go into a hot race. But let's swing the other way and let's talk about what to do when it's cold. You know, we may not think abnormally cold temperatures are as scary as the extreme heat, but a chilly day can certainly hinder our performance if we're not ready for it. Elizabeth, how can athletes best deal with chilly conditions?
Elizabeth: Well Andrew, let me just first say that I don't think you've lived far enough north to say that cold temperatures aren't as scary because there can be some scary things with cold temperatures north. So Florida, Texas I don't think that cuts it. But no, I mean as we're talking about the cold I would say one of my first recommendations would be to dress appropriately. You don't want to be racing where you're so cold that you're shivering, but on the other side of that you don't want to put on so many layers that you are overdressed and you actually start to overheat even when the temperatures are cooler outside. And this is going to be very individual. So, you know I talked about Boston 2018 earlier and how just that was freezing cold for me. I needed long pants, long sleeves, gloves to stay warm enough that day, but my training partner was fine in shorts, a singlet, and gloves. So you know, you're going to need to figure out what works for you. I get out of the water on a chilly day for a triathlon and I 100% need gloves in order to be able to function and shift gears and brake, but not everybody does and by training in a variety of conditions you're going to have an idea of what's appropriate for you and how you can dress according to the weather. The other thing, and this one's a big one, is make sure that you're still sticking to your nutrition plan and hydration is–
Andrew: Yeah, great point.
Elizabeth: –critically important even when it's chilly outside. I mean you guys were even just talking about how it was 70 at the beginning of the bike course in Coeur d’Alene and so people may have been under hydrating there, but when it's even colder sometimes you just don't even want to drink water because they're like, “oh no.”
Andrew: Yeah, you forget about it. You have to make yourself.
Elizabeth: Yeah. It's 20 degrees and why would I want to drink water? But you still need to. You’re still putting out the effort, you're still sweating, and I think a number of athletes actually get themselves into trouble in cooler environments because they aren't hydrating enough. They aren't sticking to their nutrition plan because they maybe don't have that same kind of thirst monitor that's going off and going, “Oh my gosh, it’s hot! Make sure you drink, drink, drink.” And that can get them into trouble in a race environment where it’s a little cooler.
John: So I’ve already been called out as a Texan who doesn’t really race in the cold that much, and she mentioned 20 degrees which I’m like, “You don’t race when it’s 20 degrees outside!”
Andrew: I don’t go outside when it’s 20 degrees.
John: Exactly! I actually got myself in trouble one time racing Ironman Louisville. The swim was canceled. It was a time trial bike start and so we were in line. I think it took me over an hour for me to start and temperatures were in the low 40s. So that's cold for me and I was bundled up. I had leg warmers and multiple layers just to stay warm and then I went out on the bike and I think especially as I rode through the Ironman Louisville course which is largely shaded, a pretty fast course, I was moving at a pretty good pace. I didn’t necessarily feel or perceive that the temperatures were rising and it really wasn’t until I was coming into T2 and I was running with my bike that I felt hot for the first time and I actually recall asking a volunteer, I was like, “Hey is it hot?” And he was like, “Yeah. It’s like almost 80 degrees.” And I was like…I knew then I was in trouble because I was now behind. I was fueling and hydrating based on 40 degrees as Elizabeth mentioned. I wasn’t hydrating for 80. So when I got out on that run course I was behind, I was hot, and I definitely paid for it. I did not have a good run because I didn’t prepare for that while I was out on the bike.
Andrew: Elizabeth, I know you in the past have recommended hand warmers in your gloves for a chilly day. I think back to…John I know you were there. I was not there, but there was one year Galveston 70.3 was very, very cold and a lot of my buddies raced it and they were like, “Man it was so cold that when we got into T2 we had to have volunteers help us unclip our helmet straps to get our helmet off because our hands were so numb, fingers were so numb.” So Elizabeth, you take those and put them inside your cycling gloves, right? Those little hand warmers?
Elizabeth: I do. Yep.
Andrew: Yep. So another tip there. It sounds like the trick to cold weather racing is just layering appropriately, knowing what’s the best fit for you at a certain temperature. But talk to me about pacing on a cold day. I mean, it makes a ton of sense that a hot day will knock us off our ideal paces. Does cold weather have a similar effect? How much should we expect our splits and paces to be impacted by lower temps?
Elizabeth: Cold weather is still certainly going to impact you, but not in the same way and not to the same degree. Oh gosh, no pun intended there. That was unintentional guys.
Andrew: Boo!
Elizabeth: We need Raines here. He would have put that in purposefully. But yeah, it’s not going to impact you in the same way the heat will. So when you’re really hot the body is working hard to keep you cool and in cool temperatures, obviously, the body doesn’t need to do that. You’re already cold. Instead in cooler temperatures it’s often important to kind of raise your core temperature with a proper warmup and then as we mentioned, dress appropriately so that you can keep that core temperature raised while you're racing without overheating as well. So depending on how cold it gets, certainly that can have an effect on your pace. Down in Texas we don’t have the negative temperatures, but further north where I used to live and then for the athletes even further north of South Dakota, so up in Canada and such, they will be impacted by those negative degree temperatures as they’re going outside.
Andrew: So past the heat and the cold, there’s one more weather condition that can really throw triathletes for a loop and that is the wind. A windy day can be a fickle beast. Sometimes it’s a steady wind blowing in the same direction throughout the entire race. Sometimes it swirls and shifts and gusts in different directions. Talk to us about adjusting our pacing strategy for biking and running in and out of headwinds, crosswinds, and tailwinds.
Elizabeth: This is where using a power meter for your race pacing on the bike is an excellent tool. Your output, your power should follow your pacing plan regardless of the wind. So if you’re supposed to hold 200 watts, you’re holding 200 watts whether there’s no wind or there’s a nasty headwind. Certainly that’s going to affect your bike split and the time that you’re out there riding will vary, but the energy that you spend should still kind of follow that same power pacing plan that you had. In Ironman Texas 2017 I remember distinctly that, oh gosh, going out was fantastic. Just a major tailwind and coming back into transition was miserable, just terrible headwind and I actually switched my bike computer screen only to power and cadence because I’ve got a number of metrics up there, but I just knew that my speed was drastically dropping, but I also knew that if I tried to push harder beyond what I was supposed to for my power that that would really compromise my run. So I was able to hold the watts that I was supposed to and had a fantastic run off the bike that day.
John: So Elizabeth mentioned having the power display, but also cadence and that’s one thing where as she mentioned your power’s not really going to deviate based on the wind, but varying cadence can help mitigate some of those. For me I like to have a little lower cadence when I’m headed into a headwind, so kind of grinding into that wind. Then if I have that tailwind it’s a little higher cadence. That’s the one modification that I will make when riding in the wind. The power doesn’t change. The heart rate zones are still there, but I will vary my cadence a little bit. So again, I tend to drop the cadence lower when I’m in a headwind or moreso a sidewind so kind of when the wind is hurting I’ll drop the cadence and then if the wind is helping, tailwind, I’ll have a higher cadence that I’ll hold.
Andrew: So a windy day affects us the most on the bike. There’s no question about that. What do you say to your athletes just to kind of help them prepare mentally and physically heading into a windy bike leg?
Elizabeth: Ride outside and this is coming from somebody that absolutely loves the trainer. The trainer and I are good friends, but really. Ride outside. Face the wind. Conquer the wind. Get comfortable riding in the wind. Those experiences are going to give you confidence in your ability to handle the wind on race day.
Andrew: Yeah, no. That’s a great point Elizabeth. I too love the trainer. I love the predictability of it. I love the comfort of not having to worry about what the weather is outside, but especially those Saturday bike sessions that are over an hour, especially as you’re getting closer to race day and you’ve got those race rehearsals and you’ve got the stamina rides that are almost as long as a race rehearsal, man even if the weather is bad– unless there’s lightning because we’ve talked about how I do in lightning– I like to get outside for those because it does really mentally help you know, “Okay, hey. I’ve been through this wind before. I’ve been through a drizzly day before. I’ve been there, done that, and I’ve faced it and I can do so on race day.” So yeah, good stuff there. John, what do you tell your athletes?
John: Very similar. It’s about embracing it in training. As much as we would love to have a perpetual tailwind, that’s just not the case. That’s not reality. It really does help to build that tenacity and grit factor of dealing with it. It’s not fun. It’s not particularly enjoyable, but I know it’s going to make me better. So it’s about embracing that and having that attitude or approach that this is probably going to be what I’m going to experience on race day so it’s beneficial to me to train with it. Then as we mentioned before, preparations leading into the event. The biggest thing is generally wheels. If you have the flexibility in the wheelset that you have that needs to be taken into consideration, especially the lighter riders are going to experience a bigger impact of the wind on those deeper wheelsets. Then a question that comes up a lot, a debate on windy conditions, is a disk a good idea? Really the reality is in most conditions the disk is going to be the fastest and the disk is going to be safe. So oftentimes in the high winds, I often think, “Oh, it’s going to be windy out. Do I ride the disk or do I not?” Kona is the only race that I’m aware of that does not allow for a disk wheel and in that race you’re out in the middle of the ocean. So it’s extremely windy there, but the vast majority of other races the disk is going to be the fastest and there’s actually evidence that that rear disk can provide stability of the front wheel as well. So it actually can be even more stable than a traditional wheel. The back is not hinged like the front and the majority of the rider’s weight is on that rear wheel so it’s going to be much more stable. Oftentimes it’s much more a question of which front wheel to use. So stick with the deep wheels, stick with the disk in the back, and really pay more attention to the front where you don’t have as much weight and it’s also hinged. That’s going to be a much bigger impact headed into race day.
Andrew: Yeah, because that’s what always on a windy day, that’s what grabs you is the front. You can feel that front wheel trying to turn underneath your elbows. Yeah, so great point there John. The windiest race I’ve done…I did a duathlon in February at Texas Motor Speedway. Now Texas Motor Speedway is just outside of Ft. Worth, Texas. There is nothing around Texas Motor Speedway and so it’s just open to the wind. If it’s a little bit windy in town, it’s a lot a bit windy at Texas Motor Speedway. If it’s a lot a bit windy in town, it is extremely windy at Texas Motor Speedway and I did a duathlon there where the forecasted winds for the day were 25-30 miles an hour with gusts up to 40 and you felt every single bit of that. I remember moments heading into the wind up a slight hill where I was going 11 miles an hour and that was the best I could do just grinding. But one thing that I picked up in that race that I did not anticipate that I’ll throw in here as a quick tip…I did not anticipate my stuff in transition getting blown to hell. I got into T2 off the bike and my run stuff was everywhere. I had a sock a couple bikes down. I had a hat that I didn’t even find until after the race because it had gotten blown all the way to the edge of transition. So if you’re showing up to a windy race, you know it’s going to be a little bit gusty, maybe keep all your run stuff inside of a bag or keep something weighted down on your transition towel. Whatever you’re using just be aware that you need to take some sort of measure to keep that in your place in transition and not roll into transition and have it be all over the place.
John: Another thing you need to have a game plan for is what if it rains on race day? Obviously sometimes we have an idea if it’s going to rain, sometimes not. Sometimes the forecast is pretty conclusive. Other times it sneaks up on you and it’s one of those things that you need to be aware of. Sometimes it has a larger impact on your race day than others. The biggest thing is usually a safety concern primarily on the bike. Sometimes if it’s raining hard enough it can have implications to the swim if they can’t get the safety vehicles, the boats out on the water, and that sort of thing. If the life guards can’t see the swimmers they may shorten the swim, they may cancel the swim, but nothing really you can do about that other than just be flexible and roll with it. The biggest thing is safety on the bike. So what you can do there is drop a few pounds of pressure out of your tires, anywhere from 5 to 10 pounds is usually sufficient for that. So you don’t want them too low, but by dropping a little bit of pressure you increase a little bit of the surface area that is making contact with the road. So a little bit more contact of the rubber to the road is going to give you a little better traction on those wet roads. Also be cognizant of what you’re encountering. So watch out for things like metal manhole covers or painted stripes. Those are going to tend to be slicker. Obviously be careful going around turns and corners, that sort of thing. Then just be aware that your glasses may fog up, glasses may be wet. If you have a visor your vision may be impaired. So again, it’s primarily safety related. The one time where it could be more of a concern is if you’re already on a relatively cool day and then the rain would come along and go from cool to cold. So you may need to make adjustments there. Maybe it’s having something like a rain jacket in personal needs bag or in transition, something like that to help keep you dry. A lot of times we tend to race in the warmer months where the cooling effect of rain can often be a welcome relief. It can be kind of nasty. I hate riding my bike in the rain. I sometimes enjoy running in the rain. I don’t enjoy running in wet shoes, but I do enjoy running when it’s cool. So sometimes that rain can be a blessing especially on the run course.
Andrew: Last question I want to ask about the wind is the swim. Because the swim can very much be affected by the wind just like the bike and run. You wouldn’t necessarily think it as much, but windy days can affect the conditions out there on the swim course. What should we be aware of in the water on a windy day?
Elizabeth: Well, I’m glad that you brought this up because honestly for me when I look at the wind I’m thinking a little bit more about the swim conditions–
Andrew: Interesting.
Elizabeth: –than the bike conditions and that’s just because the bike is a better strength of mine than the swim is and so I’m always thinking, “Okay, if that’s super windy, how’s that going to affect the water that I’m going to be in? What are the waves going to be like?” So yeah, this is kind of something that I consider. It may make sighting much more difficult. You may go to sight, you may not be able to see the buoy on your first sighting attempt. So you may need to sight again or sight more often just to make sure that you’re staying on course. This may also kind of impact how often or where you need to breathe. So if you are typically breathing just on one side as you’re racing the swim, and that’s the side that the waves are coming toward you from then you may need to adjust your breathing as well. A couple things there that just come to mind. Again, this is where practicing in a number of conditions is important. So having the experience of swimming in choppy conditions and knowing how you’re going to handle water that’s not crystal clear and super flat.
Andrew: Yeah, I know for me in open water swimming on a windy day you usually find that the waves might come from one direction so yeah, you’ve got to adjust the way you’re breathing. You’ve got to adjust maybe how often you’re sighting. So great stuff there Elizabeth. I would encourage people in the pool, practice bilateral breathing because it’s going to really help you on those windy days out on open water. So just to land the plane today, we talked a lot about different specific weather conditions and how to navigate those days. But none of us head into a race wanting to DNF. Most of us are jumping into the water fully intending to finish what we started, but the weather can get real dangerous real fast depending on how our body is responding. We talked about some of our athletes in Coeur d’Alene that made the right call in calling it quits on that day with the way their body was responding to the heat. For other athletes that might find themselves in some tough conditions and might find their body not handling it very well, what are some of the signs that we should be on the lookout for that it might be time to call it quits and withdraw as opposed to pressing on?
Elizabeth: Yeah, this is a good question because it sounds cliche, but really safety first. You should know the signs and symptoms of heat stroke. You should know the signs and symptoms of hypothermia. You should know the signs and symptoms of hyponatremia. So you know, heat, cold, making sure that you have enough electrolytes in your body. All of that is super important. You want to be able to finish what you started and if your body is capable of doing so, I absolutely encourage you to do that even if it’s not the day and the time you may have hoped for. But this sport is just so amazing and you don’t want to do anything that compromises your opportunity to race another day. You don’t want to hurt yourself in a way that has you sidelined for an extended period of time. You don’t want to push yourself in a way that puts your health at risk. So really, just be safe out there. Know some of those major warning signs to look out for and don’t be ashamed to put your health first.
Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.
Andrew: So normally on the cool down for our episodes I like to switch up the topic and do something a little bit different from what we did on the main set. But today, I have one more question geared towards racing in the heat that I want to ask Coach John Mayfield. But before I do I want to give a quick shoutout to all of our athletes that raced at Ironman Coeur d’Alene. At the time of this recording we are just a few weeks removed from cheering on TriDot athletes up in Idaho and we referenced that race just a little bit on the episode today since it was so recent. But to all of our athletes who are out there racing whether you finish the race or not we have nothing but love and respect for the effort that you put forth out there on course. We loved rooting for you and gosh, what a tough, tough day it was at Ironman. To those of you that finished, congratulations and to those of you who had to withdraw because of the weather and the conditions of the day kudos for giving it your best shot and I cannot wait to see all of you take another crack at Ironman sometime soon. I am quite sure knowing how poorly my body handles the heat of that magnitude I very well may have had to withdraw from that one as well. So we had long planned on doing an episode about racing in tough weather conditions. It was on our to-do list. We were going to hit this topic eventually, but standing on course and watching our Coeur d’Alene athletes, John and I just looked at each other and said, “You know what, let’s talk about this ASAP.” So I really hope it benefits some folks the next time the weather is not in your favor. So John, just to close us out today I just wanted to hear some of your thoughts and some of your reflections from spectating all day at Coeur d’Alene and maybe what are a few of the lessons that we can take away from what you saw in the tough conditions of that race?
John: So we do these race recon webinars five weeks out from every Ironman race and I recall on that webinar discussing the fact that the expected temperature for late June in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is somewhere in the mid 70s and I was so looking forward to escaping Texas in June and getting up there to experience 75 degrees. I haven’t had a high of 75 in months so I was really looking forward to that and I know the athletes, some of them even signed up for the race because of that, because of that expected temperature. So it was a huge deal when a historic heat wave came in and it was no secret to anyone that the forecast was now calling for potentially triple digit and beyond. Oftentimes Coeur d’Alene is known moreso for a relatively challenging bike course, but there was hardly anybody after the race talking about how hard the hills were. It was all about the heat. So there were several takeaways that I think were really important and lessons to learn from that day. So the first one being preparation. I saw a lot of this. There was a lot of conversation in the Facebook groups leading into the race of “What do we do?” and there were tips like we’ve discussed both in preparation of gear, preparation of pacing, hydration, nutrition, all those things taken into consideration. So it really starts in advance of knowing what you’re in for and doing everything that you can in advance to deal with it. I’m sure that there probably wasn’t anyone that didn’t know it was going to be 100 degrees on race day. There probably wasn’t anyone that didn’t make any adjustments, but yeah. If you were 0 for 2 on those you paid dearly. It was hard enough with advanced knowledge and the ability to prepare, but only that much more for those that didn’t. Attitude was huge. I think there were expectations that were adjusted and as we discussed before...so your time at Ironman Coeur d’Alene when it was going to be 75 degrees is no longer really even on the table. No one was going to be as fast on race day when it was 100 degrees as when we were looking at a high of 75. That 25 degree delta is massive. You simply can’t do the same time at 75 as you can at 100. So adjusting the expectations and then maintaining the attitude as well. I saw a lot of that which was really cool in the athletes that we interfaced with leading into the race. They knew that it was going to be a struggle. They knew it was going to be a really tough day and it really became about embracing that and making the most of it. Then just don’t give up. I think that was something that was really demonstrated on race day. I can only imagine how hard it was. I have never done a race that was that difficult. I’ve done several Ironman races. I’ve done lots of hot races, but man. Props to everyone that was out there on that course and out there on the course for a long time and just never gave up. I think there were a lot of lessons out of Coeur d’Alene and a lot of inspiration. So just a lot of respect and props to everyone who took on that race and maintained a great attitude and adjusted their expectations accordingly.
Andrew: My few takeaways– the first one is this, do whatever it takes. When it’s a hot day, when it’s a windy day, I mean do whatever it takes to keep yourself moving. We saw athletes, John, wearing all sorts of different hat and shirt and clothing combinations to keep their skin covered. We saw athletes with sunscreen thicker than I’ve ever seen on toddlers at the beach. We saw people– one of them I’m not going to name a name, but there was one Elizabeth James coached athlete who came out of T1 on her bike and she was just slathered in sunscreen on her face, but hey she didn’t burn.
Elizabeth: She did not get sunburnt. Yeah.
Andrew: Yeah, she did not get sunburnt.
Elizabeth: She did fantastic!
Andrew: Yeah, so it’s just– there were athletes that were taking 15, 20, 25 minutes in T2 just to lay on the grass in the shade to bring their core body temperature down before they started the run. When you get into a day like that, do whatever it takes to keep yourself moving and to keep yourself grinding and to give yourself a shot at making it to the finish line.
Well, that’s it for today folks. I want to thank Coach John Mayfield and pro triathlete Elizabeth James for helping us face whatever weather race day throws our way. Enjoying the show? Have any questions or topics you’d like to hear us talk about? Head to TriDot.com/podcast and click on leave us a voicemail to let us know what you’re thinking. We’ll do it again soon. Until then, Happy Training!
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