Heat adaption/acclimation training

Training
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Anyone here incorporating heat acclimation training to their, well, training?

Two questions, what do you do practically to incorporate into your protocol of adaption/acclimation?

And, do you monitor your HR data during the workout?

For me, the best environment I have is to close all doors to the garage, which faces North West so it cooks in the afternoon sun, I wear basically winter warm riding gear with one extra layer on the body, winter skully, no fan, and ensure I have 1,5L plain water and 700ml of 89g carb mix (I make my own mix 70g 1:0.8 with maltodextrin and fructose + sodium citrate + 1 scoop of another product for taste) for my 90-120 minute endurance rides.

I do this for 5 days straight, ride outdoors Saturday and rest Sunday, rinse repeat for another two weeks (3 in total). The endurance sessions (3 per week) thereafter are all heat protocoled. The last 3 week block I change up to heat protocol the VO2/HIIT type sessions leading up to a two week taper before race.

The 2 recovery one week blocks between the 3 three week training blocks are also heat adapted. Gravel Grind(er)ing and Rabbit Mountain in the heat is another workout all by themselves.

Itā€™s notable the difference a fan makes is huge, and fueling correctly does too. I should do additional fueling for the longer duration heat sessions but I do monitor pre- during and post-training nutrition to not do myself in.

Wrt HR data, I generally run lower than the proposed zones in the workout during standard training protocol (fans, vented room, cooler conditions) and have noticed with heat protocol, I am usually always sitting mid zone one zone up from proposed on the screen.

If you train heat adaption, what do you do?

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I ride a lot in the tropics, and heat adaption is not only about temperature, it is also about humidity.

While it is true (Newtonā€™s Law of Cooling), that heat transfer is related to the temperature difference between your body and the surrounding air, if the humidity is high there is no place for your sweat to be absorbed into the air. So I think your simulation is missing something unless you ride in hot, dry climates.

When I go to the tropics, for the first week or so, I do not do heavy workouts or rides. I do ride in the hotter part of the day.

This podcast discusses the issue in depth.

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Yeah, humidity is a huge factor for training heat adaption. All of my races are in minimal humid conditions/areas, mostly dry and hot only. I would invent/employ a humidity protocol if I had races in similar conditions. I believe in specificity of training.

Just really keen to hear what and how others make do with their set ups.

And using other protocols like 40 minute soaking in a hot tub/bath, sauna training etc.

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Iā€™m in the Desert Southwest of the United States. Itā€™s currently the ā€œMonsoonā€. Humidities went from the single digit to 50% or more. You HAVE to either train in this environment (this means resetting your training regimen OR train in a steam room) until you are again fully acclimatized. Itā€™s not easy nor is it fun. I have to do this every year too. So hereā€™s what I do:

  1. Train to acclimatization in the heat with little or no humidity.
  2. Repeat with target humidity.

Fortunately, my ā€˜Aā€™ event is going to require training in high winds to get used to being pushed around.

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FWIW, I rode about 30 KM into a 20-30 headwind yesterday on my gravel wheelset. That was a punishing ride which upped my fatigue level on Training Peaks 30. Iā€™ll have to continue to push myself at that level for the next four weeks! Being acclimated to the changing temps and heat definitely helped.

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I live in the north of Scotland, in Winter it is cold in Summer it is less cold, in between there is Spring when I can get acclimatised to riding in less cold weather.

It is regularly below freezing in my pain cave in winter, but I still have to ride with the fan on for anything other than a recovery ride, because average year-round humidity is 80%. I canā€™t even imagine what single digit humidity would feel like!

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In Las Vegas, in the summer, during a thunderstorm, with pouring rain, the humidity is still usually less than 80%. Otherwise itā€™s usually <10%.

I have chapstick everywhere; next to my indoor trainer, in my office, in my room, in my jacket pockets (in the washing machineā€¦ oops!), in the kitchenā€¦ otherwise my lips get dry and cracked, especially when in front of a fan during a workout.

If I ride outside when itā€™s below 55 degrees I have to wear insulated cold weather gloves.

On the positive side, after a shower my hair is usually dry on itā€™s own within 5 minutes. On a long downhill in the middle of a hard ride the sweat in my jersey will nearly completely dry out before I get to the bottom. Sweating or dumping water over myself will cool me off extra quick. And I can use the same towel to shower in the morning and at night because it will completely dry out in between. :smile:

Iā€™ve visited parts of the country where itā€™s 80/90 degrees and 80/90% rh and i spend the time sweaty and hot and miserable. Lol

I used to do all my indoor rides in my un-insulated garage. In the summer it would be 85-95 degrees in my garage at 5am which was great heat training. I would easily drink 1L of water every hour. And the puddle under my bike would dry up before I was done with my shower.

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Come on down here. we are at the end of the Monsoon season and humidities can vary from 10% to 80% on any given day! Makes riding an adventureā€¦But Iā€™ll agree when the humidity is low, the pain cave becomes way more comfortable from the Holy Water perspective. You still generate it but the mat dries in a matter of an hour rather than a day!

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I found this if anyone is interested.

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Being in the desertā€¦ A number of our tri-club members have done testing with internal temperature sensors. Ingestible, single-use (you definitely donā€™t want to swallow them again after they come out). I havenā€™t tried it since I donā€™t have a need for it, but I know theyā€™re out there.

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