Sunday was hot. That was the thing. Super hot. Like mid to upper 90’s and very high humidity. Everyone melted. Including myself. The race course was great. Two 34 miles loops and then a short finish loop of 20 miles. 3 pretty big climbs per lap.
We did great. Brian Jensen won again, with Chris Hall finishing 3rd and Bill Stolte 4th. Nick and I rode the two big laps and called it a day. Brian soloed in completely cramped up. Chris soloed for 3rd completely cramped up. Bill rode away from the small group I was in and put 5 minutes on them in the last 20 miles. He might of been the only guy in the race that wasn’t finished physically. I felt terrible right from the start. Beyond terrible. I was getting dropped by the field on 1 km climbs. But, the field eventually got down to 7 guys left. I thought about it as my hamstrings were cramping and decided that I couldn’t think of a good reason to destroy my legs for the result. I almost never quit races. I have no regrets here. The race was up the road and I was completely destroyed. And I was destroyed without ever putting out a huge effort. Pretty weird.
I would like to know, exactly know, what a person’s body does to acclimate to heat and cold. I know what it does to acclimate to altitude, but have no idea what it does to acclimate for temperature.
So, that is 3 race wins in the last 3 races for the Tradewind Energy/The Trek Stores Team. But, I’m riding worse than I have all season. By miles. Just when the important races are coming up. Great. I might have to try to switch something up here. I’m not sure what, but it couldn’t hurt to try.
Aclimitisatation to heat is something I learned . . . you can learn it. While racing in the UAE my first year was hell, but the second season was ok. Temps would start out in the morning at 38c and rise to 44c by the time we rolled in at 9:30am, and the humidity was pretty high. Actually you welcomed the humidity because it provided a cooling effectas the wind played over you. Keep well hydrated and wear light colours was the only precautions. There was a lot of night racing, which wasn’t necessarily easier except that the psychological effects of the sun didn’t play on you.
I found that my limit was actually 42c before I started to really fall apart.
http://apmp.berkeley.edu/images/stories/ManagementPractices/thermoprimer.pdf
Start on page 16. Stephen Cheung is very much an authority on the topic.
When you aclimate to the heat, your body produces more plasma which aides in the delivery of water to the skin, helping to keep you cooler. Takes about 14 days of training in the heat to get there.
“What is necessary for cooling isn’t the haemoglobin (the red blood cells in blood) but the plasma, which is essentially water with a number of different proteins and electrolytes in it. However, your body can’t separate the red cells (which are the oxygen carriers) from the plasma – they all go along for the ride to the skin. ”
http://www.endurancescience.com/blog/?p=284
Turn off your air conditioning at home and use a box fan in your window. Don’t sit around in air-conditioned cars before your race, and roll your windows down to cool off instead of using a/c.