Is "hot" good or bad??

Absent Husband said:

Hi all,

Question of course is - does riding in the heat actually provide a
greater training benefit (compared to 'normal weather'😉 ie. more
calories burned, greater actual effort required (not just perceived
effort), etc etc.

Cheers all,
Absent Husband (who kind of feels like a wuss, but is looking for some
reassurance...)

Riding in the heat exposes you to higher risk of dehydration, loss of electrolytes and heat exhaustion.

Your body has a harder time controlling temperature, especially if the high temp is accompanied by high humidity. Heat stroke cannot always be alleviated by fluid intake and is potentially lethal, though fluid intake is a key risk factor.

There is little difference in training benefit, as long as you hydrate more often and in greater quantity when training in the heat. However, prolonged efforts in the heat will require _significant_ quantities of electrolytes with water, generally 'quite a lot' more than your normal consumption.

A cautionary tale...

http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/dehydration.html

Ritch

ritcho said:

Riding in the heat exposes you to higher risk of dehydration, loss of electrolytes and heat exhaustion.

Your body has a harder time controlling temperature, especially if the high temp is accompanied by high humidity. Heat stroke cannot always be alleviated by fluid intake and is potentially lethal, though fluid intake is a key risk factor.

There is little difference in training benefit, as long as you hydrate more often and in greater quantity when training in the heat. However, prolonged efforts in the heat will require _significant_ quantities of electrolytes with water, generally 'quite a lot' more than your normal consumption.

A cautionary tale...

rice.edudehydration.htmlOpen ↗

Ritch

Thats a good site ritcho. One thing I didn't do on the alpine was take in enough salt, and paid for it going up Buffalo. I really didn't understand what my body was going through, and even though I was drinking lots of water, I now understand that my body was rejecting it. Also helps explain the nausea I experienced. I'm still 1kg down from my normal body weight (62)

essendon93 said:

Thats a good site ritcho. One thing I didn't do on the alpine was take in enough salt, and paid for it going up Buffalo. I really didn't understand what my body was going through, and even though I was drinking lots of water, I now understand that my body was rejecting it. Also helps explain the nausea I experienced. I'm still 1kg down from my normal body weight (62)

Once again, google was my friend. I ran home from work yesterday afternoon when it was about 32C and had some symptoms of heat stress and dehydration. Not nice.

62? What is that - your age? Surely not kg??? You must have flown up the Alpine climbs!

Ritch

ritcho said:

Once again, google was my friend. I ran home from work yesterday afternoon when it was about 32C and had some symptoms of heat stress and dehydration. Not nice.

62? What is that - your age? Surely not kg??? You must have flown up the Alpine climbs!

Ritch

Yeah thats my weight, 171cm 61 kg.
Fitness has alot to do with it, so no I didn't fly, but I guess my weight is in my favour. I came to a grinding halt on Buffalo, until then I was on track for sub 10, which was my original aim. There wasn't many that were passing me on Tawonga, Falls, but alot flying past on the downhill (more a lack of confidence from me).

Thanks for the website tip - actually explained a lot!!

I know I've experienced heat exhaustion only once before... Many years
ago (pre wife & kids!!), I rode up Mt Coot-tha (in BrisVegas) on my
own, at 1pm on a bright hot day at teh start of February. As I recall,
it was about 34 - 35 degrees that day (with reasonable humidity).

After struggling to the top, I remember stumbling off the bike, falling
over near a tree, and spending the next 20 minutes throwing up/dry
retching under a tree. Given that I was a bit of a triathlon superhero
back then, I was pretty freaked out. I sat under a tree in the shade
for almost an hour trying to cool down, and finished off my bidon of
water (the only one I brought on the ride!!).

Then tried to work out how I was going to get home - no water, already
severely dehydrated, feeling light-headed, and lots of hills to go to
my place at Red Hill.... Ended up just being a loooong, slooow ride
back. Took me 30 minutes to get from home to the base of Mt Coot-tha,
but almost 2 hours to get from Mt-Cootha back to home.

When I got back, I stripped off and sat in the shower under the cold
water for about half an hour before I felt well enough to move again.
Needless to say, I've never let myself get that dehydrated again, or
ridden between 11am & 3pm during the warmer months....

Cheers all,
Absent Husband (who nows has a lard-[censored] to drag up Mt Coot-tha as
well, making it even harder than before!!)

Thanks for the website tip - actually explained a lot!!

I know I've experienced heat exhaustion only once before... Many years
ago (pre wife & kids!!), I rode up Mt Coot-tha (in BrisVegas) on my
own, at 1pm on a bright hot day at teh start of February. As I recall,
it was about 34 - 35 degrees that day (with reasonable humidity).

After struggling to the top, I remember stumbling off the bike, falling
over near a tree, and spending the next 20 minutes throwing up/dry
retching under a tree. Given that I was a bit of a triathlon superhero
back then, I was pretty freaked out. I sat under a tree in the shade
for almost an hour trying to cool down, and finished off my bidon of
water (the only one I brought on the ride!!).

Then tried to work out how I was going to get home - no water, already
severely dehydrated, feeling light-headed, and lots of hills to go to
my place at Red Hill.... Ended up just being a loooong, slooow ride
back. Took me 30 minutes to get from home to the base of Mt Coot-tha,
but almost 2 hours to get from Mt-Cootha back to home.

When I got back, I stripped off and sat in the shower under the cold
water for about half an hour before I felt well enough to move again.
Needless to say, I've never let myself get that dehydrated again, or
ridden between 11am & 3pm during the warmer months....

Cheers all,
Absent Husband (who nows has a lard-[censored] to drag up Mt Coot-tha as
well, making it even harder than before!!)

essendon93 said:

Thats a good site ritcho. One thing I didn't do on the alpine was take in enough salt, and paid for it going up Buffalo. I really didn't understand what my body was going through, and even though I was drinking lots of water, I now understand that my body was rejecting it. Also helps explain the nausea I experienced. I'm still 1kg down from my normal body weight (62)

Here's a story about what you experienced.

audax.org.aufaq susscreen.htmOpen ↗

Look at the last story from Michael Carden.

Quoted post said:

I suggested eating almonds to relieve cramps. This came about through my partner Joanne suffering leg cramps at the moment, in the second half of a pregnancy. The usual hydration and stretching only partially helped. The almonds are alleged to alleviate the cramps due to the magnesium they contain. It seems as though one of the causes of cramps can be an imbalance in the levels of things like sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in the body. From the various sources we checked out, we gather that it's not just the absolute levels of these chemicals, but their ratios relative to each other which have an effect on cramping.

The issue of hydration and electrolyte balance prompts me to mention this postscript to the Alpine Classic. One of the Canberra crew down for the event, young Cath, finished the 200km in fine form and ambled cheerfully back to the motel relating her ride to us. Half an hour later, she collapsed vomiting at the motel and was unable to keep down any water. Her condition rapidly deteriorated as we drove her to the Bright 'hospital' [actually a private medical centre]. A doctor was called in, and decided to transfer her by ambulance to Wangaratta.

Doctors in Wangaratta were very concerned at her incoherence and her failure to respond to intravenous saline. They spent much of the night in communication with neurologists in Melbourne, and performed 2 CT scans and a lumbar puncture. Cath was not looking good.

By 10:00am on Monday morning though, Cath was walking and talking again, albeit with a fuzzy head and a headache.

The best theory so far from the doctors is that Cath drove her sodium levels dangerously low during the ride by drinking large volumes of water, with inadequate intake of salts.

It's a fine line between pleasure and pain...

MC

jazmo said:

Here's a story about what you experienced.

audax.org.aufaq susscreen.htmOpen ↗

Look at the last story from Michael Carden.

Geez that last story from audax is a bit scary, because thats exactly what I did, large volumes of water with no sodium intake, and I was very close to throwing up on Buffalo.

Was that from this years?