Training in the Heat

On Labor Day, I decided to ride to Hutchinson. The ride from Hesston to Hutchinson isn't hard - it's only 35 miles and the primary road there is part of the TransAmerica bike trail. My wife was already in Hutch for the day and we wanted to spend some time at their pool before it closed for the year. It was great pool weather, with a forecasted high of 105 degrees, so I thought riding there and meeting her at the pool would be a good way to do some training in the heat. I felt like I did a good job riding in triple digit temperatures this summer, but the last couple weeks I've been spoiled by early morning and evening rides during cooler weather.

I left the house around 1:00 and the temperature was already 100. The first few miles were hot but not unbearable and I kept an average speed of around 20mph into the slight headwind. After 5 or so miles, I noticed I was having a hard time keeping myself cool and I was going through the hot water in my bottles much faster than I expected (note to self - buy insulated bottles before summer next year). By the time I was 20 miles in, I was completely out of water, I was wondering why the hell I chose to ride when it was so freaking hot, and my tempo was hovering around 15 mph.

7th column is the air temperature during the time I was riding.

After a quick stop to refill bottles and soak myself under a faucet in a park, I began the last 15 miles of the trip. I was amazed how dumping cool water on myself and refilling bottles with cold water improved the rest of the ride. Average speeds were back up around 20-22mph and mentally I felt like a new person even though the temp was now up to 106.

I know there have been quite a few studies on core body temperature and power output and I'm sure cooling off under the faucet helped bring my core temperature down and my speed up for the remainder of the ride. However, I wonder how much the mental aspect of being hot affects how well you ride. Once I got back on the bike, I actually had fun riding again; I was getting out of the saddle up hills and pushing it into the headwind, two things I definitely wasn't doing before the water stop. Granted, I also had some extra motivation knowing there was a swimming pool waiting for me at my destination.

Anyway, it looks like it's going to start cooling down next week. Wednesday night CX rides start this week in Wichita, and this weekend is the Source Endurance CX clinic led by Steve Tilford and Zach McDonald. How often do you get to participate in an all-day clinic led by a current master's world champion and the current U-23 natn'l champion? Awesome. Then only two weeks until the season starts at Manion's!

The new Tank 7 kit is here! I know I'm biased, but I definitely think this is one of the best looking kits ever.