June 25, 2025 • 35 mins
OVERVIEW
Heat acclimation is a big topic this summer, especially because heat training has been shown to also improve oxygen-carrying capacity in the blood - similar to altitude training! But, heat training can be tricky, especially for Time-Crunched Cyclists. What if you can't train in the hottest part of the day because of work? What if you spend your workday in a cold, air conditioned office building? Should you sit passively in a sauna or hot bath, or exercise with extra layers and no fans? For how long, at what temperatures, etc.? Coach Adam Pulford provides actionable, pragmatic heat training guidance for amateur and everyday cyclists so you can perform better in the heat and reduce your risks for heat illness.
TOPICS COVERED
- Why should you get heat adapted
- How long does heat adaptation take?
- Native heat vs. Added Heat
- Training Schedule for Native Heat Training
- Air conditioning and "global heat stress"
- Training Schedule for Added Heat Training
- How do you know you’re heat adapted?
LINKS/RESOURCES
- Heat Adaptation for Females: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Physiological Adaptations and Exercise Performance in the Heat - PMC
- Going one step further with altitude training or heat training
- Heat training 101: A comprehensive guide for athletes
- How much do you sweat? - Asker’s Sweat Rate Calculator
- Heat training guide for cyclists | EF Pro Cycling
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6422510/
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HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now on to our show.
Heat is here and heat is a hottopic right now.
(00:51):
Heat training has somewell-established protocols.
You can Google it or chat GPTit.
But how do you take thosescience-based protocols and
actually apply them to your busytime crunch life when your
goals are simply performing wellat the next race or group ride
without melting like a stick ofbutter in 95 degree heat?
Welcome back time crunch fans.
(01:13):
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford.
Let's talk about a practicalguide to heat training and
preparation for riding andracing outside during the
hottest of summer days.
Because it is here, folks,first of all, I I don't think I
need to sell anybody on why theyshould become heat adapted, but
here are some very good reasons.
(01:35):
Okay, number one and in likethe most important reason is if
you get adapted to the heat, youwill decrease your risk of heat
illness.
Number one reason now if youget adapted to the heat, you
will decrease your risk of heatillness.
Number one reason Now if you'regoing to ride in the heat race
in the heat, even once per year,you will do yourself, your
loved ones, your trainingpartners and the race organizers
(01:57):
of a race that you do.
You'll do them all a big favorby not being a dummy and
preparing yourself well for thisheat stress.
Second reason is you'll you'llhave decreased malperformance in
hot conditions, ie you willsuffer less.
So heat is a stressor and willzap your power and increase your
(02:17):
heart rate and increase yourrate of perceived effort when
you ride in it, when you're notadapted to it.
When you get more heat adapted,your power won't necessarily go
up in the heat, but it may godown less.
So you will have decreasedmalperformance.
Additionally, you'll haveimproved thermal regulation.
(02:38):
This means that your body getsmore efficient at cooling itself
increased sweat rate.
Increased capillary density.
More efficient at coolingitself.
Increased sweat rate, increasedcapillary density by those
stressors saying, hey, I needmore fluid going to this area
and you'll have enhancedcapacity to sweat more overall.
Additionally, you'll haveincreased performance in cooler
(03:00):
conditions.
So if you do the heat trainingprotocols that I talk about and
all of a sudden you go to acooler environment, you'll
perform better, and that's whymany elites are doing heat
training Now.
You get a boost in those coolerenvironments and that primarily
comes from increased plasmavolume.
Plasma is the watery portion ofthe blood and it's your body's
(03:20):
main adaptation to the heat thatwill drive all the benefits
that I just talked about.
So, in effect, you're going to.
What you're trying to do isteach your body to carry more
fluid so it can sweat more, itcan sweat earlier and it can
sweat when it needs to.
That's the primary driver inall this.
(03:41):
So how long does it take tobecome adapted to the heat?
So how long does it take tobecome adapted to the heat?
Once you start an intentionalheat training protocol, you
should plan on seven days at thevery earliest and up to 14 days
for full adaptation.
For men, science is sayingseven to nine days.
For women, 10 to 14 days.
(04:01):
Heat sources to use can includesauna, hot bath or hot rides,
both inside and out.
My best advice here is use acombination of all of these, and
I'll get into that more heresoon.
But it's both to control theactual temperature as well as
expose yourself to heat even onyour days of not riding.
(04:22):
Okay.
So my best advice be open tousing all the combinations of
sauna, hot bath and hot rides.
Once you've gone through thisheat training phase, you need to
maintain it with what, uh, Idon't know.
Us coaches call top-offs.
Okay.
And the biggest concept here iswhat you did to build the heat.
(04:43):
Adaptation is not what it takesto keep it meaning.
You have this adaptation.
Now all you need to do is kindof expose yourself to the heat
every once in a while to keepthat going.
And these top-offs are heatexposures about every three or
four days to keep telling yourbody hey, I need that increased
plasma volume expansion.
So here's some heat, keep doingyour thing.
(05:06):
And these top-offs you canagain use sauna, hot bath or hot
rides to get that top-off andkeep the adaptation maintained.
Now let's just say you're doinga main event that's super hot,
some gravel race or some bigroad race in the heat, I would
(05:26):
say do your main protocol fiveto six weeks out from that main
event.
The reason for that is and I'llexplain it here in just a
second of in detail but the mainreason is that this heat
training protocol is a bigstressor to the body, okay, and
you want to develop thatadaptation earlier on so it
(05:48):
doesn't mess with your taper andyour performance going into the
race itself.
So doing it sooner rather thanlater and then maintaining it
leading into the main event isalso my best advice.
So let's define some of theseterms that I've already been
using.
But we'll talk about nativeheat versus added heat.
Native heat is essentiallyusing the environment that is
(06:12):
right outside your front door.
Okay, but how hot is hot?
It is a great question and Iwould say, based on this
research article that I willlink to in my show notes,
combined with experientialknowledge, I'd say it's right
around 86 degrees Fahrenheit or30 degrees Celsius, and that's
(06:36):
according to the wet bulb or thereal feel.
The reason for that is I startto see athletes perform poorly
at around that temperature.
Now, this is very individual.
You know my Nordic and Germanfriends, you know they're going
to start melting in 75 degreesand sunny Meanwhile.
You know my athletes andfriends from Southern California
(07:00):
and Puerto Rico.
They're wearing knee warmers,arm warmers and jackets when
it's like 68 degrees andovercast.
So, again, there's plus andminuses here and it's very
individual according to, uh,like that person's previous
background in history.
But according to the bestresearch I can find uh and a few
others Stacy Sims, askerZuchenrup, and again this uh, in
(07:23):
particular this one researchthat I've linked to here around
86 degrees.
So when you're aiming for ridingoutside and exposing yourself
to a heat stressor 86 or moreokay, and and go for the hottest
part of the day.
Now, if you know that that'sgoing to really zap you you can
start doing the or develop theheat protocol.
When it's even below thattemperature, okay, you can start
doing the or develop the heatprotocol when it's even below
(07:46):
that temperature, okay, ridingoutside in the heat or using
some of the, the added heat, andthe added heat is just that
sauna, hot bath protocols thatI'll cover here in a minute.
Now, if you live in an areathat's not super hot, I'm very
envious envious of you, by theway but you can also use the
sauna and hot baths to get theheat adaptation effect.
(08:07):
Those living in a coolenvironment would still want
this heat adaptation.
If you're competing at an eventwith heat or if you just want to
increase performance in thosecool conditions, like I talked
about, the sauna and hot bathstuff are great options and
they're very controllablebecause you know exactly the
temperature that you'restressing yourself with.
(08:27):
But if you don't have a saunaor if you don't have a bathtub
or if you don't have the time tobecause this is a critical
component if you don't have thetime to get that heat stressor
in post exercise, then they'renot going to work as well post
exercise, then they're not goingto work as well.
(08:48):
Okay.
So you'll need to use nativeheat or heated rides to get the
heat stress to your body.
In the end, my best advice isto use a combination of Navy
native heat, heated rides in thesun on hot bath during your
heat training protocol.
So let's run through a coupleexamples here.
Let's bring this, let's startto like just bring this thing
home, and I'm going to firststart with if you're and I'm
(09:10):
going to first start with ifyou're going to use native heat
as the primary stressor, okay.
But one very, very, very bigdisclaimer, warning, and
probably the number one takeawayfrom this podcast, if nothing
else if you start doing yourheat training protocol using
native heat only or primarily,reduce your training intensity
(09:33):
and volume during this seven to14 day protocol so you don't get
heat illness or overcookyourself Cause I see that all
too often Heat is a stressor youneed to risk, don't be afraid
of it, but respect it.
Okay.
So if you're doing thresholdintervals, for example, and you
say I'm going to start my heattraining protocol but I'm going
(09:55):
to keep my threshold intervalsin there, that's silly and not
advised.
You can probably do one or twosessions, but if you keep on
going, you will under-recoveryourself and over-stress
yourself, and that is not a goodsituation to be in.
Additionally, you want to stayhydrated During these sessions.
(10:15):
Push more water.
If you're used to drinking abottle an hour, move it up to a
bottle and a half.
If you're used to drinking abottle and a half per hour,
drink two bottles an hour.
We'll talk about how you canidentify how much fluid you
should take in during and aftera ride here in a few minutes.
But stay hydrated.
Your body will only form theadaptation if it has the tools
(10:35):
it needs to work, and thosetools in this case, very
specifically, it's water,electrolytes and rest.
So when you do these heatedsessions, you need to drink
water, you need to put in thesalt and you need to rest
afterwards.
Okay, so that's my hugedisclaimer, because you can
(10:56):
really get it wrong, and whenyou get it wrong it's not great,
okay.
So training in native heat let'suse to keep it as simple as
possible.
Let's do a 10-day protocol anda typical Monday through Sunday
work week for a time-crunchedathlete, meaning you're
basically going to go easy ortake rest days on Monday and
(11:18):
Friday.
You're going to train midweekand then maybe have bigger
weekends.
That's the kind of operatingpremise that I'm going on here.
So the first three days I'mgoing to start with Tuesday
through Thursday you want to doregular endurance, riding for 60
to 90 minutes at the hottestpart of the day and getting that
heat exposure for an hour to anhour and a half.
Just ride zone two.
(11:41):
I don't care what your trainingprogram calls for, get rid of
the intensity and stick it tozone two or even zone one.
I don't care what your trainingprogram calls for, get rid of
the intensity and stick it tozone two or even zone one if the
heart rate is high during thattime.
Okay, so again that that kindof key temperature to be above
would be about 86 degrees forthe real feel, or or higher.
Okay, so that's Tuesday throughThursday.
(12:02):
Friday, I would say don't rideat all, or do a short recovery
ride in the hottest part of theday, or you can do a walk.
You can do a walk for 40 to 60minutes in the heat.
You want to stimulate sweat andyou want to get the sweat going
.
Here's where, if you're doing anative heat sort of protocol
primarily, and you don't havetime to use a sauna or hot bath
(12:25):
post-workout all the time, onyour off days you can use a
sauna or hot bath to exposeyourself to the heat if you
don't have the time to go outand ride or use the combination
thereof.
So here the thing with thisheat training protocol is you
need consistent exposure for 10or to 14 days and that's where
(12:46):
using this added heat is reallyhelpful.
Okay, so on that Friday, uh,you can get outside in the heat,
do easier training or you canuse sauna or hot bath.
Days five and six, so this wouldbe the Saturday or Sunday, ride
longer, go in the heat, butagain, zone two Okay, don't hit
the intensity, don't jump in thegroup right, just yet.
Zone two Okay, don't hit theintensity, don't jump in the
(13:08):
group ride just yet.
In my opinion, an experience.
Monday is another rest day.
You can use sauna or hot breathor go for an easy ride in the
heat of the day.
Keep this in mind, though, isit's not really a rest day or an
easy day because you'reexposing yourself to the heat
and you're still moving.
So again, this whole protocolis taking a lot more out of you
than a normal zone two week.
Just keep that in mind.
(13:29):
Finally, making the push on thehome stretch days eight, nine
and 10.
This is the Tuesday throughThursday in week two.
That's where, if the, if thetraining program had what was
calling for some intensity, youcould bring it up.
If everything's going well,maybe ride some tempo intervals
or just kind of like, get on thepedals and ride, ride high.
Zone two on Tuesday andThursday.
(13:49):
Wednesday keep it to endurance.
Again, you want to ride in theheat, the hottest part of the
day, to keep that exposure going.
After that, once you'vecompleted all 10 days, and up to
14,.
If you want to keep it going,you'll just need to do a
top-offs, okay, but your, yourheat training protocol is
(14:10):
complete, okay, and do thosetop-offs every three or four
days up until your main event.
Or if you just want to keep onmaintaining it for indefinitely,
you can keep on doing that,okay, but you have formed that
adaptation.
And just keep in mind, once youhave formed the adaptation, you
(14:30):
don't need to keep on riddlingyourself with it.
You don't need to do another 14days.
In fact, what's kind ofinteresting is some of the
research too that I'll link toin this really good article from
EF cycling is, once you'vebuilt it, even if you had, say,
a week, like a week off, and youdidn't do your um, your top
(14:51):
offs every three or four days,once you come back and start the
heat training protocol, youwould want to go for consistency
again, but it would probablyonly take four or five days of
continual exposure to get thatadaptation back again.
So it's putting in the batch,putting in that heat training
protocol.
You want to do it right tobegin with and then after that
(15:12):
it'll be much easier to maintainor get it back.
So what happens if you miss aday during your initial heat
training protocol.
You don't need to start over.
Just simply add a day of heatto the end.
So instead of ending on day 10,you would simply end on day 11.
Okay, you can maybe stretchthat out to day 12 and up to 14
(15:35):
days total if you want to, justto be sure.
But you don't need to startover, and that's that should be
good news.
Okay, one caveat here.
Uh, more is not better, meaningmore time in the heat or in
more than I suggested or hottertemperatures.
That won't speed up the processat all.
It won't improve youradaptation.
(15:56):
In fact, it may make it worse,because if you are too
aggressive with the heat, or ifyou're too aggressive with like
time and zone in the heat, youwill cause problems.
Basically, what you're tryingto do is enough training on the
bike to keep developing fitnessor maintain fitness, while
adding heat as this new stressorto get that specific adaptation
(16:20):
.
So what you'll generally see isyour ATL and CTL may be going
down during this time, but inactuality you're adding more
stress to the total equation.
More stress is coming in thedoor.
We just can't quantify itperfectly on training peaks or
anywhere else.
Really, we just know that it isoccurring, and so you need to
(16:41):
adjust for this by bringing theintensity down, maybe bringing
some of the volume down as well,and so this is not the time to
increase volume or increaseintensity in the training
program.
It is simply get through theheat training protocol so you
form the adaptation, so thatyou're better in the heat,
moving forward, all right.
(17:01):
A couple notes here on airconditioning and global heat
stress.
Okay, global doesn't mean likethe earth.
Global means like to yourglobal, your whole life, okay,
um, but the global heat stressis also a big issue too.
Okay, so if you work in airconditioned environment for like
eight to 10 hours a day and youhave limited exposure to the
(17:24):
outside and you're competingoutside at hot races, I really
recommend a heat trainingprotocol so that you minimize
the risk of heat illness at theevent.
That's the, again, the primarything.
And now, if you're trainingoutside and even exposing
yourself to the heat, but it'salso like intermittent, uh,
(17:45):
because you spend so much time,you know, indoors and you can't
get access to the heat, but it'salso like intermittent, uh,
because you spend so much time,you know, indoors and you can't
get access to the sauna or hotbath immediately after training.
Um, my advice is to getorganized with a 10 to 14 day
stretch to expose yourself tothose, to the heat, and make a
push for it, because having thatadaptation is going to be very
(18:05):
advantageous for all the reasonsthat I've mentioned.
You probably just need likelittle life hacks, though, to
get yourself out of the airconditioning on a regular basis.
So, when you're driving home,roll down the windows, ok.
When you have a break from work, go outside, go outside.
(18:27):
And because I, from anexperiential standpoint, I would
say, when I'm trying to makethat heat training protocol, and
I only have an hour to an hourand a half per day with the
athlete and they don't have thenative exposure to the heat, the
protocol is not going to be asgood.
So you definitely need somelike real world exposure to heat
while you're doing the heattraining protocol and and again,
like on the weekends and inbetween work sessions and all
(18:50):
this kind of stuff like try toget out of air conditioning, and
I do think that that will serveyou well, especially during the
heat training protocol.
Okay, let's talk about addedheat.
Now.
There's a couple nuances hereand I'll try to make this as
short and sweet as I can, butfor those again who don't live
in a naturally hot environment,this is the way to do it.
(19:13):
All that much, unless you'redoing a heated ride, you can
also use a mix of that heatedride and, um, uh, the added heat
with the sauna and the hot bathto get this effect.
And it's very measurable, okay,it's very quantifiable and it's
very controlled.
(19:33):
Generally, my athletes don'tget as tired during, uh, like,
if we just use added heat um asmuch during this kind of four,
10 to 14 day protocol, becausetheir exposure time in the heat
is not as much.
So I find that it just doesn'tzap us as much as riding in the
native heat, but it's still veryeffective.
(19:55):
But the downfall is timing ofusing this added heat, of using
this added heat.
The reason being is that youneed to do your training,
whatever the training is, andthen get into the sauna within
about five minutes or so, fiveor 10 minutes post-training,
because the core temperature iswarm, is heated up after a
(20:15):
training session.
So what we'll want to do is putor expose the body to the sauna
or hot bath as quickly as wecan in order to keep that heat
stress going and get the fulladaptation and get the full
effect.
The sauna needs to be around170 to 190 degree Fahrenheit or
77 to 88 degree Celsius.
(20:36):
You need at least 15 to 30minutes time exposed per session
at that heat and I'd probably,if you haven't done a sauna
before, I'd start with probablylike two by 10 or whatever you
can tolerate comfortably two by10 minutes and then build up
from there.
Think of it like time and zonefor intervals, and we want to go
up for about 30 minutes oftotal time and zone at that 170
(20:59):
to 190 degree Fahrenheit in thesauna and that will be enough to
elicit a response needed foradaptation to occur.
For a hot bath.
What this means is you're usingthe bathtub in your house,
you're gonna draw a hot bath andwe want it to be around 105
degrees If you have a hot tub,that would work too and this is
about 40 degrees Celsius.
(21:21):
You wanna be fully submerged upto your neck if you can, and
here we're looking for 20 to 30minutes of time in tub per
session.
Now, riding inside without a fanand riding in like a warm room
that's a heated ride.
Now room temperatures can alsovary.
(21:43):
I would say 80 degrees for theroom.
That's pretty warm, uh, and itgoes a little contrary to that
advice of the 86 degree uh wetbulb.
Um, that I said for a nativeenvironment.
But keep in mind, you don'thave evaporated, you don't have
a uh.
When you're riding outside, youdon't have the air uh cooling
you, okay.
When you're riding inside withno fan that's key you don't have
(22:08):
as strong as evaporativecooling.
The sweat comes to the skin andit can't move away as
efficiently.
Okay, so the room doesn't needto be as hot as that.
So for most of my athletes, uh,riding uh with no fan 65 and up
to 80 degrees works pretty goodand you don't have to.
Personally, I don't think thatyou need to cover up and wear a
(22:30):
ton of clothes.
I think initially you can, okay, and here's my protocol that I
use with my athletes when we'redoing that.
So maybe you just wear regularriding bibs and a long sleeve
and you start riding endurancefive to seven minutes and then
hit it at about 15 minutes oftempo and get the core
temperature up.
You start sweating andbreathing starts to get labored,
(22:53):
okay, and what you're trying todo is stimulate core
temperature right away, thentake off the long sleeve or the
jacket, whatever you're doing,and then just ride endurance for
that 60 to 90 minutes total.
So what you should observe islots of sweat.
Rate of perceived effort ishigher than normal for zone two
(23:15):
riding and heart rate should beon the upper end of zone two,
maybe even creeping up intotempo, maybe even creeping up
into tempo.
And again, we want that 60 to90 minutes of kind of sweaty
time per session in order to uhelicit uh the response for
adaptation real quick.
I'm going to blow through thisuh like a 10 day, a 10 day
(23:37):
protocol, using uh added heat.
I'm going to break it down intothe first three days, that's,
the Tuesday through Thursday, doyour normal training Okay, you
can do your, your intensity, youcan do your intervals, if
that's what your trainingprogram calls for, and then
immediately thereafter, againwithin five or 10 minutes, go in
(23:57):
the sauna or the hot bath, tryto get at least 15 minutes and
up to 30 minutes Now, and thenrehydrate and really push the
fluids afterwards.
Wednesday, the day in between,that's when you can do a heated
endurance ride, like I justdescribed.
Day four, which would be Friday, go, you know, it's easier or a
(24:18):
rest day, but you need to addthe heat training stimulus and
that's where you'd use sauna orhot bath 20 to 30 minutes.
You could go a little bitlonger in the sauna.
If you're taking breaks, selectthree by 10, but again right
around 30 minutes of time toexposure, with short breaks.
Day five and six this is yourweekend, this is your normal
training.
You can jump in your grouprides, you can do your your
(24:38):
intensity, but again, that's thetiming component Hit the sauna
or hot bath immediatelyafterwards.
Monday is that rest day or easyday, but you're still exposing
yourself to the heat, could go alittle bit longer in the sauna,
take some breaks.
And then days eight, nine andten this is that Tuesday through
(25:00):
Thursday.
In week two Normal training Hitthe sauna and hot bath
immediately afterwards.
Wednesday I do another heatedride.
Um, and because there's actuallysome very good applicability
with uh, mentally, uh trainingyourself to be able to ride in
the heat too, and that's why Ialways try to do some heated
rides, even if I'm using anadded heat protocol.
Uh, during the heat trainingprotocol, some questions I hear
(25:20):
from my athletes and uh, thoseof you who have written in um,
how do you know when you'readapted?
Now I've done several episodeson heat training.
You can just Google heattraining time crunch, cyclists
and uh, I interview uh Lindsaycollege who is head of the
environmental chamber at theOlympic training center.
(25:41):
We go through all theseprotocols and some other like
really in-depth stuff, okay, socheck those out If you want more
on the sciencey and nerdyaspect of things.
I'm trying to make this episodeas practical as I possibly can.
So how do you know when you'readapted?
My pragmatic answer here is ifyou follow all the above
(26:03):
protocols that I just described,you can be sure that you're
adapted.
But what you'll notice is you'llsweat earlier and you'll sweat
often.
Your sweat is more watery,which means that the salt
concentration is less.
Now you're still probably goingto see some salt rings, but it
won't be maybe as heavy unlessyou're just like guzzle a bunch
(26:23):
of salts or eat a eat a very, uhheavy salt, uh dinner the night
before or something like that.
Rate of perceived effort in theheat will come down to normal
rate of perceived effort,meaning if you're doing zone two
and, uh, you're in the heatzone to remember should kind of
feel like that maybe four out of10 or five out of 10.
(26:44):
When you ride in the heat, it'sprobably going to feel like a
six out of 10, seven out of 10sometimes, but it's going to
come back down to riding in thatfour or five.
Even when you're in that 90degree temperature, your heart
rate's going to normalize andyou'll feel less exhausted in
the heat when you're properlyadapted to the heat itself.
(27:06):
Now a lot of people havequestions on fancy wearables.
Okay, so we're talking all thegadgets and gizmos that you can
attach to your body or putinside your body to make sure
that you're training for theheat properly.
To make sure that you'retraining for the heat properly.
Now, I've tried a few of theseand my general recommendation is
(27:28):
for those listening here forthe amateur athlete, you don't
need core temperature sensors orsweat testing patches or sweat
rate analyzers.
You can do the simple stufflike I've just described here.
These, these very practicalprotocols.
One simple thing you can do isweigh yourself before and after
your ride to know your sweatrate.
Okay, now what you need to dois factor in how much you
(27:51):
actually drank on the ride, andI'll link to a little worksheet
from Oscar Zuckerman thatdescribes how to do this.
But if you do this before yourheat training protocol and you
do it after your heat trainingprotocol, you'll also be able to
determine if you are sweatingmore in total and also sweating
earlier as well, because thiswill help bring awareness to
(28:14):
everything that you're doingwith your training, your heat in
your body awareness.
Let's talk about that for asecond.
Body awareness let's talk aboutthat for a second.
I, with my athletes, I try tocultivate high awareness.
Why?
Because this is literally abazillion times more valuable
than wearing whatever thesedevices are.
(28:35):
Because when all technologyfails which it will and it does
you will need to be a fullyfunctioning athlete, because
you're a human, you're not arobot.
You're going to need to keep ongoing, no matter what your core
temperature is or your heartrate is or the power.
Like stuff breaks, stuff goesaway, right, and you need to
(28:58):
keep on going.
Now for heat.
Hot is hot, okay, like in thesesaunas, in the hot bath that
we're talking about.
Those are hot temperatures.
You will become veryuncomfortable.
Hot ride sessions will feelterrible, they'll feel miserable
and you'll be like why the hellam I doing this?
Remind yourself, it's for thefuture adaptation, it's to
(29:19):
perform better in the heat andremember it's to minimize the
risk of heat illness.
Now, if you use a coretemperature sensor or measure
your internal body temperatureduring these sessions, you want
that internal core temp to bearound 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
It's like 40 degrees Celsius.
(29:39):
You build it up to there andyou ride that for a full hour
Celsius Okay.
You build it up to there andyou ride that for a full hour
Okay.
Our natural body temperaturesthree degrees lower than that.
And really, when we are readinga lot of these research
articles, what if you get muchabove a hundred degrees for
internal body temperature?
Your body doesn't function thatwell and there's a lot of harm
(30:01):
that you can do.
So that's why I think it isalso better to have high
awareness, read your body, knowthe perceived effort of what's
going on and err on the side ofa little less, especially when
you're utilizing something likethe core temperature sensor,
because how accurate are they,especially if it's an external
(30:23):
core temperature sensor andthings like this, and if you're
just living and dying by thenumbers and those numbers are
off.
The margin of error is verysmall here.
So again, I think you're betteroff going less tech on
something like a heat trainingprotocol rather than high tech
right now, especially for theamateur athlete.
(30:46):
Now these wearables can helpcultivate awareness.
So if you do use one, use itfor a few weeks to get a sense
of the sensations and kind ofwhere those numbers lie and what
other indicators are.
But I would not rely 100% uponthem to tell you if you're heat
adapted or your sweatcomposition or anything like
that, because it's not asstraightforward as that sweat
(31:10):
composition or anything likethat, because it's not as
straightforward as that.
We know that there's a timecourse of adaptation and a dose
response to all of this and itcan be very different to the
individual and to differentgroups.
So the guidelines I providedfor you will cover those
differences and those nuances inyour physiology better than one
or all of these fancy devicesout there.
(31:31):
Okay, cause you're not going tofind one that says you are now
heat adapted, even though, Idon't know, maybe your Garmin
says that now.
I have no idea.
It's wrong, by the way.
So follow the protocol and Ifully confident that you will
find success in that, okay.
So finally, to wrap this thingup, be careful and be practical.
(31:54):
Like I said, heat is hot rightnow and because all the pros do
it.
There's lots of benefits andyou know what.
It's readily accessible andavailable.
However, you can get it wrongby being too aggressive with it.
Too aggressive means too muchintensity in the heat before
you're adapted.
It also means too much totaltime in the heat before you're
(32:15):
adapted.
And, like I said before, moreis not better.
Consistent exposures andmoderation is better when you're
doing a heat training protocol.
Now, if you want further readingon this, um, including the
protocols themselves, was likeStacy Sims and ask her.
As you can, I've linked to allthose in my show notes.
And if you're going to go aftera heat training protocol, uh,
(32:38):
this year I would.
I would do further reading.
I wouldn't just listen to thenerdy podcast dude um only.
Okay.
So definitely, definitely hearwhat I have to say here, but I
would do further reading to wrapyour brain around what you're
about to do and then proceedgoing forward.
Now remember, if you miss a day, simply add on another day at
(32:59):
the end of the protocol.
You don't need to restart.
Okay, and if more ever applies,I would say the only area where
the kind of more would bebetter is to run the protocol
out to 14 days total.
If you want to be sure thatyou're fully adapted to the heat
after that, I think that you'rewasting your time.
But what we know in research isup to 14 days is beneficial.
(33:22):
Now, if you do this graduallyand progressively, like
discussed here, you shouldnotice better heat tolerance,
decreased rate of perceivedeffort and decreased heart rate
in the heat.
You'll also notice increasedsweat rate, more watery sweat,
and you'll have a nice boost ofperformance when the heat
finally comes down and you turnup to the group ride and smash
(33:43):
it All right.
Well, that's it.
That's our show for today.
If you liked what you heard,please share it with a friend or
your training partner, and ifyou didn't, I guess let me know
or ask whatever question thatyou want.
Uh, by going to train rightcombackslash podcast and click on
ask a training question.
All of this is the best way togrow the show and make sure that
(34:03):
you keep on getting short,actionable training advice
delivered to you weekly.
And if any of this moves youand you want more, please know
that you can hire a coach for aconsultation or monthly coaching
.
All of that can be found ontrainrightcom.
Thanks again for listening andwe'll see you here again next
week for more hot topics on allthings endurance training.
(34:25):
Thanks for joining us on theTime Crunch Cyclist podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
(34:45):
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
From the team at CTS.
This is the Time Crunch Cyclistpodcast, our show dedicated to
answering your trainingquestions and providing
actionable advice to help youimprove your performance even if
you're strapped for time.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, and I'm one of the over
50 professional coaches whomake up the team at CTS.
In each episode, I draw on ourteam's collective knowledge,
(00:30):
other coaches and experts in thefield to provide you with the
practical ways to get the mostout of your training and
ultimately become the bestcyclist that you can be.
Now on to our show.
Now on to our show.
Heat is here and heat is a hottopic right now.
(00:51):
Heat training has somewell-established protocols.
You can Google it or chat GPTit.
But how do you take thosescience-based protocols and
actually apply them to your busytime crunch life when your
goals are simply performing wellat the next race or group ride
without melting like a stick ofbutter in 95 degree heat?
Welcome back time crunch fans.
(01:13):
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford.
Let's talk about a practicalguide to heat training and
preparation for riding andracing outside during the
hottest of summer days.
Because it is here, folks,first of all, I I don't think I
need to sell anybody on why theyshould become heat adapted, but
here are some very good reasons.
(01:35):
Okay, number one and in likethe most important reason is if
you get adapted to the heat, youwill decrease your risk of heat
illness.
Number one reason now if youget adapted to the heat, you
will decrease your risk of heatillness.
Number one reason Now if you'regoing to ride in the heat race
in the heat, even once per year,you will do yourself, your
loved ones, your trainingpartners and the race organizers
(01:57):
of a race that you do.
You'll do them all a big favorby not being a dummy and
preparing yourself well for thisheat stress.
Second reason is you'll you'llhave decreased malperformance in
hot conditions, ie you willsuffer less.
So heat is a stressor and willzap your power and increase your
(02:17):
heart rate and increase yourrate of perceived effort when
you ride in it, when you're notadapted to it.
When you get more heat adapted,your power won't necessarily go
up in the heat, but it may godown less.
So you will have decreasedmalperformance.
Additionally, you'll haveimproved thermal regulation.
(02:38):
This means that your body getsmore efficient at cooling itself
increased sweat rate.
Increased capillary density.
More efficient at coolingitself.
Increased sweat rate, increasedcapillary density by those
stressors saying, hey, I needmore fluid going to this area
and you'll have enhancedcapacity to sweat more overall.
Additionally, you'll haveincreased performance in cooler
(03:00):
conditions.
So if you do the heat trainingprotocols that I talk about and
all of a sudden you go to acooler environment, you'll
perform better, and that's whymany elites are doing heat
training Now.
You get a boost in those coolerenvironments and that primarily
comes from increased plasmavolume.
Plasma is the watery portion ofthe blood and it's your body's
(03:20):
main adaptation to the heat thatwill drive all the benefits
that I just talked about.
So, in effect, you're going to.
What you're trying to do isteach your body to carry more
fluid so it can sweat more, itcan sweat earlier and it can
sweat when it needs to.
That's the primary driver inall this.
(03:41):
So how long does it take tobecome adapted to the heat?
So how long does it take tobecome adapted to the heat?
Once you start an intentionalheat training protocol, you
should plan on seven days at thevery earliest and up to 14 days
for full adaptation.
For men, science is sayingseven to nine days.
For women, 10 to 14 days.
(04:01):
Heat sources to use can includesauna, hot bath or hot rides,
both inside and out.
My best advice here is use acombination of all of these, and
I'll get into that more heresoon.
But it's both to control theactual temperature as well as
expose yourself to heat even onyour days of not riding.
(04:22):
Okay.
So my best advice be open tousing all the combinations of
sauna, hot bath and hot rides.
Once you've gone through thisheat training phase, you need to
maintain it with what, uh, Idon't know.
Us coaches call top-offs.
Okay.
And the biggest concept here iswhat you did to build the heat.
(04:43):
Adaptation is not what it takesto keep it meaning.
You have this adaptation.
Now all you need to do is kindof expose yourself to the heat
every once in a while to keepthat going.
And these top-offs are heatexposures about every three or
four days to keep telling yourbody hey, I need that increased
plasma volume expansion.
So here's some heat, keep doingyour thing.
(05:06):
And these top-offs you canagain use sauna, hot bath or hot
rides to get that top-off andkeep the adaptation maintained.
Now let's just say you're doinga main event that's super hot,
some gravel race or some bigroad race in the heat, I would
(05:26):
say do your main protocol fiveto six weeks out from that main
event.
The reason for that is and I'llexplain it here in just a
second of in detail but the mainreason is that this heat
training protocol is a bigstressor to the body, okay, and
you want to develop thatadaptation earlier on so it
(05:48):
doesn't mess with your taper andyour performance going into the
race itself.
So doing it sooner rather thanlater and then maintaining it
leading into the main event isalso my best advice.
So let's define some of theseterms that I've already been
using.
But we'll talk about nativeheat versus added heat.
Native heat is essentiallyusing the environment that is
(06:12):
right outside your front door.
Okay, but how hot is hot?
It is a great question and Iwould say, based on this
research article that I willlink to in my show notes,
combined with experientialknowledge, I'd say it's right
around 86 degrees Fahrenheit or30 degrees Celsius, and that's
(06:36):
according to the wet bulb or thereal feel.
The reason for that is I startto see athletes perform poorly
at around that temperature.
Now, this is very individual.
You know my Nordic and Germanfriends, you know they're going
to start melting in 75 degreesand sunny Meanwhile.
You know my athletes andfriends from Southern California
(07:00):
and Puerto Rico.
They're wearing knee warmers,arm warmers and jackets when
it's like 68 degrees andovercast.
So, again, there's plus andminuses here and it's very
individual according to, uh,like that person's previous
background in history.
But according to the bestresearch I can find uh and a few
others Stacy Sims, askerZuchenrup, and again this uh, in
(07:23):
particular this one researchthat I've linked to here around
86 degrees.
So when you're aiming for ridingoutside and exposing yourself
to a heat stressor 86 or moreokay, and and go for the hottest
part of the day.
Now, if you know that that'sgoing to really zap you you can
start doing the or develop theheat protocol.
When it's even below thattemperature, okay, you can start
doing the or develop the heatprotocol when it's even below
(07:46):
that temperature, okay, ridingoutside in the heat or using
some of the, the added heat, andthe added heat is just that
sauna, hot bath protocols thatI'll cover here in a minute.
Now, if you live in an areathat's not super hot, I'm very
envious envious of you, by theway but you can also use the
sauna and hot baths to get theheat adaptation effect.
(08:07):
Those living in a coolenvironment would still want
this heat adaptation.
If you're competing at an eventwith heat or if you just want to
increase performance in thosecool conditions, like I talked
about, the sauna and hot bathstuff are great options and
they're very controllablebecause you know exactly the
temperature that you'restressing yourself with.
(08:27):
But if you don't have a saunaor if you don't have a bathtub
or if you don't have the time tobecause this is a critical
component if you don't have thetime to get that heat stressor
in post exercise, then they'renot going to work as well post
exercise, then they're not goingto work as well.
(08:48):
Okay.
So you'll need to use nativeheat or heated rides to get the
heat stress to your body.
In the end, my best advice isto use a combination of Navy
native heat, heated rides in thesun on hot bath during your
heat training protocol.
So let's run through a coupleexamples here.
Let's bring this, let's startto like just bring this thing
home, and I'm going to firststart with if you're and I'm
(09:10):
going to first start with ifyou're going to use native heat
as the primary stressor, okay.
But one very, very, very bigdisclaimer, warning, and
probably the number one takeawayfrom this podcast, if nothing
else if you start doing yourheat training protocol using
native heat only or primarily,reduce your training intensity
(09:33):
and volume during this seven to14 day protocol so you don't get
heat illness or overcookyourself Cause I see that all
too often Heat is a stressor youneed to risk, don't be afraid
of it, but respect it.
Okay.
So if you're doing thresholdintervals, for example, and you
say I'm going to start my heattraining protocol but I'm going
(09:55):
to keep my threshold intervalsin there, that's silly and not
advised.
You can probably do one or twosessions, but if you keep on
going, you will under-recoveryourself and over-stress
yourself, and that is not a goodsituation to be in.
Additionally, you want to stayhydrated During these sessions.
(10:15):
Push more water.
If you're used to drinking abottle an hour, move it up to a
bottle and a half.
If you're used to drinking abottle and a half per hour,
drink two bottles an hour.
We'll talk about how you canidentify how much fluid you
should take in during and aftera ride here in a few minutes.
But stay hydrated.
Your body will only form theadaptation if it has the tools
(10:35):
it needs to work, and thosetools in this case, very
specifically, it's water,electrolytes and rest.
So when you do these heatedsessions, you need to drink
water, you need to put in thesalt and you need to rest
afterwards.
Okay, so that's my hugedisclaimer, because you can
(10:56):
really get it wrong, and whenyou get it wrong it's not great,
okay.
So training in native heat let'suse to keep it as simple as
possible.
Let's do a 10-day protocol anda typical Monday through Sunday
work week for a time-crunchedathlete, meaning you're
basically going to go easy ortake rest days on Monday and
(11:18):
Friday.
You're going to train midweekand then maybe have bigger
weekends.
That's the kind of operatingpremise that I'm going on here.
So the first three days I'mgoing to start with Tuesday
through Thursday you want to doregular endurance, riding for 60
to 90 minutes at the hottestpart of the day and getting that
heat exposure for an hour to anhour and a half.
Just ride zone two.
(11:41):
I don't care what your trainingprogram calls for, get rid of
the intensity and stick it tozone two or even zone one.
I don't care what your trainingprogram calls for, get rid of
the intensity and stick it tozone two or even zone one if the
heart rate is high during thattime.
Okay, so again that that kindof key temperature to be above
would be about 86 degrees forthe real feel, or or higher.
Okay, so that's Tuesday throughThursday.
(12:02):
Friday, I would say don't rideat all, or do a short recovery
ride in the hottest part of theday, or you can do a walk.
You can do a walk for 40 to 60minutes in the heat.
You want to stimulate sweat andyou want to get the sweat going
.
Here's where, if you're doing anative heat sort of protocol
primarily, and you don't havetime to use a sauna or hot bath
(12:25):
post-workout all the time, onyour off days you can use a
sauna or hot bath to exposeyourself to the heat if you
don't have the time to go outand ride or use the combination
thereof.
So here the thing with thisheat training protocol is you
need consistent exposure for 10or to 14 days and that's where
(12:46):
using this added heat is reallyhelpful.
Okay, so on that Friday, uh,you can get outside in the heat,
do easier training or you canuse sauna or hot bath.
Days five and six, so this wouldbe the Saturday or Sunday, ride
longer, go in the heat, butagain, zone two Okay, don't hit
the intensity, don't jump in thegroup right, just yet.
Zone two Okay, don't hit theintensity, don't jump in the
(13:08):
group ride just yet.
In my opinion, an experience.
Monday is another rest day.
You can use sauna or hot breathor go for an easy ride in the
heat of the day.
Keep this in mind, though, isit's not really a rest day or an
easy day because you'reexposing yourself to the heat
and you're still moving.
So again, this whole protocolis taking a lot more out of you
than a normal zone two week.
Just keep that in mind.
(13:29):
Finally, making the push on thehome stretch days eight, nine
and 10.
This is the Tuesday throughThursday in week two.
That's where, if the, if thetraining program had what was
calling for some intensity, youcould bring it up.
If everything's going well,maybe ride some tempo intervals
or just kind of like, get on thepedals and ride, ride high.
Zone two on Tuesday andThursday.
(13:49):
Wednesday keep it to endurance.
Again, you want to ride in theheat, the hottest part of the
day, to keep that exposure going.
After that, once you'vecompleted all 10 days, and up to
14,.
If you want to keep it going,you'll just need to do a
top-offs, okay, but your, yourheat training protocol is
(14:10):
complete, okay, and do thosetop-offs every three or four
days up until your main event.
Or if you just want to keep onmaintaining it for indefinitely,
you can keep on doing that,okay, but you have formed that
adaptation.
And just keep in mind, once youhave formed the adaptation, you
(14:30):
don't need to keep on riddlingyourself with it.
You don't need to do another 14days.
In fact, what's kind ofinteresting is some of the
research too that I'll link toin this really good article from
EF cycling is, once you'vebuilt it, even if you had, say,
a week, like a week off, and youdidn't do your um, your top
(14:51):
offs every three or four days,once you come back and start the
heat training protocol, youwould want to go for consistency
again, but it would probablyonly take four or five days of
continual exposure to get thatadaptation back again.
So it's putting in the batch,putting in that heat training
protocol.
You want to do it right tobegin with and then after that
(15:12):
it'll be much easier to maintainor get it back.
So what happens if you miss aday during your initial heat
training protocol.
You don't need to start over.
Just simply add a day of heatto the end.
So instead of ending on day 10,you would simply end on day 11.
Okay, you can maybe stretchthat out to day 12 and up to 14
(15:35):
days total if you want to, justto be sure.
But you don't need to startover, and that's that should be
good news.
Okay, one caveat here.
Uh, more is not better, meaningmore time in the heat or in
more than I suggested or hottertemperatures.
That won't speed up the processat all.
It won't improve youradaptation.
(15:56):
In fact, it may make it worse,because if you are too
aggressive with the heat, or ifyou're too aggressive with like
time and zone in the heat, youwill cause problems.
Basically, what you're tryingto do is enough training on the
bike to keep developing fitnessor maintain fitness, while
adding heat as this new stressorto get that specific adaptation
(16:20):
.
So what you'll generally see isyour ATL and CTL may be going
down during this time, but inactuality you're adding more
stress to the total equation.
More stress is coming in thedoor.
We just can't quantify itperfectly on training peaks or
anywhere else.
Really, we just know that it isoccurring, and so you need to
(16:41):
adjust for this by bringing theintensity down, maybe bringing
some of the volume down as well,and so this is not the time to
increase volume or increaseintensity in the training
program.
It is simply get through theheat training protocol so you
form the adaptation, so thatyou're better in the heat,
moving forward, all right.
(17:01):
A couple notes here on airconditioning and global heat
stress.
Okay, global doesn't mean likethe earth.
Global means like to yourglobal, your whole life, okay,
um, but the global heat stressis also a big issue too.
Okay, so if you work in airconditioned environment for like
eight to 10 hours a day and youhave limited exposure to the
(17:24):
outside and you're competingoutside at hot races, I really
recommend a heat trainingprotocol so that you minimize
the risk of heat illness at theevent.
That's the, again, the primarything.
And now, if you're trainingoutside and even exposing
yourself to the heat, but it'salso like intermittent, uh,
(17:45):
because you spend so much time,you know, indoors and you can't
get access to the heat, but it'salso like intermittent, uh,
because you spend so much time,you know, indoors and you can't
get access to the sauna or hotbath immediately after training.
Um, my advice is to getorganized with a 10 to 14 day
stretch to expose yourself tothose, to the heat, and make a
push for it, because having thatadaptation is going to be very
(18:05):
advantageous for all the reasonsthat I've mentioned.
You probably just need likelittle life hacks, though, to
get yourself out of the airconditioning on a regular basis.
So, when you're driving home,roll down the windows, ok.
When you have a break from work, go outside, go outside.
(18:27):
And because I, from anexperiential standpoint, I would
say, when I'm trying to makethat heat training protocol, and
I only have an hour to an hourand a half per day with the
athlete and they don't have thenative exposure to the heat, the
protocol is not going to be asgood.
So you definitely need somelike real world exposure to heat
while you're doing the heattraining protocol and and again,
like on the weekends and inbetween work sessions and all
(18:50):
this kind of stuff like try toget out of air conditioning, and
I do think that that will serveyou well, especially during the
heat training protocol.
Okay, let's talk about addedheat.
Now.
There's a couple nuances hereand I'll try to make this as
short and sweet as I can, butfor those again who don't live
in a naturally hot environment,this is the way to do it.
(19:13):
All that much, unless you'redoing a heated ride, you can
also use a mix of that heatedride and, um, uh, the added heat
with the sauna and the hot bathto get this effect.
And it's very measurable, okay,it's very quantifiable and it's
very controlled.
(19:33):
Generally, my athletes don'tget as tired during, uh, like,
if we just use added heat um asmuch during this kind of four,
10 to 14 day protocol, becausetheir exposure time in the heat
is not as much.
So I find that it just doesn'tzap us as much as riding in the
native heat, but it's still veryeffective.
(19:55):
But the downfall is timing ofusing this added heat, of using
this added heat.
The reason being is that youneed to do your training,
whatever the training is, andthen get into the sauna within
about five minutes or so, fiveor 10 minutes post-training,
because the core temperature iswarm, is heated up after a
(20:15):
training session.
So what we'll want to do is putor expose the body to the sauna
or hot bath as quickly as wecan in order to keep that heat
stress going and get the fulladaptation and get the full
effect.
The sauna needs to be around170 to 190 degree Fahrenheit or
77 to 88 degree Celsius.
(20:36):
You need at least 15 to 30minutes time exposed per session
at that heat and I'd probably,if you haven't done a sauna
before, I'd start with probablylike two by 10 or whatever you
can tolerate comfortably two by10 minutes and then build up
from there.
Think of it like time and zonefor intervals, and we want to go
up for about 30 minutes oftotal time and zone at that 170
(20:59):
to 190 degree Fahrenheit in thesauna and that will be enough to
elicit a response needed foradaptation to occur.
For a hot bath.
What this means is you're usingthe bathtub in your house,
you're gonna draw a hot bath andwe want it to be around 105
degrees If you have a hot tub,that would work too and this is
about 40 degrees Celsius.
(21:21):
You wanna be fully submerged upto your neck if you can, and
here we're looking for 20 to 30minutes of time in tub per
session.
Now, riding inside without a fanand riding in like a warm room
that's a heated ride.
Now room temperatures can alsovary.
(21:43):
I would say 80 degrees for theroom.
That's pretty warm, uh, and itgoes a little contrary to that
advice of the 86 degree uh wetbulb.
Um, that I said for a nativeenvironment.
But keep in mind, you don'thave evaporated, you don't have
a uh.
When you're riding outside, youdon't have the air uh cooling
you, okay.
When you're riding inside withno fan that's key you don't have
(22:08):
as strong as evaporativecooling.
The sweat comes to the skin andit can't move away as
efficiently.
Okay, so the room doesn't needto be as hot as that.
So for most of my athletes, uh,riding uh with no fan 65 and up
to 80 degrees works pretty goodand you don't have to.
Personally, I don't think thatyou need to cover up and wear a
(22:30):
ton of clothes.
I think initially you can, okay, and here's my protocol that I
use with my athletes when we'redoing that.
So maybe you just wear regularriding bibs and a long sleeve
and you start riding endurancefive to seven minutes and then
hit it at about 15 minutes oftempo and get the core
temperature up.
You start sweating andbreathing starts to get labored,
(22:53):
okay, and what you're trying todo is stimulate core
temperature right away, thentake off the long sleeve or the
jacket, whatever you're doing,and then just ride endurance for
that 60 to 90 minutes total.
So what you should observe islots of sweat.
Rate of perceived effort ishigher than normal for zone two
(23:15):
riding and heart rate should beon the upper end of zone two,
maybe even creeping up intotempo, maybe even creeping up
into tempo.
And again, we want that 60 to90 minutes of kind of sweaty
time per session in order to uhelicit uh the response for
adaptation real quick.
I'm going to blow through thisuh like a 10 day, a 10 day
(23:37):
protocol, using uh added heat.
I'm going to break it down intothe first three days, that's,
the Tuesday through Thursday, doyour normal training Okay, you
can do your, your intensity, youcan do your intervals, if
that's what your trainingprogram calls for, and then
immediately thereafter, againwithin five or 10 minutes, go in
(23:57):
the sauna or the hot bath, tryto get at least 15 minutes and
up to 30 minutes Now, and thenrehydrate and really push the
fluids afterwards.
Wednesday, the day in between,that's when you can do a heated
endurance ride, like I justdescribed.
Day four, which would be Friday, go, you know, it's easier or a
(24:18):
rest day, but you need to addthe heat training stimulus and
that's where you'd use sauna orhot bath 20 to 30 minutes.
You could go a little bitlonger in the sauna.
If you're taking breaks, selectthree by 10, but again right
around 30 minutes of time toexposure, with short breaks.
Day five and six this is yourweekend, this is your normal
training.
You can jump in your grouprides, you can do your your
(24:38):
intensity, but again, that's thetiming component Hit the sauna
or hot bath immediatelyafterwards.
Monday is that rest day or easyday, but you're still exposing
yourself to the heat, could go alittle bit longer in the sauna,
take some breaks.
And then days eight, nine andten this is that Tuesday through
(25:00):
Thursday.
In week two Normal training Hitthe sauna and hot bath
immediately afterwards.
Wednesday I do another heatedride.
Um, and because there's actuallysome very good applicability
with uh, mentally, uh trainingyourself to be able to ride in
the heat too, and that's why Ialways try to do some heated
rides, even if I'm using anadded heat protocol.
Uh, during the heat trainingprotocol, some questions I hear
(25:20):
from my athletes and uh, thoseof you who have written in um,
how do you know when you'readapted?
Now I've done several episodeson heat training.
You can just Google heattraining time crunch, cyclists
and uh, I interview uh Lindsaycollege who is head of the
environmental chamber at theOlympic training center.
(25:41):
We go through all theseprotocols and some other like
really in-depth stuff, okay, socheck those out If you want more
on the sciencey and nerdyaspect of things.
I'm trying to make this episodeas practical as I possibly can.
So how do you know when you'readapted?
My pragmatic answer here is ifyou follow all the above
(26:03):
protocols that I just described,you can be sure that you're
adapted.
But what you'll notice is you'llsweat earlier and you'll sweat
often.
Your sweat is more watery,which means that the salt
concentration is less.
Now you're still probably goingto see some salt rings, but it
won't be maybe as heavy unlessyou're just like guzzle a bunch
(26:23):
of salts or eat a eat a very, uhheavy salt, uh dinner the night
before or something like that.
Rate of perceived effort in theheat will come down to normal
rate of perceived effort,meaning if you're doing zone two
and, uh, you're in the heatzone to remember should kind of
feel like that maybe four out of10 or five out of 10.
(26:44):
When you ride in the heat, it'sprobably going to feel like a
six out of 10, seven out of 10sometimes, but it's going to
come back down to riding in thatfour or five.
Even when you're in that 90degree temperature, your heart
rate's going to normalize andyou'll feel less exhausted in
the heat when you're properlyadapted to the heat itself.
(27:06):
Now a lot of people havequestions on fancy wearables.
Okay, so we're talking all thegadgets and gizmos that you can
attach to your body or putinside your body to make sure
that you're training for theheat properly.
To make sure that you'retraining for the heat properly.
Now, I've tried a few of theseand my general recommendation is
(27:28):
for those listening here forthe amateur athlete, you don't
need core temperature sensors orsweat testing patches or sweat
rate analyzers.
You can do the simple stufflike I've just described here.
These, these very practicalprotocols.
One simple thing you can do isweigh yourself before and after
your ride to know your sweatrate.
Okay, now what you need to dois factor in how much you
(27:51):
actually drank on the ride, andI'll link to a little worksheet
from Oscar Zuckerman thatdescribes how to do this.
But if you do this before yourheat training protocol and you
do it after your heat trainingprotocol, you'll also be able to
determine if you are sweatingmore in total and also sweating
earlier as well, because thiswill help bring awareness to
(28:14):
everything that you're doingwith your training, your heat in
your body awareness.
Let's talk about that for asecond.
Body awareness let's talk aboutthat for a second.
I, with my athletes, I try tocultivate high awareness.
Why?
Because this is literally abazillion times more valuable
than wearing whatever thesedevices are.
(28:35):
Because when all technologyfails which it will and it does
you will need to be a fullyfunctioning athlete, because
you're a human, you're not arobot.
You're going to need to keep ongoing, no matter what your core
temperature is or your heartrate is or the power.
Like stuff breaks, stuff goesaway, right, and you need to
(28:58):
keep on going.
Now for heat.
Hot is hot, okay, like in thesesaunas, in the hot bath that
we're talking about.
Those are hot temperatures.
You will become veryuncomfortable.
Hot ride sessions will feelterrible, they'll feel miserable
and you'll be like why the hellam I doing this?
Remind yourself, it's for thefuture adaptation, it's to
(29:19):
perform better in the heat andremember it's to minimize the
risk of heat illness.
Now, if you use a coretemperature sensor or measure
your internal body temperatureduring these sessions, you want
that internal core temp to bearound 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
It's like 40 degrees Celsius.
(29:39):
You build it up to there andyou ride that for a full hour
Celsius Okay.
You build it up to there andyou ride that for a full hour
Okay.
Our natural body temperaturesthree degrees lower than that.
And really, when we are readinga lot of these research
articles, what if you get muchabove a hundred degrees for
internal body temperature?
Your body doesn't function thatwell and there's a lot of harm
(30:01):
that you can do.
So that's why I think it isalso better to have high
awareness, read your body, knowthe perceived effort of what's
going on and err on the side ofa little less, especially when
you're utilizing something likethe core temperature sensor,
because how accurate are they,especially if it's an external
(30:23):
core temperature sensor andthings like this, and if you're
just living and dying by thenumbers and those numbers are
off.
The margin of error is verysmall here.
So again, I think you're betteroff going less tech on
something like a heat trainingprotocol rather than high tech
right now, especially for theamateur athlete.
(30:46):
Now these wearables can helpcultivate awareness.
So if you do use one, use itfor a few weeks to get a sense
of the sensations and kind ofwhere those numbers lie and what
other indicators are.
But I would not rely 100% uponthem to tell you if you're heat
adapted or your sweatcomposition or anything like
that, because it's not asstraightforward as that sweat
(31:10):
composition or anything likethat, because it's not as
straightforward as that.
We know that there's a timecourse of adaptation and a dose
response to all of this and itcan be very different to the
individual and to differentgroups.
So the guidelines I providedfor you will cover those
differences and those nuances inyour physiology better than one
or all of these fancy devicesout there.
(31:31):
Okay, cause you're not going tofind one that says you are now
heat adapted, even though, Idon't know, maybe your Garmin
says that now.
I have no idea.
It's wrong, by the way.
So follow the protocol and Ifully confident that you will
find success in that, okay.
So finally, to wrap this thingup, be careful and be practical.
(31:54):
Like I said, heat is hot rightnow and because all the pros do
it.
There's lots of benefits andyou know what.
It's readily accessible andavailable.
However, you can get it wrongby being too aggressive with it.
Too aggressive means too muchintensity in the heat before
you're adapted.
It also means too much totaltime in the heat before you're
(32:15):
adapted.
And, like I said before, moreis not better.
Consistent exposures andmoderation is better when you're
doing a heat training protocol.
Now, if you want further readingon this, um, including the
protocols themselves, was likeStacy Sims and ask her.
As you can, I've linked to allthose in my show notes.
And if you're going to go aftera heat training protocol, uh,
(32:38):
this year I would.
I would do further reading.
I wouldn't just listen to thenerdy podcast dude um only.
Okay.
So definitely, definitely hearwhat I have to say here, but I
would do further reading to wrapyour brain around what you're
about to do and then proceedgoing forward.
Now remember, if you miss a day, simply add on another day at
(32:59):
the end of the protocol.
You don't need to restart.
Okay, and if more ever applies,I would say the only area where
the kind of more would bebetter is to run the protocol
out to 14 days total.
If you want to be sure thatyou're fully adapted to the heat
after that, I think that you'rewasting your time.
But what we know in research isup to 14 days is beneficial.
(33:22):
Now, if you do this graduallyand progressively, like
discussed here, you shouldnotice better heat tolerance,
decreased rate of perceivedeffort and decreased heart rate
in the heat.
You'll also notice increasedsweat rate, more watery sweat,
and you'll have a nice boost ofperformance when the heat
finally comes down and you turnup to the group ride and smash
(33:43):
it All right.
Well, that's it.
That's our show for today.
If you liked what you heard,please share it with a friend or
your training partner, and ifyou didn't, I guess let me know
or ask whatever question thatyou want.
Uh, by going to train rightcombackslash podcast and click on
ask a training question.
All of this is the best way togrow the show and make sure that
(34:03):
you keep on getting short,actionable training advice
delivered to you weekly.
And if any of this moves youand you want more, please know
that you can hire a coach for aconsultation or monthly coaching
.
All of that can be found ontrainrightcom.
Thanks again for listening andwe'll see you here again next
week for more hot topics on allthings endurance training.
(34:25):
Thanks for joining us on theTime Crunch Cyclist podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
If you want even moreactionable training advice, head
over to trainrightcom backslashnewsletter and subscribe to our
free weekly publication.
Each week you'll get in-depthtraining content that goes
(34:45):
beyond what we cover here on thepodcast.
That'll help you take yourtraining to the next level.
That's all for now.
Until next time, train hard,train smart, train right.
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