Prepare Yourself for Racing in the Heat

When temperatures rise, key behavioral changes can make a massive impact on performance.

Summer racing season is upon us, and for most of us that means racing in the heat. While some revel in these conditions, others wilt. Regardless of your predisposition, there are several key steps you can take to ensure that you perform as strongly as possible during competitions in hot weather.

In this article, I provide an overview of how to best prepare for events in the heat with the help of Dr. Stephen Cheung, an environmental physiologist and professor at Brock University in Canada. Dr. Cheung has over 30 years of research experience studying the impact of heat on performance and health.

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Adaptation before all

The first step in preparing for hot conditions is to systematically adapt to heat before you reach the start line. The things you may attempt on race day—for example, wearing ice vests while warming up or drinking cold slushies to bring down your core temperature—may have an impact. However, nothing will systematically benefit you as much as a well-planned heat adaptation protocol.

These methods often involve planning well ahead of your target event and working backwards to allow for enough time to accumulate the desired effects.

According to Dr. Cheung, there are many ways to heat adapt, some more involved than others, and some involving equipment and other logistical elements. For the purposes of this overview, we’ll stick to the most obvious method—exercising in a hot environment.

Overall, the main priority is to raise your body temperature higher than normal and keep it elevated for roughly 60 to 90 minutes a day, for roughly seven to 14 days.

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“For those without access to a heat chamber like I have in my lab, one popular method is through passive heat exposure in either a sauna or in a hot tub,” Dr. Cheung says. “If you are doing this, the ideal time is to do it immediately after a training bout when your body temperature is already high.”

Assisted by the hot tub or sauna, you are able to maintain a high body temperature, rather than trying to raise it from resting.

Dr. Cheung suggests having your recovery nutrition ready to go before you get into the tub or sauna, so that you are not delaying that part of recovery.

So, when should you start this process? The simple answer is to start well before your main competition, approximately six to eight weeks out, offering you a chance for a slower build, to tweak the protocol you use, and, if possible, to test the effects. Then, once you’re adapted, maintain it with one to two heat bouts weekly, generally during your longer endurance days. This way, there’s less to worry about when you are peaking and tapering.

Pre-cooling on race day

The aforementioned cooling methods can have a place on race day, depending on the competitive demands of the event.

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The most important aspect is to continue to keep cool before the gun goes off. This can be done through both high-tech and low-tech methods, but the basic idea remains the same: you want to keep your body temperature from rising while you’re warming up, or ideally even drop it slightly.

Dr. Cheung has reviewed the existing studies that look at the potential benefits of pre-cooling. There are fairly obvious trends. In short sprint competitions, pre-cooling may have a negative impact. This agrees with the scientific consensus that strength and power are maximized with warm temperatures. On the other hand, in intermittent and endurance efforts, pre-cooling has a small to very strong benefit, according to scientific studies.

“One of my favorite strategies is to double-dip by combining and maintaining hydration with cooling through drinking cold water or ice slushies,” Dr. Cheung says. “Slushies are especially effective because you’re melting the ice to water, which sucks away a lot more heat than just drinking cold water.”

There are also high-tech and low-tech ways to pre-cool while warming up. The high-tech way to stay cool is to use a purpose-built cooling vest. Look for one with maximum torso coverage. A low-tech alternative is to get cold and wet towels and drape them over your torso and neck while warming up. In the case of a cycling competition when you might warm up on a trainer, remember to use fans, if possible, and stay in shady areas if you can.

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Adjust race strategy

Studies suggest that even when an athlete is heat-adapted, his or her performance is reduced in the heat compared to when they compete in cooler temperatures. So, we all need to adjust our pacing and our mental expectations to accommodate for a different performance, no matter what and how many measures we take.

Don’t expect to set a PR if the mercury soars. Likewise, don’t talk yourself out of a solid performance solely because you have tended to underperform in the heat. Trust in the process you have undertaken to heat adapt and pre-cool. And always remember that everyone else is also facing the same conditions.

“Even if a race will be held in extreme heat, while absolute performance may suffer, you can still perform well in hot weather, and that is something to plan for rather than fear,” Dr. Cheung stresses.