General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Fitness benefit from heat? Rss Feed  
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2014-08-28 12:58 PM

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Subject: Fitness benefit from heat?
As I bypassed the gym and slogged through another sunny, humid, 92 lunch run today I asked myself the question I ask myself every time... am I better off for doing this? In general I think the answer is yes but I'm not entirely certain why.

First off, I have seen the evidence that there are benefits to acclimating to heat. But that only matters if you have a hot race coming up or are forced to consistently train in the heat.

So beyond that, in terms of fitness benefit, is it that a hot run is equal to a cool run of similar intensity? For example if my hot run is at 8:00 miles at 160 HR and my cool run is at 7:35 miles at 160 HR.

Or is a hot run is even better than a cool run of similar intensity in other ways over and above the intensity? Sort of like how intervals accrue a benefit that seems to go beyond adding up the time and intensity?


2014-08-28 1:52 PM
in reply to: smoom

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Subject: RE: Fitness benefit from heat?
I believe that if you have an event coming up that's going to hot it's good to train in the heat to get used to paceing at those temps.

If your asking is it better to train in the heat of the day vs a cooler time of day I would think training when its a little cooler out would be better. I think I recover better and my proceeding workouts are better when I don't do the real hot ones.

2014-08-28 5:15 PM
in reply to: smoom

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Subject: RE: Fitness benefit from heat?
Unfortunately, not much benefit. If there was, I should be on the podium at Kona by now! Wjile there may be some benefits in theory and it would definitely help you acclimatize for a hot race, in reality, it really compromises quality (speed) of longer or harder workouts, and makes recovery more difficult. Those tables that purport to show how much faster you could run in more moderate temps, in my experience, are also pretty inaccurate. The good thing is that summer for most folks doesn't last all year like it does here.
2014-08-28 7:02 PM
in reply to: smoom

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Subject: RE: Fitness benefit from heat?

I've long had the same question.  I'm not sure what exercise science data there is on this- but I suspect it's kinda' like training at altitude (for which there is science behind).  The result for altitude training wasn't great.  It is helpful if your race is at altitude, but not if your race is at sea level.  As- the altitude limits the amount of intensity you can throw into a workout, and thereby limits the training, resulting in less potential fitness. 

To the first order- your HR is higher for the same pace when it's hot, as blood flow is being diverted for cooling, so less of it is available to your muscles.  So- it's restricting your workout... and that will cap the benefit.  Such is life.

the good thing is, that on race day- most everyone is probably in the same boat.  So, it's fair.

2014-08-28 7:28 PM
in reply to: smoom

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Subject: RE: Fitness benefit from heat?
A Well done Tan!
2014-08-29 4:15 PM
in reply to: smoom

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Subject: RE: Fitness benefit from heat?
You guys are making it hard to leave the cool confines of the gym next week!


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