Training & Nutrition - It's Summer, hydrate well and often. My experience. . . .

Hey All!

Just wanted to share some info. about one of my recent rides, and toss out some advice.

I live in Texas and yes it's warming up here, so hydration is important--duh!

Anyway, I'm training my big butt for the Hotter Than Hell 100 in August and thus sometimes I aim to ride in the heat of the day.
on 6/9 I decide I need some heat, so I planned to leave at 12 noon and spend some time in the sun. And by the way, hardly any shade on my training course. So I fuel up well and hydrate beforehand--about an hour before departure to make sure all is well and digested.
With me I took some snax and the equivalent of five(5) 17 oz. water bottles of ice, water and Powerade. So I am weighted down pretty good. I have a hardtail mountain bike with 1.5" kenda slicks on which I train--not fast going.
Sorry, so I ride and stop a couple of times and eat my snax and drink. I warm up slow for a long time b/c of the temp. so this ride is time consuming. I went almost 40 miles in about 3 hours(bike) time and it was 95 degrees--98 heat index temp. with 37% humidity. I'm fine the entire way and I took in about all of the fluids I took with me. My point to this ramble, I took all this liquid with me and was fed and watered before I left--I still lost 4 1/2 pounds of body weight! Probably all water. You may FEEL perfect, but you are still losing fluid.
So watch yourself and others out there.

Happy Riding

So true. Most people can only get 24 oz. of water/hour across the stomach wall. We can easily lose 1 liter/hour. It's a game that's hard to win. Best you can do is limit your losses. Watch your forearms. If they get dry, you're in trouble and need water and shade immediately.

Training in the heat does help. Training to drink as much water as possible helps. But most folks can't keep up and are going to have to sit in the shade and hydrate maybe every 50 miles.

Oregon resident here, just rode 55 miles in Alabama today. Off the road by 11am, comfortably warm and humid, not oppressive. Drank a bottle of water before I left the motel, and about 72 ounces on the road, much of it Gatorade. Have no idea of weight loss, but I was surprised at how little of that water went through me on the road. Drank 24 oz of cold water and a cuppa joe upon my return.

Realized that I haven't been doing as much drinking on the bike as I should going into last weekend's Tour de Hood on Mt. Hood in Oregon. I resolved to swaller as much as I could on the ride, and managed to have to pee three times on the ride. Caution, though - it is possible to drink too much water (research some of the dead marathoners who have done so), so be sure there are electrolytes coming in, too.

The point about watching your forearms is good, but in the dryer west (even in Oregon), the sweat can evaporate before you see it. Be religious about hydration. I am a convert - I even got one of those double-bottle triathlete things that goes on the back of your seat so I have enough for the days I am not near a store on my ride, or am on a group ride with significant distances between rest stops.

I rode 80 miles yesterday and took 4 liters of weak electrolite replacement in a couple of plastic milk bottles. Went through them both, and the food I took with me and still ended up 2kg lighter than when I left. The heat really sucks the water out of you even if you hydrate often. Half the ride was just after dawn so I really only spent 3 hours in the heat. You would need a really large amount of water to ride for an extended period in the full heat of the day.

I went out in the TX heat yesterday for a 44mi jaunt with a friend. I took 2x24 bottles with electrolyte solutions, and a 100oz camelbak full of icewater. Went thru 3 bottles refilled one) and a goodly part of the camelbak before the mouthpiece got snapped off in the spokes after a nature stop...

I've written an excellent (IMHO) article on this topic, titled: "Heat management or how to race when it's how out" (http://myworldfromabicycle.blogspot.com/2010/05/heat-management-or-how-to-race-when-its.html)

Some key helpful points
1. allow yourself some exposure to exercising in the heat (with common sense limitations) and allow time (see post for specifics) for adaptive response to occur (primarily plasma volume increases)
2. Hydrate properly and add electrolytes appropriately. Drinking large amounts of straight/standard water can make you very sick from electrolyte imbalances (Water intoxication is caused when sodium levels drop below 135 mmol/L when athletes consume large amounts of fluid that is not treated with electrolytes).
3. keep your clothing wet (in particular your hair on your head (if bald, a dew rag can hold water), jersey and front panels of shorts. Water conducts (transfers) heat 25 times more than air; evaporation removes the heat that has been captured in the water. This is a really big deal for cooling. As an illustration: Tests done with canteens covered with water soaked fabric covering versus canteens with dry fabric covers produced a 42 Fahrenheit degree difference of interior water temperature (23.4 degrees Celsius difference). evaporative cooling effects on water containers. (http://www.dirttimeforum.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=98.0) .
4. Cooling yourself by pre-wetting clothing and dumping water on your body during strenuous exercise helps slow dehydration and loss of electrolytes, because you will sweat a lesser amount.
5. Ice slurries can temporarily lower a person's core temperature and increase stay time in heat stress environment.
6. something, something, I forget what number six was.

Stay wet my friends,
Regards,
David Henderson

http://myworldfromabicycle.blogspot.com/2010/05/heat-management-or-how-to-race-when-its.html

3. keep your clothing wet (in particular your hair on your head (if bald, a dew rag can hold water), jersey and front panels of shorts. Water conducts (transfers) heat 25 times more than air; evaporation removes the heat that has been captured in the water. This is a really big deal for cooling. As an illustration: Tests done with canteens covered with water soaked fabric covering versus canteens with dry fabric covers produced a 42 Fahrenheit degree difference of interior water temperature (23.4 degrees Celsius difference). evaporative cooling effects on water containers. (http://www.dirttimeforum.com/index.php?action=printpage;topic=98.0)
That's more than I would have thought, good to know.