Nutrition tips to help you excel in a warm weather race

As you go from winter to spring to summer, it takes much more effort and energy to maintain a "normal" pace as the temperature rises. As a way to keep your exercising body safe in the heat, your body increases your sweat rate to remove heat from your body through evaporative cooling. As you become dehydrated (from fluid loss), blood volume decreases. In turn, more blood going to the skin means less going to your heart. To maintain cardiac output (the amount of blood pumped by the heart minute), heart rate increases in order to supply the working muscles with blood. But due to a decline in blood availability (for cooling), less blood is available to go to the working muscles. When the body can no longer take care of all of its responsibilities (remember - all of this is happening so you don't die in the heat), your body begins to shut down to keep you safe. If you ignore the signs of overheating, heat builds up in your body, your core temp increases and you are at risk for overheating and may experience heat stroke.
If you've ever struggled running in the heat, you are not alone. There are a few primary reasons why performance declines in warmer temps.

1) An increase in overall body temperature. Similar to a fever, the higher your core temperature, the greater the perceived effort (everything feels harder).

2) In the warmer temps, a significant amount of blood flow is redirected from the working muscles to the skin in order to cool the body. Cooling (which is very important to the health of your body - your organs don't want to overheat!) happens from sweating and evaporation. Therefore, less blood is available to transport oxygen to the working muscles. Less oxygen in the heat is similar to training at altitude. But in humid conditions, the air is full of water vapor and it can't hold any more so sweat has a difficult time evaporating (which means it can't cool you like it would be able to do in low humidity).

3) Dehydration increases in hot conditions. When you are dehydrated, you lose blood volume which causes your blood to get thicker. This makes it harder for your heart to supply blood to your muscles. As a result, your heart has to work even harder to pump that blood. Additionally, when fluid levels drop, you have a harder time controlling body temperature which causes the core temperature to rise even faster.

4) You DO NOT lose sodium without fluids. Dehydration comes from fluid loss - not from sodium loss. If you are simply focusing on sodium and carbs (salt tabs, gels and chews) but not drinking enough water each hour, the sodium and carbs will not do anything to help you avoid dehydration. You must drink enough of a well-formulated sport drink to properly keep yourself hydrated.

The bottom line is that the harder you work in the heat, the more heat is generated from the working muscles. Blood in your body competes for the working muscles (energy), the skin (to cool you) and the gut (aid in absorption and digestion of calories). The greater the metabolic heat production, the more energy is needed to cool the body (top priority to prevent you from overheating) - which means more stress on the cardiovascular system. Heat stress also causes an increase in fluid, electrolyte and glycogen loss (which is why pacing is critical) but the heat impacts the ability to effectively digest and absorb calories and fluids. Thus the greater risk of GI issues in higher heat environments.

As you prepare yourself mentally for your upcoming long distance event, keep in mind that working at a higher effort than your body can dissipate heat is going to produce a build-up of internal heat.

• Create a race strategy that will allow you to use your fitness in a smart way.
• Your fastest performance is the one where you minimize a massive slow down.
• Navigate the conditions you are given on the day, don't chase a PR or metrics. Listen to your body.
• Focus on what you can control. Make sure to "check-in" with yourself and respond accordingly.
• Take walk breaks (reset breaks) when you run. The longer you let the heat build up, the greater the slow down (and greater risk of GI issues).
• Back off the effort. Start out conservatively to minimize the risk of irreversible heat stress. Save your heart beats.
• Go in with no expectations. Race your own race.
• Go into the event well-hydrated and fueled so you are in the best state of health possible to perform in the race conditions. Have a plan - don't just figure things out as you go along.
• Fuel and hydrate consistently and frequently. Moderate amounts of fluids consumed frequently will digest and absorb easier than large or tiny amounts consumed periodically. 
• Prioritize liquids over solids for easier digestion. As a general rule, the higher the carbohydrate content (and fat/protein) and lower the fluid intake, the slower the absorption rate.
• Focus on the process. Think of the race as a project, checking off to-do's and overcoming obstacles as you go through each mile.
• Keep yourself cool on the bike so you can start the run with a slightly lower (or normal) core body temperature. Use water from aid stations to douse the body.
• Your mour muscles demand more fuel (glycogen) in hot conditions. Muscles are more taxed which can affect efficiency and can also cause greater tissue damage.
• On the run, your stomach can only empty about 5-7 ounces of fluid every 15 minutes. If you drink more than you can empty from your stomach, you will risk a sloshy stomach. Also, if you only drink water, you risk diluting sodium in the blood. Make sure to rely on a sport drink throughout the race (that’s why I also suggest to wear a hydration belt on the run) and use water only for sipping and cooling.
• Use ice in your hands, on your head, around your neck and near your groin to help with cooling. Also use a cooling towel.
• Minimize the risk of a sunburn by using sunscreen.
• Wear a hydration belt with your sport drinks on hand so you can keep to your own drinking schedule.
• The harder the effort, the more your body temp will increase as more heat is being generated. The harder you push, the greater the increase in heat production. You will know when your body temp is increasing because you will feel yourself getting warmer. Control your effort to better manage your body temp throughout the entire race.
• Look for shaded areas on the course to avoid running in the direct sunlight.
• If you feel overly hot, dizzy or chills. Stop immediately, sit down and get yourself cooled.

If you found this information helpful and you'd like to learn more about sport nutrition (like should you concentrate your bottles during a race, how do I fuel before a long distance triathlon and more?) check out our team membership. 

What you need to know: heat acclimatization

Remember when you were complaining about the cold weather?
Hello summer heat!

The body has many mechanisms to help adapt to a range of environmental conditions. Heat acclimatization plays a major role in the body’s physical responses and overall ability to perform the heat.

What is heat acclimatization? 
Heat acclimatization (or acclimation) involves biological adaptations that reduce physiological strain (ex. heart rate and body temperature), improve comfort, improve exercise capacity and reduce the risks of serious heat illness during exposure to heat stress. Heat acclimatization can occur in a hot and dry environment as well as a hot and humid environment. Acclimatization varies person to person and also depends on the volume of exercise, the intensity of exercise, hydration status and fitness level.

Trained athletes and those with less body surface area will generally (but not always) have more physical advantages to tolerating the heat compared to the untrained or those with more body surface area.

Humidity 
On humid days, when the air is already saturated with water, sweat evaporates more slowly. This explains why it feels so much hotter (and harder) to train in high humidity. When relative humidity reaches a high enough level, the body's natural cooling system simply can't work. Sweat evaporates very slowly, if at all, and the body heats up. No matter how much you drink or try to cool yourself, if your body is overheated and you can no longer cool yourself, your body will no longer be able to safely train in the heat.

Physiological strain
There is a great cardiovascular strain when exercising in the heat. Cardiac output (volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute, a function of heart rate and stroke volume) becomes inadequate to fuel the dual demand for skin and muscle blood flow. Even though heart rate increases during thermal stress, the amount of blood that the heart can pump per beat is reduced because of overall low blood volume. This is called cardiac drift. The heart is trying to compensate for the reduced blood volume by beating faster. This makes it extremely difficult to cool the body and support the working muscles. Ultimately, the skin will win and your muscles will not be able to properly contract.

When training in the heat, the body will struggle to maintain core temperature, keep up with muscle contractions and maintain optimal gastric emptying. This is why so many athletes experience GI distress when training in the heat. And when you get dehydration, this makes training in the heat even worse.

Importance of sport nutrition
Restoring fluids and meeting hydration needs during workouts is a must as this is the only way to maintain muscle contractions and reduce the risk of heat stress. However, don't expect your gut to tolerate taking in sport nutrition on a hot summer day if you haven't been consistent with your fueling/hydration over the past few months (in cooler temps). It can take up to 6-8 weeks to train the gut to tolerate digesting and absorbing nutrition while exercising. If fluid replenishment is not adequate (ex. rationing your fluids, not planning your refill stops appropriately, not drinking on a schedule, etc.), blood volume will decrease which also boosts heart rate to compensate for the reduced blood volume.

Dehydration reduces blood volume and as the body compensates by retaining more sodium in the blood, there is increased pressure in major blood vessels as blood becomes more concentrated, thicker and more difficult to circulate. Dehydration also increases glycogen utilization (depleting carbohydrate stores quicker). The breakdown of glycogen during training leads to an increase in intracellular acids (ex. lactic acid) which decreases pH thus causing skeletal muscle fatigue. When athletes experience heat stress and dehydration, they typically complain that a normal easy or stustainable given effort feels much more difficult. Ultimately, performance declines and as exercise continues, health can be negatively compromised.

How to adapt
When preparing for heat acclimatization, it's important to first have a solid base level of fitness. In other words, avoid starting a training plan (or new exercise routine) when the weather turns warm or hot. For the competitive athlete or those preparing for a summer or fall endurance event, this stresses the importance of maintaining a good level of fitness all year long.

Because heat acclimatization is a complex series of physiological adaptations that occur when exposed to the heat, you need to train in the heat in order to acclimate to the heat. While you can attempt to acclimate passively with the use of a sauna protocol, the best strategy is to acclimate actively by completing a few of your workout sessions in the heat, over the course of about 3 weeks. While it may feel uncomfortable and difficult at first, you are teaching the body to better tolerate exercising in the heat. Overtime, your physiology will change to reduce the cardio, thermal and metabolic strain on the body due to the heat. Prolonged exercise in the heat forces the cardiovascular system to provide blood flow to the working skeletal muscles to meet metabolic demands and to provide blood flow to the skin to dissipate the heat released by the working muscles. Additionally, although you will continue to sweat to cool your body, you will lose less sodium in your sweat.

Most athletes will find that performance is not significantly compromised when training in the heat for short distances and that blood can support the muscle demand and skin demand. However, when exercise is prolonged or intensified, the body may fail to maintain thermal homeostasis and will move into positive heat storage. Because of this, you must take training in the heat seriously. You must adjust your effort/intensity and volume. And you must check your ego at the door and be willing to acclimate slowly and patiently.

Are you struggling to train in the heat?

Acclimatization
Complete heat acclimatization requires up to 14 days but the systems of the body adapt at varying rates. Be mindful that every time you train in the heat, you gain more tolerance to the heat. In other words, you do not need to make an effort to train in the hottest time of the day acclimate to the heat. Continue to build fitness in a temperature controlled environment, alongside training in the heat (you don't need to be outside in the heat for every workout). There's no point suffering in the heat if you are unable to complete a workout and stay consistent with your training. Sometimes you just need to stay indoors.

Change in physiology
It is very important to lower the intensity during the first 1-2 weeks of training in the heat (ex. early summer) as your body is trying to improve control of cardio functioning. Be mindful that acclimatization will require you to reduce your effort/intensity so be OK with seeing slower paces/watts in the first few weeks of acclimating. This is for your health and safety - which trumps trying to gain fitness in the first few weeks of training in the heat. During the early adaptations of heat acclimatization (ex. early summer or first warm days of the year), you will likely notice an increase in cardio strain due to the added stress of exercising in the heat. Your perceived exertion will increase (especially at higher intensities and prolonged durations) and you will feel more tired, fatigued and exhausted than normal. Cardio changes occur in the first 5-10 days whereas changes in sweating mechanisms can take 10-14+ days. Because of this, you may need to make some modifications to your training. 

Training modifications 

Consider splitting up your workout (half outside, half indoors). Find shady areas to train. Opt to train indoors when it's just too hot outside. Or try to workout when it's not as hot (early morning or early evening). If you try to push your normal efforts in the heat, your body cannot adjust to the heat. Do not try to chase paces/efforts that you could easily hold in cooler conditions. You'll only push back the time that your body could be acclimating (plus, this is a sure fire way for a good workout to quickly go bad).

Sport Nutrition 
Proper fueling and hydration during workouts helps maximize training adaptions. Falling short on fluid, carbohydrate and electrolyte needs may increase the risk for immunosuppression or injury. Plus, the symptoms of underfueling and dehydration are not pleasant.
A sport drink provides a practical and easy way to obtain fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates - in the precise formulation - to optimize digestion and absorption.
Gels, bars and chews are portable, convenient sources of carbohydrates to consume during a workout but they lack the fluid and sodium found in a sport drink, and without this precise formulation they are more difficult to digest and absorb - increasing the risk for GI issues.
Although your daily diet helps to keep you nourished and fueled, the diverse nature of hot and humid weather, long distance workouts, intervals, brick workouts, two-a-day sessions and strength training validates the importance of consuming well-formulated sport nutrition drinks during specific workouts.

Fueling and hydration
When it comes to fueling/hydrating, do not view two back-to-back workouts as two separate workouts. If you are “only” running 20 minutes off a 3 hour bike, you need to see this as a 3:20 hr workout NOT a 3 hour bike + 20 minute run. Same goes for bike or run after a swim workout. And when you are running, you are using much more full-body muscle than when you are cycling - which requires more fluids for thermal control. Plus there is less breeze when running vs. cycling. Do not compromise your ability to have one long quality workout and recover quickly by not bringing adequate sport nutrition/hydration for both workouts.
Although pouring cold water on the body can help you feel cooler in hot temperatures, you still need to ingest fluids. To help prevent a sloshy stomach and to assit with optimal rehydration during your workout, you need to consume a sport drink regularly during your workout. Make sure you always have a sport drink with you when you train (not just water) and be mindful of the negative health issues that you may experience by overdrinking water in the heat OR under-consuming sport nutrition without adequate calories and electrolytes. Plan stops to refill your sport drink bottles before you run out of fluids. Overconsuming salt/electrolytes and fluids before and during workouts will not help you acclimate to the heat but staying adequately hydrated and well fueled will help you better perform and respond to the heat.

Female athletes
Female athletes who menstruate regularly each month may notice an increase in thermal strain during the luteal phase (high hormone phase) before and during menstruation. The increase in progesterone causes body temperature to increase in preparation for the fertilization of an egg. When fertilization does not occur, estrogen and progesterone decrease before the follicular phase. The high concentration of progesterone during the luteal phase affects fluid balance, causing female athletes to feel bloated from fluid retention. Additionally, whereas female athletes are more likely to feel cold during the estrogen-dominant follicular phase, progesterone acts on the hypothalamus (temp control center) which increases body temperature. Female athletes may feel warmer than normal, which makes it more difficult to dissipate heat (although a helpful physiological response for racing in cooler weather events). Female athletes should be mindful of how the body responds to training in the heat, specifically in the 7-10 days before menstruation and adjust efforts accordingly.

Minimize heat stress
There are several ways to minimize heat stress. Your training gear should be breathable, light, wicking and should help you stay cool and minimize exposure to the sun. Your clothing should protect the areas of your body that are most exposed to the sun (ex. back, neck, shoulder, face). Always wear broad spectrum sunscreen when you train outdoors and reapply. Wear a cooling towel around your neck and regularly re-wet throughout your run. Use water to cool your body on the bike and run. Search for shaddy sections to run and select "cooler" times in the day to workout.

Know the warning signs 
Identify the warning signs of heat cramps (muscle cramps), heat exhaustion (thirst, profuse sweating, fatigue, pale and cool skin, weakness, headache, nausea, chills/goose bumps, cessation of sweating, faintness, dizziness) and heat stroke (strong and rapid pulse, hot and dry skin, confusion). If you suddenly feel like you are experiencing a heat related illness, stop exercising, get into a cool environment and drink electrolyte-based liquids. An extreme loss of appetite, excessive sleepiness, headache, chills or abnormal fatigue during or post workout can all be signs that you are not properly hydrating (or fueling) during your workout. 

Here's a video helping you understand how to best fuel and hydrate during warm weather training:

Training in the heat - nutrition tips

Triathletes and endurance athletes are very susceptible to dehydration and even more so, a heat-related injury at this time of the year. Whereas in the cold/cooler months of the year, athletes can get away with haphazard fueling and hydration strategies and poor pacing, now is the time in the year when a poorly planned fueling/hydration regime and pushing too-hard or too-far will negatively affect workouts, adaptations and health.

Let it be known that training in the heat is incredibly stressful for the body. Seeing that training (in any environment) already creates difficulty for the body to adequately digest and absorb nutrients and fluids, you can imagine why so many athletes experience harmful health issues, GI struggles, extreme fatigue, heat stress, dehydration and so many more issues during the summer months when training for an event.

As an example, exercise increases body temperature. The harder and longer you train, the higher your resting temperature. Your body compensates by moving the extra heat to the skin via the blood - it then dissipates into the air through sweat (so long as humidity levels allow for evaporation). But when you exercise, your blood serves another important role - it carries oxygen and nutrients to the muscles. Blood is shared between the muscles and the skin. The higher your core temperature, the more blood is used for cooling and less for the working muscles. In other words, your body will always sacrifice muscle function for temperature control. This is why an athlete's body will begin to "shut down" when overheating as this state is life threatening.

Every athlete has his/her own threshold for when the body begins to experience a decline in health and performance as a result of heat stress, dehydration and glycogen depletion.

To keep your body functioning well (in training and on a daily basis), it's extremely important to care for your body with proper fueling and hydration strategies before/during/after workouts and to respect the conditions by pacing appropriately.

Don't be the athlete who......

• Does not stay well-hydrated on a daily basis (before/after workouts and during the day)
• Does not bring along fluids/nutrition when running (especially when running off the bike)
• Is not comfortable drinking while running/riding
• Rations fluids to avoid stopping (or does not have enough places to refill bottles)
• Does not have enough hydration bottle cages on the bike (or if they are on, they are not easily accessible)
• Does not use sport nutrition products properly (not enough or too much carbohydrates, fluids and electrolytes)
• Does not use sport nutrition products or does not plan ahead and relyies only on water (or nothing at all)
• Feels it's only a  "short" workout - so you don't need to fuel/drink

There are dozens of excuses and reasons why fluid/electrolyte/calorie needs are not being met during training and racing and not only is it holding you back from training consistently and executing well during workouts, it is also extremely damaging to the body - placing you at risk for injury, sickness, burnout and other serious health complications. Remember - you are not just fueling/hydrating for one workout but for the next series of workouts. If you struggle during one workout, it will affect your future workouts.

Common side-effects of dehydration and heat stress:

• headache
• dizziness
• blurred vision
• loss of focus
• chills
• high heart rate that won't drop even when you reduce the effort or stop
• no appetite post workout
• excessive sleepiness
• extreme weakness
• low blood pressure
• stop sweating
• dry mouth
• dark urine
• dry skin
• no/little urination
• extreme cramping
• bloating/puffiness
• excessive thirst/lost of thirst
• rapid, elevated pulse (despite effort slowing down)
• muscle spasms (during and post workout)

Are you currently experiencing any of the above?
If yes, your current fueling/hydration and pacing strategy is NOT working for you.


Every human body is different so you must pay very close attention to your body signs/symptoms/signals when it comes to training and racing in endurance events. If you do not make the effort to keep yourself in good with proper fueling and hydration (and pacing), you will be forced to spend a lot of time getting your body healthy again before you start even thinking about training again.

To help you out, here are a few very simple tips to help you adapt during hot-weather workouts

• Sip frequently in small amounts, don't gulp fluids. Gulping (especially from a straw) causes you to swallow air, which can cause bloating and belching. This also may disturb the function of the stomach and slows down absorption.
  
• Be sure to have a sport drink with you for all workouts lasting more than one-hour - this should contain a mixture of electrolytes, carbohydrates and fluids in an appropriate concentration to digest well and to be efficiently absorbed. I suggest a hypo or isotonic solution with ~20-25g carbohydrates per every ~12-16 ounces and at least 250mg of sodium to optimize gastric emptying.
  
• Aim for 24-32 ounces of fluid on the bike per hour and at least 10-12 ounce fluid for every 30 minutes while running (this should be in a sport drink - not plain water in the heat!).
  
• Aim to sip your bottle on the bike every 10-15 minutes (you need at least 3-4 gulps to ensure that you are getting in around 3-4 ounces of fluid) and 1-2 sips every 5-8 minutes while running. Frequent drinking on a schedule will not only help to delay fatigue and prevent dehydration but will prevent overdrinking on fluids (particularly ice cold water), which often causes a sloshy stomach.
  
• While keeping your insides hydrated is critical, consider ways to keep your body cool on the outside. Suggestions include exercising early morning or in the evening and avoiding workouts in the heat of the day (10-5pm). Choosing indoor workouts over outdoor when health may be compromised (extreme heat). Using water/ice to cool yourself while exercising. Wear a cooling towel/cooling sleeves. Use a visor over a hat. Choose shady areas over direct sunlight. Wear sunscreen to prevent burning. Wear protective clothing.
  
• Always plan ahead with your bottle refill stops. Be sure to STOP before you really need to stop so you are never rationing your fluids or going without.
  
• Be sure you are setting yourself up for good hydration actions. Cages/hydration systems on the bike should be accessible and easy to use in ALL conditions (ex. bumpy roads, rain, technical courses, rain, etc.). Your run courses in training should allow you to refill bottles that you bring with you OR set up bottles on your course. Everything you do in training should be practice for race day.
  
• Wear a hydration belt/pack so you can drink what you drink, when you want to drink it. There are many types on the market - find one that works for you and never run outside without it.
  
• Do not wait for thirst to kick in during endurance workouts/racing to start drinking. Start drinking/fueling early. An athlete who waits to drink until he/she is thirsty is already behind on fluid requirements and many times, this will cause an athlete to drink an excessive amount of water. This may cause hyponatremia (very serious health condition) or may cause a sloshy stomach/bloating/stomach cramping. When you fall behind on your fluids, you will likely drink too much at once to play catch up (often a hypertonic/concentrated amount from guzzling a lot of drinks at aid stations or stops at gas stations in training).
  
• Make your fueling/hydration strategy during workouts as simple as possible. You should not be using several different methods of consuming electrolytes, calories/carbohydrates/sugars and fluids. But ok to use 2-3 different products/flavors to help with taste bud fatigue. Also, DO NOT overconcentrate your flasks/bottles.
  
• Pace yourself and be OK with slower paces that will elicit a higher RPE. Even mild dehydration can negatively affect performance and can cause drowsiness, irritability, loss of concentration and headaches - none of which are performance enhancing or healthy. When dehydration worsen, serious issues occur which affect the heart, brain, muscles and organs (ex. kidneys).
  
• If you overwork your body, it is not possible to overfuel/hydrate the body to meet your training/racing demands.
  
• Be respectful of your body in the heat. If you are feeling any changes with your body that concern you, first slow down. Don't be a hero and push through - stop! Remind yourself that when your body starts to shut down or gives you signals/signs that something is wrong (ex. headache, chills, vision changes, etc.), your body is no longer adapting to training stress but it's trying to protect you. Never get upset at your body for a bad workout or race if it is simply trying to protect you from a serious heat or other-related injury.

There are far too many athletes failing with workouts and experiencing negative health issues due to poor fueling/hydration strategies before/during/after training and improper pacing. Sport nutrition is a complicated area with many misguided tips and suggestions that are not always practical or healthy. If you know someone who can benefit from this blog, please share.

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - run

RUN

I feel many triathletes need a constant reminder that they are not runners. Certainly, runners do not need to be reminded that they are not triathletes.

Runners absorb a completely training stress than the multisport athlete. Furthermore, the race day effort of a triathlete is based on the race distance, which determines what time of the day a triathlete runs and what type of mechanical fatigue the triathlete brings to the run. Thus, the pacing and fueling strategy for run training and running are very different than the single sport athlete.
(Note - even for runners, I still find it valuable to set up aid stations or bring nutrition and hydration with you during long runs)

For the triathletes, you can not think like a runner when you train for triathlons.

For example, if you are doing a brick run, you can not think of your run off the bike as "only" a 20-minute run. I see it all the time - a triathlete is out on his/her bike for 3, 4, 5+ hours and then comes the run off the bike and no fluids are consumed during the run.  If you ride your bike for 3 hours and run 20 minutes off the bike, you are completing a 3 hour and 20 minute workout - you can not think that you are "only" running 20 minutes. Sure, a solo 20 minute run does not need calories or fluids but your body still requires and deserves fluids, electrolytes and calories to finish off your workout.

Once this new fueling strategy is ingrained into your head, you will notice that you are running better off the bike (not barely surviving or suffering), you are more energized and thinking clearly during a run off the bike, you are protecting your health (allowing you to train more consistently), you can reduce risk for injury and you can reduce your overall training stress, thus allowing you to recover faster. I can't tell you how many athletes that I have worked with who consistently underfuel and underhydrate while running all because it doesn't seem natural or needed to bring nutrition and hydration on a run.  By fueling and hydrating properly, not only do you build confidence for race day, train your gut and improve performance but you protect your health AND you can function better in life (your family can thank me for this advice).

-------------------------------------------------------------

-There are many hydration belts and packs on the market so take your pick. Just please carry something with you that allows you to run with good form (I advise to not carry anything more than 6-8 ounces in your hand as it can throw off your gait and cause muscle tension in the neck/back). A hydration pack/belt allows you to hydrate and fuel consistently when YOU want to fuel and hydrate. Yes, it may feel uncomfortable at first but just like running with a HR monitor, wearing a hat/visor, running with a watch or wearing an ankle strap or race belt around your waist, you can get use to it.

-In hot weather, you need to plan for 1 x 10+ ounce flask with 70-100 calories of a hydration based sport drink with at least 250-400+ mg sodium for every 30 minutes of running - this is for any length brick run or long run. If you run on the treadmill, the same strategy applies but you can use a sport bottle instead of a flask.

-You also need to plan for 1 x 10 ounce flask of cold water for every 30 minutes of running for any brick run or long run. This will be a lifesaver as you can now use this cold water for sipping and for cooling to help control core temperature. 

-Plan your run routes accordingly so that you can make quick stops for easy refilling of sport nutrition powder (ex. baggies or single serving packets) and use water fountains or bottles for water. Many sport nutrition companies (ex. Scratch, Tailwind, Clif Hydration, EFS pro) provide single serving packets so you can carry refill powder with you when you need to refill. 

-To reduce the risk of GI upset and to optimize digestion and absorption, I suggest to sip your drink every 8-10 minutes and as needed. Never ration your hydration when you run because you don't want to stop or your  next stop isn't for an hour - sip when you want and when you are finished, refill. It's ideal to best understand when you prefer to drink.

-If you are using a hydration beverage (ex. sport nutrition product that provides calories and sodium, which is recommended), you will reduce the risk of overdrinking on plain water, as it is typical for athletes who run without a sport drink to either overdrink on water when they stop or get to a water fountain/gas station or only consume water during a long run (or after a long bike) thus depleting sodium stores.

-If you prefer gels or chews over powder, you still need to carry water with you. However, you can replace a sport drink powder with bloks/chews but it's important to still consume your calories consistently (and make sure your gel/chews contain sodium).

-If you prefer gels, use a gel flask (1 gel mixed in water in a small flask) for easy sipping. It's recommended to use a gel flask instead of consuming a gel every 45 minutes as a gel is properly digested and absorbed with 12-16 ounce of water. Using a gel flask dilutes the gel for easier digestion.

-Incorporate walk breaks into your run training regime to get more comfortable consuming fluids and calories when you are running. It can take up to 6 weeks to train your gut if you are not yet comfortable (or tolerating) consuming nutrition when you run. 

Example; If you are running for 30 minutes off the bike, bring 80-100 calories of sport nutrition in a     10-ounce flask and a 10-ounce flask of ice cold water.

If you are running for 2 hours, start your run with 1 flask of sport nutrition and 1 flask of water and refill your flasks every 30 minutes.

(This is recommended for hot weather training).

IMPORTANT - Please DO NOT ration your sport nutrition or water because you don't want to stop or because you think it is cool to underfuel.

You will gain fitness, train more consistently, build confidence in your sport nutrition plan for race day and protect your health by fueling and hydration adequately.

TIP: To prevent taste bud fatigue, vary your flavors of sport drink throughout your long rides and runs so that you are not always consuming lemon-lime flavor (as an example) every time you train.

Also, if you feel that your mouth gets tired of the "sweet" taste of a sport drink, have a sip of a carbonated drink, consume something sour or take a bit of a savory bar (ex. peanut butter, chocolate, bacon-flavored, etc.) to excite the taste buds so that you can return back to your routine fueling regime. 

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - bike

BIKE

It's unfortunate but many athletes underfuel in training and overfuel on race day.
Why do triathletes do this?

Underfueling can be from many reasons - fear of gaining weight, wanting to lose weight, trying to be more "metabolically efficient," not knowing how to fuel, not feeling that (more) calories are needed, thinking sport nutrition is bad/unhealthy, not bringing enough energy/fluids, not planning stops accordingly, poor planning/feeling rushed to get in a workout or not knowing how much energy/fluids are needed. Certainly, underfueling does not enhance performance and consequently, not meeting energy and hydration needs can sabotage health. 

Overfueling on race day is often out of fear of not having enough energy. Sadly, no amount of calories on race day can make the body perform at an intensity that was not established in training.  And if you are an athlete who underfuels in training, not only are you missing an opportunity to boost fitness in training but a body that has been underfueled in training will underperform on race day. Additionally, an overfueled body on race day can increase the risk for GI issues which is often more performance limiting than lack of energy. 

In peak training, your longer workouts require calories, electrolytes and fluids. If you are performance minded, you can not be scared of consuming calories when you train.

Every time you just "get by" to check off a workout to say you did it, these are the workouts where you are not training smart. Consecutive long workouts where you just get by will not make your body prepared for race day. 

Yes, you may be checking off workouts thus making you think that you are getting yourself ready but you are not becoming physiologically prepared for race day.

If you feel limited by your bike fitness, do yourself two favors.

First, learn how to ride your bike.
Get a good bike fit from an experienced fitter, improve your bike handling skills, learn how to sit on your saddle properly, ride comfortably and relaxed and improve your posture. By doing all of this, you will ride more efficiently, thus expending less energy.

Secondly, learn how to fuel for your longer workouts. Your body will thank you by giving you great health in training and a fitter, faster, stronger and more powerful body on race day.
------------------------------------------------------------

-In cooler temps, you will find it easy to meet energy and fluid needs. In the winter months, you will find it super easy to digest and easily absorb almost any type of solid or sport nutrition food. But come hot weather, your gut becomes much more sensitive to what you put inside the belly (substance, volume and concentration) as the muscles and gut are competing for the same blood (and most of the time, the muscles win). Most athletes will find it necessary to consume less calories than normal in hotter temps but in order to ensure a steady effort, pacing must be appropriate. 

-The first tweak in regard to summer fueling/hydrating is more of a change in routine than a change in habit. And boy oh boy, I know that triathletes do not like change. With the hotter temps, you will need to stop more frequently to refill bottles. Rationing your fluids so that you don't have to stop during a 5+ hour ride (because it takes times or will affect your overall speed/pace) is not ideal, yet time and time again, triathletes don't make the effort to stop. Limit your stops to no more than 10 minutes as you do not want your body to switch to recovery body. Make your stops quick - bathroom, refill bottles with sport nutrition powder/ice/water and then get back to doing work on two wheels. Be sure to plan your routes accordingly  - if there are no places to refill bottles (water fountains or gas stations) consider loops or out and backs. 

-The second tweak is making sure that you have enough easy-to-reach cages/hydration systems on your bike. There are many different set-ups as to where to place your cages but no matter where you put your bottles on your bike, you should have one primary bottle that you use to meet your fluid/energy/electrolyte needs (rotate bottles to keep this primary bottle stocked). Every triathlete should be skilled enough to grab, sip and rotate bottles (if this scares you - practice in a safe parking lot, not on the trainer, until this skill is mastered). If you are resorting to a straw-based hydration system because you are not comfortable grabbing bottles - you still need to know how to grab bottles to refill your straw-based hydration system. Grabbing bottles should be a skill that every triathlete is comfortable with in training, well before race day. You need to carry your nutrition with you so be sure to invest in 3-4 cages on your bike.  

-Although I have seen all types of haphazard fueling strategies by all types of athletes, here is the most simple of sport nutrition advice to help you meet your needs during workouts over 90 minutes (or intense workouts over 60 minutes): 
-->Bring 1 bottle sport drink for every 1 hour of riding. This could be anywhere from 150-300 calories depending on your hourly needs - be mindful that the concentration, carbohydrates in a specific volume of water, is extremely important in hot weather - less concentrated = easier digestion but this may require you dialing back your effort so you don't run out of energy too soon. As you may know, I prefer and advocate sport drinks/powders over solid food + electrolyte based-bottles for optimal digestion and absorption and a more simple execution. 
-->Each sport drink bottle should have at least 400-600+mg of sodium. While there are several ways to monitor your electrolyte needs (pre/post weighing, sweat rate, urination, etc.), many athletes fall short on electrolytes (specifically sodium) by either taking in too much or too little but not always staying consistent. You can simply add salt to each bottle (1/8 tsp salt = ~290 mg) to increase your sodium intake, without a large bolus of salt being consumed all at once, per hour. Salt tabs may have a place but should be discussed with a sport dietitian on proper usage. Also be mindful that there are good salt-based electrolyte tabs/sticks on the market but also some that are not used properly by athletes due to being misinformed on how to use them. 
-->Lastly, you need to add 1 bottle of ice cold water to your bike for sipping and cooling. Whereas in cooler temps (or the fall/spring) you may be just fine meeting your hydration needs each hour by finishing a 24-26 ounce bottle of sport drink each hour, in the summer heat, there's a good chance that you need up to 32-36 ounces of fluid per hour (this additional fluid does not have to be calorie-based fluids - water is just fine). Adding in the extra water can make a huge difference in terms of how you feel, absorb nutrition and hydrate during a workout. When you finish your water, this is typically a sign that you should be stopping soon to refill your bottles. 

Example: If you are riding 3 hours, bring 2 bottles sport drink + 1 bottle ice cold water. Sip every 10-15 minutes, 3-5 big sips at a time. If you fall short on this or your terrain doesn't allow you to follow this regime, you can also do 2-3 sips every 7-8 minutes but never overchug to "make up" if you go too long without fueling/hydrating. Slowly catch up. Plan to stop around 2 hours to refill bottles to last another 2 hours. 

-Your best fueling and hydrating plan in the summer is one that can be easy to execute, over and over again in training - hour after hour. Simple is best! Don't make your fueling and hydrating more complicated than it needs to be. Frequent and consistent intake is extremely important for optimizing digestion and absorption. In the case that your stomach is not accepting a drink, stop consuming calories for 10-15 minutes, sip occasionally on water throughout the next 10-15 minutes and back down on your effort/pace to let the gut settle. 

-Tip: To prevent taste bud fatigue, you should have multiple flavors of your sport drink each hour. If you like eating a little solid food as you are training/racing, compliment the sweetness of a sport drink with something savory, like a peanut butter, chocolate, bacon or rich and bold-based food as opposed to something sweet, on top of your already sweet drink. 

Simple sport nutrition tweaks for hot weather training - swim

Hopefully by now in the season, you have dialed in your fueling and hydration regime to help you adapt well to training and to keep your body healthy. 

While there can be several pronounced and noticeable symptoms to let you know that you are not meeting your energy, electrolyte and fluid needs during your longer or more intense workouts, like headache, not feeling the urge to urinate during a long workout or for hours after the workout, nausea, bloating, fatigue, muscle aches/throbbing and dizziness, you may notice that even without a health or performance-related issue, with the intense summer heat, something is still off with your fueling and hydrating strategy.
Important note: the symptoms I mentioned are not "normal" just because you are an athlete, training hard, wanting to get faster or leaner or training for a long distance event.

Over the next few blogs, you will learn a few simple tweaks that you can make to your current fueling and hydration regime.

As a Board Certified Sport RD, if it takes you more than a few weeks to put together a solid fueling and hydration plan or you are constantly struggling to get through workouts due to improper fueling/hydrating, reach out to a dietitian who specializes in sport nutrition, to help.

SWIM

-Simple enough, always have a bottle of water on deck. Although many triathletes train in a competition pool where the water temperature is cool, most pools (ex. YMCA) are not cool...they are warm or even hot. Regardless of the water temperature, you are generating heat and sweating in the water. Sip fluids between sets.

-For newer swimmers who are building endurance and stamina in the water and find that form falls apart as the workout continues over 20 minutes, consider adding 50-100 calories of a hydration based sport drink to your bottle. While you are burning way more calories than you are consuming, keep in mind that the purpose of sport nutrition is to help delay fatigue. If you train with poor form, you will keep swimming with poor form. A sport drink during the workout may also help your appetite post workout as many athletes finished a swim extremely hungry and tend to overeat after the workout is complete (or notice extreme carbohydrate cravings later in the day).

-If you are a believer that you shouldn't have a water bottle on deck during a swim practice because you can't drink during a triathlon, this is not smart training. Why do you train? You train so that you can be as fit, fast, strong and resilient as possible on race day. In training, you are doing anything and everything possible so that come race day, you are in the best shape possible with a healthy body.
Remember, you are also not a competitive swimmer - you are a triathlete. This means that you are likely not swimming more than 2-4 times per week so every swim workout counts. Plus, you are bringing fatigue to your workouts from a previous run or bike session. The better and more consistently you can train, the better you will perform on race day. It's likely that you do a dozen or more things in training that you don't/won't do on race day (and vice versa) so you have permission from me to have a bottle on deck for all swim workouts.

-If you tend to feel nauseous when you eat before a swim, you'll benefit from having a sport drink during the swim (if swimming on an empty stomach) to ensure that you are well hydrated throughout the workout but also using those calories to help postpone fatigue (~50-120 calories in a bottle will work just fine for a 60-90 minute workout).

-Many triathletes complain of cramps in the legs when they swim. From my experience, this is less related to sodium/dehydration but more related to muscle tightness (especially when a swim follows a run or a hard bike workout). If you tend to suffer from cramps in your legs when swimming, use neoprene shorts or a buoy to take the stress off your lower body. Additionally, avoid using fins when you run/bike before a swim (or when you feel a cramp coming on). Lastly, be sure to start your swim workout with mobility work on dry land to loosen up the ankles, calves, hips and hamstrings (ex. dynamic stretching, light foam rolling). Although having a hydration beverage when you swim is recommended, tight calves, hamstrings and ankles while kicking are often the source of cramping when swimming.