It finally feels like summer has hit. As the weather here in Burlington changes from mostly rain to mostly sun, the temperatures have been rising, along with the humidity. While I sit to write this, the weather forecast promises that today will be one of our hottest yet this summer, with temperatures approaching 85 degrees Fahrenheit. With the arrival of the sun, everyone I know is itching to get outside and play after a long, cold spring. In fact, I am planning to be on my mountain bike for at least a couple hours this afternoon and evening, culminating in racing the weekly Wednesday night mountain bike race held at Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston. My main concerns for today are having massive amounts of fun, and making sure I have a hydration and food strategy in place to avoid my fun being cut short by heat-induced bonking.
We’ve all been there. You’re out enjoying the sun, feeling great, sweating a ton and loving it. Then you start to get a little dizzy. A headache sneaks up on you. You try to counteract it by gulping some water, but it doesn’t seem to help. Eventually, you just have to find some shade or air conditioning, sit down, and hope it passes. It’s never fun, and in extreme cases can result in heat exhaustion or heat stroke, making it impossible for you to do what you love for several days at a minimum. I am here to help us avoid these episodes and continue playing outside until we decide we are ready to be done.
Let me be totally honest here. I am not a nutritionist. I have had minimal formal schooling in the area of sports nutrition. I am speaking here as someone who has been a high level athlete for almost a decade. As someone who has had heat exhaustion twice and gone on to successfully race many three to four hour events in extreme heat both in the humidity on the east coast and at altitude in Colorado. I will be talking about the basics of dealing with heat and what works with me. This is NOT a comprehensive guide, but a good place to start. If you want to get more in depth, I recommend reading Endurance Sports Nutrition, 3rd Ed. by Suzanne Girard Eberle, MS, RDN, CSSD or (if you happen to be female) ROAR: How to Match your Food and Fitness to your Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health and a Strong, Lean Body for Life by Stacy T. Sims, PHD.
So, how do we begin to prepare for heat and humidity? It starts with the simplest piece (and the bit I am the worst at): consistent hydration throughout the day. If you go into a hot workout already at a hydration deficit, you are fighting a losing battle. Note that I am not saying excessive hydration. It is certainly possible to over-hydrate. If you are running to the bathroom frequently and your urine is clear, you have gone too far. Assuming we are at a good baseline hydration, what’s the next step? It generally depends on the length of adventure you are undertaking, but a good place to start is what goes into your bottles. As someone who struggles with heat, I always have some form of drink mix in my bottle when the temperature gets above 75 degrees. Even in cooler temperatures, if I am out for over 2 hours, drink mix is a must. Plain water, while initially satisfying, doesn’t cut it when you are losing electrolytes through a high sweat rate. When I say electrolytes, I don’t just mean sodium chloride (salt). I’m also talking about magnesium, potassium, calcium and manganese. Magnesium and potassium especially are important to replace to avoid cramping.
So what do I use? I am partial to Nuun or Hammer Fizz for my bottles. The little bit of effervescence helps it go down and doesn’t irritate my stomach. I have a particularly sensitive stomach when it’s hot, so I go easy on the more carbohydrate heavy drink mixes such as Skratch Labs Sports Drink or Hammer Heed. However, if you don’t have these issues, the carbohydrates in those mixes actually help transport the electrolytes from your stomach to your bloodstream, making them more effective.
I also abide by a simple rule told to me by one of my first cycling coaches: drink early and drink often. If you wait to drink until you are thirsty, you have waited too long and won’t be able to keep up with your losses. When I am on my bike, I am drinking every 5 to 10 minutes, or whenever I think about it. That has been the single most important factor for staving off heat sickness. Again, it is possible to overdo it if you are drinking plain water! Experiment during training and find what works for you. Another good sign that you have overdone it is that sloshing in the stomach feeling. It means your stomach is not absorbing fluid into your bloodstream faster than or at the rate you are drinking. This can cause your body to pull blood away from your skin towards your stomach, increasing your internal body temperature and leading to overheating. It’s all about balance!
When it is truly hot out and I am planning to be out for 3 or more hours, then I introduce another electrolyte replacement tool: Hammer Endurolytes. These wonderful little capsules have saved me multiple times in extreme heat. (Note that I am talking about the regular Endurolytes formula, not the Endurolytes Extreme. Endurolytes Extreme is a more concentrated formula and is not meant to be used in conjunction with an electrolyte drink.) My preferred method of taking Endurolytes is one per hour of exercise in conjunction with an electrolyte drink. I usually carry them in a little Ziploc baggie to keep them dry, as they will dissolve upon contact with moisture.
It is important to recognize, in addition to my electrolyte replacement strategy I am also eating, usually every half an hour starting at the 1 hour mark, in the form of bars, gels and chews. Because of my stomach sensitivity, I am getting my carbohydrates and protein from solids rather than liquids. This allows my stomach more time to digest between hits but still gives me the benefit of increasing electrolyte absorption.
So there you have it! My method of beating the heat and keeping my engines running in spite of the conditions. Remember, this is what works for me. My strategy may not be the best option for you, but something is vastly better than nothing when it gets hot. Go out, experiment, and enjoy being able to do what you love during the beautiful Vermont summer!
- Marisa Rorabaugh,
Former Skirack Bike Specialist
