TRAINING FOR THE HEAT


By Kevin Joubert USA Triathlon Level II Certi fi ed Coach


for your athletes specifi c to the big race. On those race simulati on days, they eat the breakfast they will eat on race day, ride the bike they will ride on race day, practi ce nutriti on just like they will on race day, drink just like they will on race day, pace like they will on race day, and maybe even wear what they will wear on race day; but what about temperature? Are they training in the same temperatures they will face on race day? If you think about


S it, temperature will aff ect most of what you are considering


pecifi city is the name of the game. And like everyone, you do everything you can to make the key workouts


above. the race day temperature will aff ect what food goes down, the hydrati on needed and the pace or eff ort that is sustainable for the race. So overlooking temperature in terms of specifi city can lead to problems on race day. to be prepared for race day, temperature needs to be considered during training. If your race is local and is the middle or


end of summer, it is easy to have the athlete go out and train at the same ti me of day they will be racing. For most working men and women, getti ng ready for longer races this means training in the later morning or perhaps mid-day on the weekend,


depending on the race. For people with a more fl exible schedule this can of course be done any day of the week. training the same ti me of the day as the


race works if the race is in a similar climate to where the athlete lives. if the race is in august in Washington, D.C., but the athlete lives and trains in northern Vermont; simply training later in the day might not be enough to prepare. this is also the case if the athlete is from the conti nental U.S. and is racing in Hawaii in October. the fi rst questi on to be answered is how


hot will the race be? Thanks to the Internet this is relati vely simple to fi gure out. i use the


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