Ohio Altitude: Heat and Humidity
As the weather heats up, along with an increase in humidity, it becomes even more paramount for athletes to listen to their body and what it is telling them. With hot and humid weather, workouts should be edited to be based on time, heart rate, and perceived level of exertion- rather than paces and distances.
With all of the above said, there can be tangible benefits, both mental and physical, with completing workouts in less than ideal conditions. The caveat here is that they must be able to be safely completed and include an appropriate amount of rest/recovery following to allow the maximum amount of fitness to be realized.
There is a famous remark from the late University of Oregon Track & Field coach Bill Bowerman,
There is no such thing as bad weather — just soft people.
Although a rather abrasive statement, there is some truth in it. Completing workouts in less than ideal conditions creates a callousing effect- a mental toughening. This not only boosts confidence in the moment but this success can be revisited when a confidence boost is needed at a future time. You have done it before, you can do it again mentality.
Race day weather is one thing athletes have no control over; not every race is going to have pristine conditions, especially summer racing. Because of this fact, athletes must be adapted to compete in less than ideal conditions. This adaptation comes from training in these non-perfect conditions. Athletes minds and bodies have been calloused to be able to handle the stress of racing in this environment.
Above and beyond the mental benefits, there are well-defined physical benefits as well. There has been a lot of research done examining the relationship between heat/humidity and exercise performance. Training in heat and humidity has been proven to have the same benefits as training at altitude. Is training in this type of environment the new altitude training?
Heat acclimation may actually be more beneficial than altitude training in eliciting positive physiological adaptations, says Santiago Lorenzo, a professor of physiology at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and a former decathlete at the University of Oregon. “Heat acclimation provides more substantial environmental specific improvements in aerobic performance than altitude acclimation,” he says.
And in contrast to the live low, train high philosophy, athletes more quickly adapt to heat stress than hypoxia. In other words, heat training not only does a better job at increasing V02 max than altitude, but it also makes athletes better at withstanding a wider range of temperatures. (Meaghen Brown, Outside Magazine)
Lorenzo led a study that examined the impact of heat acclimation on improving exercise performance in cool and hot environments. Twelve trained cyclists performed tests of maximal aerobic power (VO2max), time-trial performance, and lactate threshold, in both cool [13°C, 30% relative humidity (RH)] and hot (38°C, 30% RH) environments before and after a 10-day heat acclimation (∼50% VO2max in 40°C) program. The control group had no changes in VO2max, time-trial performance, lactate threshold, or any physiological parameters. These data demonstrate that heat acclimation improves aerobic exercise performance in temperate-cool conditions and provide the scientific basis for employing heat acclimation to augment physical training programs.
The full study can be found here.
As long as the prescribed workouts are able to be safely completed and include an appropriate amount of rest/recovery following, training in the heat and humidity should be not avoided. In fact, embracing this weather could lead to breakthroughs in your next race.
