Heat and altitude training

Training in heat and at altitude is an important part of preparing for some races. And who knows, you might just fall in love with it!

Words: Annie Brooks

Specificity of training is very powerful when it comes to racing in unfamiliar conditions

The sun has been climbing for over an hour now, the morning desert chill has almost evaporated and the mercury is definitely on the rise. The cool breeze passing through the vents in my helmet is keeping my body temperature under control. It’s currently 11am, halfway through my first ever 70.3 triathlon, but one lapse of concentration and one poor decision in the flow of the race environment is going to come back to bite me, and bite hard!

As a traveller and a curious athlete, I always look to plan ‘race-cations’ for my next sporting fix. I pick a race that I fancy, in a place I’ve always wanted to visit, and make it a 2-for-1: race then holiday! Life is about balance in my opinion, and that’s exactly what this kind of adventure represents for me.

So where does this story begin?

Deep in the Californian desert, just south of the Old Hollywood bolt hole of Palm Springs and skirting the muse of many a brooding artist, I’m inJoshua Tree Nation Park. It’s December, and historically the race day temperature sits around 20 degrees. Warm to the average Brit, but by no means uncomfortable. Not this year, though. Of course not this year! This year, by the mid-point of the 56-mile bike course, the temperature gauge on my Garmin head unit reads 32°C, and I’m just not prepared for it.

By the time I rack my bike and hit the run course, the damage is done. Under fuelled, under-hydrated, and having been lulled into a false sense of security by the cooler air on the bike section, it’s only just hitting me how overheated I am. Frantic ice-stuffing and cup after cup of any sports drink I can get my hands on is having little effect. My heart rate is sky high, my legs are getting heavier and heavier… how on earth am I going to run 13.1 miles in the heat of the midday sun?

Unlike the other two disciplines of a triathlon, with the run you’re very much left with your own thoughts, meaning that it’s physical but it’s mental too.