Knowledge Hub · Heat
Heat Is a Skill You Can Train
Photo: Holly Koksel at the Anchor Down Ultra
The short answer
You have a hot race coming up. What should you do?
Quick plan for a hot race
- Start heat training about two weeks before race day.
- Add heat to easy sessions only. Keep intervals and race pace work cool.
- Go often. Daily is best if it fits your life.
- Check the dew point, not just the temperature.
- Practice your cooling and your self talk in training.
- Set your race pace by effort, not by your cool weather numbers.
- Stop if you feel dizzy or confused.
Start heat training two weeks out
Easy, steady work in the heat builds adaptations well [1]. Two weeks is enough for meaningful change.
Frequency matters more than you might think. Daily heat sessions produced bigger gains than the same number spread across three weeks [2]. If daily does not fit your life, fewer sessions still help.
Add heat to easy days, not hard ones
Heat raises your heart rate and makes effort feel harder. That is the point on easy days, and a problem on hard ones.
Use easy indoor rides with less airflow, easy runs in the warmer part of the day, or an extra layer on aerobic sessions. Keep your key sessions as cool as you can so their quality holds.
Your two week plan
- Days 1 to 10: frequent easy heat sessions of about 60 to 90 minutes, daily if you can. Hard sessions stay cool.
- Optional extra: a hot bath or sauna after easy training. Start short and step out if you feel unwell [7].
- Race week: a few short, gentle heat sessions to hold what you built while you stay fresh.
Check the dew point
Sweat only cools you when it evaporates. In humid air it drips off instead, and you lose its cooling [5].
Dew point tells you how much water is actually in the air. Relative humidity shifts through the day, so it can fool you.
Train your mind for the heat too
Heat changes how hard things feel, and those feelings shape your pacing. The good news is that your mind adapts along with your body, often within a few days [3].
Expect to be slower. Pace naturally drops in hot, humid conditions. If you hold onto your cool weather pace, a normal response to heat can feel like failure.
Rehearse your self talk. Pick a few short, specific phrases and use them in your heat sessions. Athletes who practiced motivational self talk lasted longer in the heat [4].
Pace by effort. Plan race day around how hard you are working, not the number on your watch. Our heat calculator at angelanaethcoaching.com/pages/heat-and-humidity helps you estimate how the conditions may affect your pace.
Race day
- Check the dew point the night before and the morning of.
- Set your pace by effort, using your heat calculator estimate.
- Use ice, cold sponges, dousing and neck cooling as you practiced them.
- Repeat your self talk phrases when it gets hard.
- Feeling cooler is not the same as being cooler.
- Stop for dizziness, confusion or a sudden drop in sweating.
Cool yourself, but know the limits
Dousing, ice and neck cooling help you feel better and race faster. They mostly cool your skin, not your core.
In one study, athletes with neck cooling kept going to a higher core temperature and heart rate before they stopped [9]. So use cooling, and never let it hide warning signs.
Keep what you built
Heat adaptations fade a little each day without heat. A light, regular dose holds them, and rebuilding is faster than building the first time [6].
Women and masters athletes
Women may need a longer block. In one study of female athletes, four days of heat training did not improve performance, but nine days did [8].
Sweating and skin blood flow tend to decline with age, though fitness matters a lot. If you are older, build gradually and stay on top of hydration.
Why it works
For the curious, here is what changes when you train in the heat [3]:
- More plasma. Your heart fills better with each beat, so heart rate drifts less [10].
- Earlier sweating. Cooling starts sooner.
- More sweat. More cooling when the air allows it.
- Lower resting core temperature. More room before heat limits you.
- Effort feels easier. You feel less hot and less strained at the same work.
Expect modest, real gains, not miracles. Typical blocks improved time trial performance by around three percent [1].
Stay safe
Heat is a training stress, and it adds to everything else you carry. Hydrate, replace sodium, and stop if you feel dizzy or confused. Talk with your coach before a heat block, and with your doctor if you have health concerns.
How we coach heat at ANC
Every ANC athlete works with an experienced, educated coach, and every coach uses the same StressLogic system and philosophy. Nothing is generic. Heat is planned around your life and your whole stress bucket, alongside sleep, work and family.
We read heart rate together with power, pace and how a session feels, because heat changes all of them. We coach the mind with the body, from expectations to race day decisions. That holds for every level, from a first race to the podium.
Heat Is a Skill You Can Train
Photo: Ben Creswick, IRONMAN 70.3 Victoria
References
- McDonald P, et al. Influence of Exercise Heat Acclimation Protocol Characteristics on Adaptation Kinetics: A Quantitative Review With Bayesian Meta Regressions. Compr Physiol. 2025;15(3):e70017. doi.org/10.1002/cph4.70017
- Gill N, Sleivert G. Effect of daily versus intermittent exposure on heat acclimation. Aviat Space Environ Med. 2001;72(4):385 to 390. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11318020/
- Tyler CJ, Reeve T, Sieh N, Cheung SS. Effects of Heat Adaptation on Physiology, Perception, and Exercise Performance in the Heat: An Updated Meta Analysis. J Sci Sport Exerc. 2024;6(3):195 to 217. doi.org/10.1007/s42978-023-00263-8
- Wallace PJ, et al. Effects of Motivational Self Talk on Endurance and Cognitive Performance in the Heat. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2017;49(1):191 to 199. doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001087
- Jenkins EJ, et al. Delineating the impacts of air temperature and humidity for endurance exercise. Exp Physiol. 2023;108(2):207 to 220. doi.org/10.1113/EP090969
- Daanen HAM, et al. Heat Acclimation Decay and Re Induction: A Systematic Review and Meta Analysis. Sports Med. 2018;48(2):409 to 430. doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0808-x
- Zurawlew MJ, et al. Post exercise hot water immersion induces heat acclimation and improves endurance exercise performance in the heat. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2016;26(7):745 to 754. doi.org/10.1111/sms.12638
- Kirby NV, et al. Nine, but Not Four, Days Heat Acclimation Improves Self Paced Endurance Performance in Females. Front Physiol. 2019;10:539. doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.00539
- Tyler CJ, et al. Cooling the neck region during exercise in the heat. J Athl Train. 2011;46(1):61 to 68. doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-46.1.61
- González Alonso J, et al. Influence of body temperature on the development of fatigue during prolonged exercise in the heat. J Appl Physiol. 1999;86(3):1032 to 1039. doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1999.86.3.1032