Changing Your Nutrition Plan Can Help You Deal With Training in the Heat—Here’s How
As we round out the dog days of summer, with much of the U.S. still hitting some of the hottest temperatures of the year, fueling is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for riding through the heat. And where better to get our strategies than from the top performers in the world? Tour de France and Tour de France Femmes riders had to battle some extreme conditions this year, and it’s beneficial for everyone to know how they did it.
Staying on top of your nutrition plan when the temperatures rise is no easy feat. This is due in large part because athletes are not only flying through calories and salts, it’s also difficult to consume enough—both because eating on the go is tough, and because appetite sometimes declines when the heat rises.
During a mountain stage of the Tour de France or Tour de France Femmes, riders can burn more than 10,000 calories and lose several liters of fluid to sweat. Team dietitians play a huge role in helping riders to manage their intake of food and drink on and off the bike, so they can still perform in extremely warm conditions. And many of those strategies can be applied to anyone who rides outdoors in the heat.
Here are the strategies that pro riders use when it comes to fueling in the heat. Steal their tips to stay cool, avoid stomach discomfort, and keep performing at your best.
Stay Hydrated at All Times
Pure and simple: You lose electrolytes when you sweat. So you need to replace those electrolytes—sodium and magnesium, in particular—in order to maintain your nerve and muscle function.
But also, everyone sweats a little differently. Some people lose a lot more salt than others. Ever seen a cyclist after a long hot ride with literal salt lines on their clothing? That person likely lost a ton of salt and desperately needs to be ingesting electrolytes to recover.
Experts recommend taking in about 500 to 700 milligrams of sodium every hour if you’re going longer than an hour, but just that’s a baseline. You may need more if you’re riding in sultry conditions, as well as if you’re going for more than three hours.
Cool Your Core Temperature With Food and Drink
“The hotter weather places more demands on athletes’ gastrointestinal capacity to absorb nutrients,” Anna Carceller, Ph.D., M.D., EF Pro Cycling nutritionist tells Bicycling. “The intense heat requires more intense cooling and cooling strategies, while at the same time athletes are demanding more from their bodies in terms of using fuel, which complicates the equation.”
That’s why consuming cold beverages as often as possible can go a long way in your overall cooling strategy. In fact, EF Pro Cycling teams use ice-cold drinks when they are suffering up the hottest climbs. According to the team website, they use, “Amacx ice gels, which contain 30 grams of carbohydrates with a 2:1 ratio of glucose to fructose for better absorption, as well as 200 milligrams of sodium to aid hydration. Our riders love these ice-gels, which are like frozen popsicles for athletes.”
Colette Vartanian, MS, RD, sports dietitian for Skratch Labs, also suggests pouring cool water on yourself to cool down, along with trying products with menthol, like regular menthol mints, which provide a cooling sensation.
Eat Smaller Bites More Frequently
If you’ve ever done a huge workout in the heat, you know that sometimes such an effort can suppress your appetite, leaving your stomach sensitive and the thought of eating sort of repulsive. In those cases it’s important to choose your nutrition wisely. You don’t want to upset your gut further, but you need to fuel or things will get worse.
Small and frequent bites and sips will help avoid this gastrointestinal distress, Vartanian says.
She also suggests saving caffeine intake for later in a race or long training ride to minimize GI distress.
In these cases, it’s often easier to drink than eat as well. The main goal is to replace some of the salts that you lost, and get some carbs to keep you energized. Consider high-carb drink mixes that meet these needs.
Train to Eat in the Heat
Because heat can add to stomach distress and therefore make consuming foods more difficult, it’s important to make fueling up part of your heat training.
“Pros train their bodies to perform at higher temperatures, which typically involves training under heat stress so the body can adapt to the temperature while racing and eating on the bike,” Carceller says. “Teams test their professional riders so they know their sweat rates and how to create an effective hydration and feeding strategy that will satisfy the demands at different temperatures, including how menstrual cycles affect their heat tolerance in the case of female athletes.”
Research even points to the importance of gut training—getting your digestive system accustomed to processing fluids and fuel in hot conditions, Vartanian says. That means practicing your carb and sodium intake during training, not just on race day.
Try a Sweat Test
If you find you cramp often, get dehydrated, or see your performance significantly dip in the heat, you would probably benefit from a sweat test, says Vartanian.
She explains the two types of sweat tests:
Sweat Volume Test: This measures how much fluid (in ounces or liters) you’re losing per hour. Sweat volume can change frequently depending on factors like equipment, temperature, training intensity, and fitness level.
Sweat Sodium/Electrolyte Test: This test determines how much sodium you lose in your sweat and, therefore, how much you need to replace during exercise. Unlike sweat volume, sweat sodium loss tends to be more static and genetically determined. Sodium is the primary electrolyte lost in our sweat and the electrolyte that makes the biggest impact in bringing in fluid during exercise.
Electrolyte testing can be done through wearables, such as those used by Infinit, mail-in tests such as hDrop, or by a professional. You can also measure your sweat volume by weighing yourself before and after a workout (and calculating pounds lost) to estimate hourly sweat rate during exercise.
Pay Attention to What You Eat Off the Bike
“When the weather heats up, we pay extra attention to pre and postrace hydration, as well as sodium preloading,” Carceller says. Sodium preloading means getting those 500 to 700 milligrams of sodium well before the intense activity begins, not just during. It also includes more liquid options than solid foods (like cold soups and fresh fruit) leading up to your big event, and snacking on smaller meals more frequently.
“Pros invest in rapid postrace cooling and rehydration, which can also enhance recovery for non-professionals,” Vartanian adds.
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