TRAINING » HEAT & HUMIDITY
Ex pro triathlete Kevin
Mackinnon knows what
it’s like to come up short
in heat and humidity.
Now a coach and the
owner of Mackatak Fitness
and Communications, he
shares how to hold things
together while racing in
hot-weather conditions.
W
90
Sadly, that was hardly the only time
I had issues with heat during my nine-
year professional career. While I typically
raced well in challenging conditions,
including the heat, I never came close to
nailing a decent day either time I raced
at the IRONMAN World Championship
in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. I’d like to think,
though, that those experiences helped
me as a coach. Over the years I’ve
worked with numerous athletes who
have competed in Kona and am happy to
report that, for the most part, I’ve been
able to help them avoid some of the
pitfalls I experienced.
I’ve even managed to take my own
advice, too. While I don’t race any more,
I was convinced to jump into the Nevis
Triathlon in the Caribbean a few years
ago and found myself in the lead. At the
halfway point of the run I was pretty sure
I was going to have to just find a bench to
sit down on and enjoy the remainder of
the sauna I was experiencing, but I was
somehow able to hold things together
and get to the line in one piece.
So, how can you hold things together
while racing in hot-weather conditions?
Here are three suggestions:
SLOW DOWN
Repeat after me: “I am not going to set a
PB when the temperature and humidity
is skyrocketing.” So, don’t try. Slow and
consistent will win the day. I had an
athlete qualify for Kona a few years ago at
the hottest day in IRONMAN Lake Placid
history. He was passed by another athlete
gunning for the Kona spot late in the run,
but had a feeling the guy was pushing
too hard. A few miles later he saw his
rival collapse on the side of the road. He
checked to make sure the medical team
was on the case, finished the race and
booked his trip to the Big Island.
You need to dial down the pace
throughout the entire race when you’re
racing in hot conditions, too. Last year
a friend was racing at IRONMAN 70.3
Colombo in Sri Lanka. I saw her blasting
through the bike and yelled at her to slow
down. From what I could see, she did the
opposite. She almost made the halfway
point of the run before she keeled over.
That slower pacing begins in the water,
which will often be warm in these kind of
race conditions, too. Remember, you can’t
hydrate yourself during the swim, so if you
push too hard in warm water, you’re only
going to set yourself back for the rest of
the race.
HYDRATE PROPERLY
In the late 90s, when I was the media
director for IRONMAN North America, the
medical director from IRONMAN Canada
asked me to help get the message out to
the athletes competing in the race about
Hyponatremia. Turns out that coaches like
myself, who were telling our athletes they
could never drink too much water when it
got hotter and hotter, weren’t helping him
come race day. Athletes were drinking so
much water that they were diluting their
electrolytes and getting themselves into
trouble. His advice? Aim for a one-to-one
ratio of electrolyte replacement drink with
water. I’ve never liked the taste of water,
so I have always leaned towards drinking
electrolyte drinks with some flavour
anyway, which no-doubt helped me in
those race situations.
hen I came around in the
ambulance, the attendants were
quick to tell me not to try and get
up. “Lie still, Mr Mackinnon,” they said in
their thick Japanese accents. “We think
you’re having a heart attack.”
My last memories before finding
myself in the ambulance were from the
race. It was the Strongman Triathlon on
Miyakojima, Japan. At the halfway point of
the marathon, I was less than a minute out
of first place, confident I was on my way to
the win. At the next aid station, I stopped
to get myself some water and energy
drink. When I tried to start running, my
legs just wouldn’t respond. I told myself
not to panic and keep walking; things
would come around.
They didn’t. It wasn’t long before I
was weaving down the road with my
head hanging back and my tongue
hanging out. The ambulance was quickly
dispatched to come and get me – they
scooped me up when I fell down at about
28km. My race was done.
It was hardly a surprise that I was
struggling in Miyakojima’s oppressive
heat and humidity. I’d flown to Japan
from my home in Canada. The race was
in early April – there was still snow on
the ground when I left. I’d done a grand
total of two rides outside, both wearing
a down-filled parka and ski mitts. With
the temperatures in the 30°Cs and the
humidity in the 80s in Japan, I didn’t
stand a chance on race day. The heat
issues I suffered increased my Creatinine
Phosphokinase (CPK) levels, which can
also be a marker for people having a
heart attack – hence the warning in the
ambulance that day.