I’ve got a triathlon coming up in 6 weeks and I’m starting to worry about how I’m going to cope if the temperature rises in August. Even in recent weeks with the temperatures only nudging 20 degrees I’ve found it uncomfortably hot to the point I have to really back off the pace.

Any tips on how I can either cope with it on the day, or prepare ahead of it? I’m sure extra fitness would help, but not sure I’ll gain much between now and then.

From memory, it takes about ten days to get 90% of your heat acclimatisation. Do some research, but a relatively modest work-out in hot conditions – turbo, closed room, heater – like 30 minutes or so per day for the preceding two weeks will do it. Your body gets better at coping with heat basically, so it’s worth making the effort, particularly if you don’t function well in hot conditions.

Or book a two week holiday somewhere hot just before the event…

Competing in the UK?

You’ll be fine, August temps barely get above 15C.. 🙄

In the UK?! Just got back from a couple of weeks of riding in Greece, it was always over 35C and occasionally nudging 40C. That was watt sapping heat! I do turbo a lot so maybe that did help. Mostly just needed to drink lots (about a litre an hour minimum of a decent electrolyte mix.) I think Boardman use to train in his greenhouse for hot TdF efforts.

Yeah it is a UK race and I know it sounds a bit mental worrying about heat here but I do find it genuinely tough this time of year. I’ll give the turbo sessions a try with the fan heater and see if that helps a bit!!

it’s a good question OP. like u I run pretty hot and always seem to run less layers than my buddies. I suffer in the uk when we get over 23-25 degrees. I didn’t realise how bad I suffered until last year when I did the letap du tour road sportive in France and blacked out (garmin recorded 35+ ) on the 22km col de fer climb. so i think as above spend some time on a turbo in a climate controlled room and spend some time acclimatising. good luck

It works to a point but in general my body starts to drop off at 30 and significantly by 35 no matter what I do.

Body does acclimatise when training in heat.
I’m in Singapore where even at night it is 28C and more importantly 80-95% humidity.
It isn’t really an issue for cycling unless going up big hills, running much more affected by heat due to slower speeds.
Over a few months i have got significantly better at dealing with the heat.
No doubt in 6 weeks it will probably be freezing cold but if you really want to prepare for heat then train in a tracksuit, on the day make sure your run pacing is consistent, throw water over your head and if they only have cups at hydration stations then carry a small plastic bottle to decant into so you can hydrate properly.

+1 to what twisty says about humidity, it has a big influence on how the body copes with the heat. I’ve run in 40C heat in the desert with no problem since the relative humidity was below 10% but struggled in 20C with RH at 80+%