Corrine Malcolm

April 24th, 2022

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3 min read

Welcome back to the aid station! We’ll patch you up and fill your bottles, but this isn’t a 200-mile race so you can’t hang out too long. 

Looking for an excuse to buy a hot tub? 

If you’re like me – worried your face will melt off at an upcoming hot race – you’re starting to work out a plan to acclimate to the impending heat. You know you have options: dry sauna (maybe you don’t have access), infrared sauna (there’s no research), layering up (puke face emoji). Good news for you, a recent research paper, translated via this YLMSportScience infographic, suggests that a highly effective way to beat the heat is a post exercise hot bath. Main points: 

• A hot bath of up to 40minutes in 40C/104F water following exercise produces larger thermal adaptations than running in hot weather (above 33F/94F).
• Using this strategy is cheap, convenient, effective, and it allows you to maintain high training quality.

Final word: If you were looking for a sign to buy a hot tub, this is it. Just preheat that baby to 104F.

Heart rate variability isn’t always variable

I’ll preface this by saying while I think there is value in having different tools in your tool box, a readiness score or algorithm will never supersede listening to your body. Enter a tweet from Mr. Heart Rate Variability himself, Dr Marco Altini, highlighting the importance of knowing how to read the highs, lows, and lack thereof. Main points:

• Heart rate variability (HRV) is a reflection of your autonomic nervous system, specifically how well it is dealing with both training and non-training related stressors. 
• While a dip in HRV after a hard session happens, no dip is not an indication of not going hard enough – in fact it’s quite the opposite – you are recovering quickly and have capacity to do so. 
• If your HRV stays suppressed more than 24 hours post hard-session you may be training too hard for your current fitness level or (and maybe more importantly) outside stress is playing a role.

Final word: Aim for stability in your heart rate variability. Oh, and give Dr Altini a follow if you are HRV-intrigued. 

We’ve got 99 problems and air pollution is one

Although it’s only April, wildfires are already on the minds of many of us in the West so I dug into the short Marathon Medic podcast with environmental physiologist Dr Michael Koehle with great anticipation. 

Main points:

• At rest you breathe roughly 12-20 times per minute, but as your exercise intensity increases so does your ventilatory rate, upwards of 50 breaths/minute. What this means in the face of air pollution is that athletes are exposed to 3-5 fold more pollutants during exercise.
• While we can’t adapt to particulate matter pollution (wildfire smoke, dust, etc) it’s possible we can adapt over time (from a performance perspective) to ground level ozone pollution (smog). 

Final word: While air pollution is a 24-hour problem; timing, location, and air quality forecasting are your best friends for training in and around pollutants. If you have 35 minutes the podcast is worth a listen.

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Corrine Malcolm