Hypo-thermic training (Winter endurance)

Thinking about the impact of weather on the World’s I’m interested in whether there’s a cold-weather corollary to the heat training for acclimatization for those of us who spend lots of time in the cold. So I did a search and this thread came up. What I see here is mostly about clothing vs techniques for adapting better to miserable conditions. As a Wisconsin guy I’m interested in any things I might not yet be doing on the acclimization side of things.

If this appears to be better suited for a separate thread, go for it mods.:+1:

I believe this was discussed in today’s podcast episode. Looks like it may have come in the live questions at the end (since I don’t see it in the main topics list).

Thanks I got to the part about fried foods and PopEyes chicken, so I’ll have to continue through the rest of the podcast.

How did folks do at Tuscobia this year? The weather was warm, but the rain added an additional layer of cold. How is training going for Arrowhead? Any other folks training for winter ultras?

It worked for a fictional version of the Jamaican bobsled team.

This might be better in another thread, but I got to thinking of this discussion. What kind of lube works with the chain at these temperatures?

Yes, please start a thread in the “Equipment” category. That is out of place here.

Tuscobia went as could be expected given the rain. 36 degrees and rain for those who didn’t race or follow it. First hour was gloriously fast, then it turned to mashed potatoes over the next hour, still before Ojibwa, dried off at Ojibwa where some called it quits. Carried on and surface was more like sugar sand. Doable, but not fast. Long and lonely from Couderay to Birchwood. And then cranking it out for the 17 Birchwood to finish. TT styled that last 17, and gave it everything in the final hour, passing 4 people in the process (helps thats it’s just straight so you can glimpse people even almost a mile ahead with their lights in the dark). Tri training and TR intervals helped me have the methods to get through that. For sure. Breathing focus was a major factor of the last 4 or so hours of the race.

Finished 20th for 11:20. Have to say it was mechanically and mentally harder than my full IM last year, though marginally less physically hard.

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Good work! I agree with the long and lonely section. It seemed much more of a mental race than a physical race. Despite being wet most of the time, I was surprised at how warm I was.

Anything you’ll change before Arrowhead?

Mostly temperature specific things. I’ll be using different clothes, different water system, and repacking my freehub. All just for temperature demands.

I did have some zipper problems on my frame bag so have to trouble shoot, fix, or replace that. And packing system will be different because of the different gear reqs.

Knock on wood, but at this rate the temps won’t be as hardcore as the previous 2 years.

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Got a Fat Bike race this coming weekend. I’ve been training all year for it. Thanks to TR, I expect a major improvement over last year! I’ll post how it went next week. Temps could vary from -5 to 16F as of today! Actually a significant range as 16 can be very comfortable (race pace) and -5 requires different gear to avoid frostbite (toes and fingers).

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Good luck! Those are great fat biking temps!