UK heatwave. Missing workouts

It’s funny how relative it all is. My wife would kill me and put on a sweatshirt if I lowered our house to 23; and I would get a $500 electric bill to go with it. I get that you guys aren’t used to it though, and I hope everyone stays safe. Unfortunately, this may be the “new normal”.

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There are speed restrictions on the railways for Monday/Tuesday to 60mph, which might double some train times. Likely going to be lots of cancellations as well, as the trains and crews won’t be where they need to be.

There’s rain forcast for Wednesday though.

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I was in Cambridge that day wearing thin arm and leg warmers. I didn’t half get funny looks but I was the perfect temperature, about 2 or 3 months into my chemotherapy course :joy:

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It has only ever got to 38 twice, so it’s not just hot for the UK it is record breaking.

There is no comparison with going on holiday to the aforementioned, they are setup for the heat, start there day early, don’t work in the heat of the day, in the UK we aren’t setup for temps in the 30s. Our roads melt when it gets to about 28 deg, they don’t in Spain etc.
On holiday you can just cool off in the pool or pop into a aircon lobby, restaurant or bar when it gets too hot and generally you aren’t doing a lot let alone training. Recently returned from Spain I went for three runs all week before breakfast before the heat kicked in and heart rate for a given effort was +20 - 25 bpm the first day, on the third run it was only +8 - 10 bpm.

It you are going to train, either Z2 or before 8 - 9 am would be my suggestion (or both)

It not supposed to drop to 32 deg until 8pm, so I’d count that out, especially if exposed to heat stress all day.

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Not here anymore, I was looking forward to it as well.

I mentioned roads in the UK melting, they were yesterday and it was only 26 when I got back, couple of bad junctions towards the end of my ride with wheel tracks etched in the road, seems to be junctions where car tyres scrub the surface and the tar coming to the surface.

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If it’s anything like where I live, be careful when it does finally rain. All the oils come up out of the tarmac and the road gets wicked slippery.

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When we Brits go to Orlando the car rental places warn us about this - Florida Ice. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Or the wrong type of leaves are on the track :wink:

In terms of overall ability of the population and infrastructure to cope with heat, agreed. But in terms of being able to still get a training ride in it’s pretty much apples to apples (apart from possibly melting roads!). Get out early, take plenty of fluids, maybe add some hydration tablets if you don’t normally, pay attention to HR and RPE a bit more than normal and be prepared to dial things back if you’re struggling, and you can still get a decent ride in. Cold shower and/or putting a bucket of iced water under your desk (easier if working from home!) to dip your feet into are good ways of cooling off afterwards in the absence of air conditioning and swimming pools.

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Lots of trains also don’t have AC even if they are running ok which can get pretty unpleasant!

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Oi! We had a pretty serious crash at Salisbury last year due to leaf fall. It’s no joking matter. Physics is a b!tch.

Yes, I’m a train driver.

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I’ve just got back from a week in Greece: It felt pretty hard work on the hilly group rides in midday sun… but being able to get back to the hotel and jump in the sea made it much more tolerable than the next few days in the UK are going to be.

Hi from Arizona (where it is currently monsoon season and therefore 109f (~42c) + humidity yesterday–group ride started at 6 a.m. and was still miserable). This advice is solid. You can go out, but be very prepared and overreact to the signs your body gives you. Heat stroke is a very real thing.

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I went out for a ride this afternoon in Cambridge where the temperature hit around 31 degrees.

RPE was certainly higher, but that’s more likely due to in adequate pre- ride fuel. The biggest thing for me was the temperature of my fluids… After only a few minutes both bottles were SO warm… Hot sugar water, not good.

Good advice. I tend to do this, plus try to rearrange key sessions.

Monday is a rest day for a lot of people, for a week only its easy to put your easiest session of the week on Tuesday and back to back the harder days Wed Thur, you can get away with that for one week and even if not opitimal it better than crashing and burning (see what I did there) and only getting 10% of a session done in temperatures approaching 40 deg. Plus even if you make most of the session the stress will probably be to high and affect sessions down stream.

Play the long game. Its not what you do on one day, its day in day out, week after week.

We freeze water in insulated bottles. It will usually stay at least cool for 90 minutes to 2 hours.

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I imagine this is you looking at us while reading this thread

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Where as Brits will be quite happy riding in shorts at 5C. It’s all about what you’re physiologically adapted to.

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Might have to do that on Tuesday morning!

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