Thermoregulation In Triathlon
When your core temperature rises, your body diverts resources to cooling. This reduces the power you can produce and the pace you can sustain. In triathlon, where age-group athletes often race for 10 or more hours, heat strain is unavoidable even on cooler days.
That is why optimizing thermoregulation through targeted heat training and race-day cooling strategies can be one of the most effective ways to unlock higher performance. It is not only about surviving the heat. It is about learning how to manage your body’s response and use it to your advantage.
Heat Training
Heat training can be categorized into 2 different groups; short-term and long-term. When, how, and why to use each depends on the athlete's individual heat training history, race goals, and training schedule. Check out Basics of Heat Training to get started.
Cooling Strategies
The other way to mitigate excessive, race-day heat stress is with cooling strategies. The most effective way to lower heat stress is to decrease your pace our power output. However, that's not always an option in race-day circumstances so more and more athletes are implementing cooling strategies before and during the race.
Those racing with a CORE sensor are able to monitor their Heat Strain Index live on their connected cycling computer and/or watch. This crucial metric tells the athlete how intensely their body is prioritizing cooling itself over performance, on a scale of 1 to 10. Athletes can then use that information to pace and cool accordingly.
Popular race-day cooling considerations include:
→ pre-cooling with an ice vest or ice slushy
→ kit choice; light, breathable, moisture-wicking, light-colored
→ hat to block the sun
→ minimal/no sunscreen- blocks sweating
→ ice on skin
→ water dousing
→ hydration
Check out the cooling protocols of professional cycling team CANYON//SRAM at the 2025 Le Tour de France Femmes here.
