Heat Syncape/Stroke - A Cautionary Tale

First let me state that I'm sharing this event as a learning experience and hopefully sparing someone else the same experience.

I'll begin by defining Heat Syncope according to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_syncope

Heat syncope is another stage in the same process as heat stroke, occurs under similar conditions as heat stroke and is not distinguished from the latter by some authorities. The basic symptom of heat syncope is a body temperature above 40°C (104°F) with fainting, with or without mental confusion, which does occur in heat stroke. Heat syncope is caused by mild overheating with inadequate water or salt.

Causes:

Heat syncope occurs when blood pressure is lowered as the body dilates (widens) arterioles (small blood vessels) in the skin to radiate heat. Also, water is evaporated from the blood, reducing the blood's volume and therefore lowering blood pressure further. The result is less blood to the brain, causing light-headedness and fainting.

Based on my experience this is exactly what occurred to me.

Training Week in Review

The week started off with the Peachtree Road Race. I had a tough weekend workout and I didn't expect any significant results on Monday's race. I didn't taper, I just trained through it and considered the 10k a tempo paced training run. My only goal was to finish under 50 minutes. I got 49:09, so I'm very happy with that.  I'm a little disappointed in myself for not getting more swim time in this week. I was planning on it and I got hung up with a project I was working on and was running 15 minutes late for practice. If they kept the pool open longer on Fridays, I would have gone and stayed longer, but I choose to skip it if I couldn't get a full hour in. Saturday's long run ended up being tough. I kept up with the fast group for 8 miles and then dialed it back down for 2 miles and then headed out on my own to get the additional 3. As the temperature rose and my energy level dropped, those last 3 miles proved harder than I expected. I'm going to have to learn to slow down and pace myself better. Sunday's ride was more of a recovery ride. My legs were still tired from Saturday's run, so I took it easy while trying to maintain consistency. I was able to do that, but I feel I could have pushed harder. I also experimented with my nutrition and I think I was at the bottom end of calorie intake. Only 135 calories/hour. I've been as high as 400 and have found that I need to be between 230-270. Maybe that contributed to my slow pace, but I didn't feel exhausted.

Date	Day	Activity
07/04/11	Monday	Race - Peachtree Road Race 10k
07/05/11	Tuesday	Recovery
07/06/11	Wednesday	Spin - 1 Hour
07/07/11	Thursday	Swim - 2200 Meters
07/08/11	Friday	Recovery
07/09/11	Saturday	Run - 13 Miles
07/10/11	Sunday	Bike - 63 Miles

Hammer Nutrition

It's time I started researching race nutrition. I've been using Gatorade, but as my distances get longer, I'm experience some GI issues. Typically it's right after I finish my training. I think that once I put all three sports together for my 70.3, those GI issues will reveal themselves during the run. I've been looking at Hammer Nutrition & 1st Endurance.

I picked up a couple individual packets of Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem & Sustained Energy. I tried them both on my 48 mile bike ride. I felt pretty good and experienced no GI issues. They have a milk-like texture and taste. I preferred Perpetuem's Orange-Vanilla flavor to Sustained Energy's Unflavored. Because Hammer Nutrition's products contain no artificial preservatives, it's recommended to drink 3-5 hours after mixing the solution. Chilling or freezing will help prolong the life. Because of the lack of artificial preservatives, the solution will sour, just like milk. You also have to mix the solution based on body weight. The guideline is to consume one bottle per every hour. However over a long distance race, you can add more mix to the solution to consume one bottle every 3 hours. It'll be thicker, but you drink water from another bottle for hydration and the Perpetuem bottle will provide the nutrition for the longer course. I'll have to try that out at some point.

Nutrition

Because of the snow storm in Atlanta this past week, I've been stuck indoors due to dangerous road conditions. Because of the ice on the roads, all of our group workouts have been cancelled. The problem with being stuck at the house has been mostly boredom that can lead to unnecessary snacking.  The extra time has also allowed me to get on the bike trainer this whole week. It's also given me plenty of time to think about nutrition. I was worried about actually gaining weight during this week with a less structured workout schedule. Fortunately, I was able to lose 1 pound.

There's a lot of confusion about proper nutrition and weight loss. It doesn't help that at this time of year there are plenty of commercials for weight loss pills, programs & meal plans. I'm not even going to get into nutrition during a race. I still have a lot to figure out, especially when distances get longer.

Triathlon & Twitter Followup

I posted a couple days ago about how a picture I sent was selected as a winner for some free stuff from Nuun. The package arrived today. I got some stickers, a product information booklet, a water bottle and a tube of Nuun. Not bad for uploading a TwitPic when Nunn requested holiday themed pics of their product. It pays to follow these companies on Facebook and Twitter. They offer valuable nutrition information and every now and then, they give free stuff away. There's another story here about following companies and I'll mention it in a later post. It's too soon to tell what will happen, but this could mean a big opportunity for me. As soon as I have information confirmed, I'll post details.

Anyway, I'll be taking a tube of Nuun to my spin class tonight and drop it in my water bottle. I'll need the electrolytes. Considering it's winter, I'm sweat more in one spin class than on a run during the summer months.

Triathlon & Twitter

What does triathlon have to do with Twitter? Well, there's a lot of good nutrition & training resources online. Many will tweet the info and if you follow, you can gain some valuable information for your training.

The other day I was sitting watching TV and checking on my Twitter feed on my iPhone and saw a tweet from @ministryofnuun. Nuun makes electrolyte tablets. I was introduced to them through the Atlanta Triathlon Club and purchased several tubes over the summer. You add them to your water or sports drink for additional electrolytes. Anyway the tweet asked to submit a holiday themed photo featuring one of their products with the first 3 getting some freebies from Nuun. I gave it a shot and was lucky enough to be one of the first three. I'm not sure exactly what I'll be getting, but I'll post here when I receive it.

Yes, that's a triathlon themed ornament I picked up from SwimOutlet.com a couple weeks ago. So do yourself a favor and follow @ministryofnuun, you never know what kind of goodies you'll get a chance to get for free. I'll post others that I follow when I get a chance to write about them or they become a topic of a post.