dajarrel Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 We had our "4th Saturday" match yesterday and i couldn't get over how hot it was. Our humidity was real high yesterday with temps in the mid 90's. The Mobile area is always hot and muggy, but yesterday was vicious. We had a generator set up with fans on every stage, water kegs, and ice chest everywhere and some sort of shade on four of the five bays. We kept encouraging everyone to drink lots of water and although several of us were pretty worn out at the end of tearing everything down, we didn't have anyone drop from heat related problems. It was even hotter than this year's Area 4. Please remind your shooters to drink plenty of water. You guys out in the southwest are in a particularly bad heat wave. Please be careful. FWIW dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerT Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 I just couldn't believe how stinking hot it was at Nationals. It is supposed to be even hotter today, here in Northern IL, so I am going to skip shooting, do the yard work that has to be done before 10 am, and then retreat to the comfort of the basement gun room for the rest of the day. I can't say for sure if it was the heat, but I just wasn't at all agressive on any of the stages at the L-10 / Open Nationals. On the last stage of the match I finially got pissed off enough to get the lead out of my butt. Live and learn I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay1 Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 Trigger, I thought that I would see you in Polo today. What's the problem man, it's only going to be 103 and humidity is 94% right now. Let's do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TriggerT Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 If I told my wife I was going to take off to shoot today, after having been gone to the Nationals the last 4 days, I might have to start looking for another place to live. Besides, I need some time off. Need to regroup, re-focus, retool, hell RE everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric nielsen Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 The heat [in Orlando] got to me yesterday too. Things I normally care about, like getting A's on the targets, didn't seem to matter as much & it showed in the results. I was 2nd place but a distant 2nd. If anyone has experience with a fitness program or a diet that has made a noticeable difference in your *HOT* match performance, I'd love to hear about it. Cardio training? No caffeine? I'm 6' 172lb but heat&humidity are getting more & more under my skin. Not dehydrated, just slow. Love to be able to move and think in the heat even 1/2 as well as in the cool weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay1 Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 Just got home from Polo. Pounded down a quart of water before I left this morning. Drank another quart on the range. I don't remember sweating this much in a long, long time. They had water on most stations and the EZ popup style tent tops for shade. The baby stroller cart, cooler and large golf umbrella made it much nicer than hauling that big bag around by hand like I normally do. I had a towel with me and I really don't know how I would have coped without it. I had to wipe down several times while just waiting to shoot. I did forget the sun screen but the umbrella did a good job for me. I had a couple of rough runs with some steel today but I shot the classifier OK so all and all I came home fairly content. I can't always say that. I will say that the people that stayed this afternoon to shoot rifle and shotgun in this heat are die hards. The 120 or so pistol rounds were enough for me. Really glad to hit the Air con in the car for the ride home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted July 24, 2005 Share Posted July 24, 2005 I credit getting my ass in the gym in May with both my recent shooting performance and my ability to deal with the weather in Barry during the Production match. Everyone around me was complaining about the heat ---- I just thought it was a little warm. Other things that helped: Drinking about 20 oz. of water before bed, drinking anytime I got up during the night, drinking 20 more oz. of water upon rising in the morning, limiting myself to one cup of coffee with breakfast, eating lightly but well in the morning, drinking another 20 oz. of water on the drive to the range. Filled a three quart camelback with ice before leaving the hotel, added 1 liter of gatorade and 1/2 liter of water --- both already chilled. Tried to drink enough to empty the liquid out of the camelback by midmorning, lunch and midafternoon. That's not as much fluid as it sounds like, because some of the ice didn't melt. Refilled the camelback with ice, chilled gatorade and water, alternating the whole liter/.5 liter between gatorade and water. I figure I drank about 8 liters a day on the range --- I actually had to use the facilities in the morning and afternoon. One liter on the way to the range and another during the match just doesn't cut it. Try to stay in the shade as much as possible...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted July 25, 2005 Author Share Posted July 25, 2005 If anyone has experience with a fitness program or a diet that has made a noticeable difference in your *HOT* match performance, I'd love to hear about it. Cardio training? No caffeine? I'm 6' 172lb but heat&humidity are getting more & more under my skin. Not dehydrated, just slow. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Eric, I exercise three times a week at a local gym with an indoor track. I go outside to walk and when asked about it my reply is that I need to exercise in the weather I play in. Gym work is good but it won't do anything for your heat endurance. Don't misunderstand me, I get hot and I get sweaty but I can still fuction without feeling like I'm going to die. FWIW dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Habicht Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 Gym work is good but it won't do anything for your heat endurance. Don't misunderstand me, I get hot and I get sweaty but I can still fuction without feeling like I'm going to die. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually that statement is at odds with what I read while researching hydration and heat related illnesses in athletes. IIRC, what exercising in an airconditioned gym will do for you is to improve your body's ability to sweat, which leads to more efficient cooling for all your organs. I've been working the elliptical hard, and never sweated as much at Barry, as I do in the gym. Could training outside be better? Perhaps, but I'm not convinced that walking is the equal of an elliptical trainer...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Heiter Posted July 25, 2005 Share Posted July 25, 2005 I'm not sure what to do to better prepare for heat but this topic reminded me of the lesson I learned last year at the MS State 3-Gun match (thanks Sam). I don't remember exact temps but I know it was pretty hot and humid and all of the RO's were trying to shoot through the match in one day after working on setup for most of the morning. I got down to the last few stages I had left to shoot and over those stages I slowly began to care less and less about my performance. It wasn't that I was shooting poorly or that I was out of prize contention because I've never been there to begin with...I just was too hot and tired to care anymore. It really came to the forefront on the second to last pistol stage when I found myself clearing a jam and then finishing the rest of the stage strong hand only just because I had already taken my weak hand off of the grip. At the time it seemed like a funny thing to do but after my run I was talking to one of my friends and he said he was "screwing up too" because of a lack of concentration. I stopped to think about what was really going on and we talked about how scary it was that we were both out there running around with loaded guns when we were exhausted and obviously displaying impaired judgement. At that point, we both decided to drop out of the match. Fortunately we both quit before anything bad happened but we really did push it too far and it would have been easy for someone to have gotten hurt. It's been a good lesson for me and I've been wary of it ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dajarrel Posted July 25, 2005 Author Share Posted July 25, 2005 Could training outside be better? Perhaps, but I'm not convinced that walking is the equal of an elliptical trainer...... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yessir, you are most likely correct. the elliptical trainer is probably better. My 3-4 miles three times a week is done at a pretty good pace, but fat boys walk and skinny ones run My point, if there is such a thing, is that you should acclimate yourself to your envirionment. I used to work in a fossil fired power house. I never had a problem with the heat because I spent 6-8 ( and sometimes more) hours in 100+ temps. But now, the small plant I work at has more of an outdoor envirioment and I don't get as hot. I also spend more time in the office. Now, if I don't take measures to acclimate myself, it's pretty hard on me. FWIW dj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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