32 Celsius = 89 F !!!!!!!!!!!!
Effect of water temperature on performance, lactate production and heart rate at swimming of maximal and submaximal intensity.
Mougios V, Deligiannis A.
The effect of water temperature on performance effort, monitored heart rate and lactate production during freestyle swimming at maximal and submaximal speed has been studied. Fifteen male sprint swimmers performing 100 m swimming and fifteen comparable endurance competitors performing 30 min swimming at submaximal speed served as subjects. Water temperature in separate events was 20, 26 and 32 degrees C. At maximal performance there was a direct relationship between any two of the following parameters: water temperature, average swimming speed, heart rate during the competition and plasma lactate concentration after the event. Thus, the best effort (speed 1.704 m/s), the highest peak heart rate (185 beats/min) and the highest lactate level (19.8 mmol/l) were observed at 32 degrees C (all mean values). In contrast, these values were markedly lower at 20 degrees C. At the submaximal effort, water temperature was related to peak heart rate only. The highest peak heart rate (144 beats/min) was again obtained at 32 degrees C, while the lactate concentration (4.2-5.2 mmol/l) was independent of temperature. Water temperature appears to have a direct effect on performance effort, heart rate and lactate production during swimming at maximal intensity, whereas this effect seems to fade at submaximal efforts.
In track events, it's clear that most sprinters prefer racing in hotter temperatures, but longer distance runners do much better in cooler weather.
If I am reading the study correctly, it says that all out short distance sprint performance is helped by the higher water temperature.
They didn't study 1500 m swimmers, but I would be very surprised if this same conclusion held up for them.
One of the numerous body adaptations to training is improvements in ability to handle heat produced by muscle contractions. It would be very interesting to see if training in hot water has any kind of benefit for racing performance in longer events than the 100 m.
My own hypothesis is that training in water much higher than 82-84 degrees wouldn't be beneficial simply because it's too hot to sustain really hard effort for more than a few sprints. True, your body would almost certainly get better at handling the heat, but I don't think this would outweigh the reduction in effort necessitated by the heat.
Who knows, but it might a bit like altitude training. Remember when this was assumed to be beneficial because of increases in red blood cells, hematocrit, etc.? The mantra has changed to "sleep high, train low" because athletes and coaches alike discovered you just can't work out very hard when the air is thin.
Ditto, I hypothesize, for swim training in hot soup. Maybe we would be better off sleeping in specially designed hot tubs to get the heat adaptations passively, then swim practices in more temperate waters where we are not too heat-sapped to swim fast.
In track events, it's clear that most sprinters prefer racing in hotter temperatures, but longer distance runners do much better in cooler weather.
If I am reading the study correctly, it says that all out short distance sprint performance is helped by the higher water temperature.
They didn't study 1500 m swimmers, but I would be very surprised if this same conclusion held up for them.
One of the numerous body adaptations to training is improvements in ability to handle heat produced by muscle contractions. It would be very interesting to see if training in hot water has any kind of benefit for racing performance in longer events than the 100 m.
My own hypothesis is that training in water much higher than 82-84 degrees wouldn't be beneficial simply because it's too hot to sustain really hard effort for more than a few sprints. True, your body would almost certainly get better at handling the heat, but I don't think this would outweigh the reduction in effort necessitated by the heat.
Who knows, but it might a bit like altitude training. Remember when this was assumed to be beneficial because of increases in red blood cells, hematocrit, etc.? The mantra has changed to "sleep high, train low" because athletes and coaches alike discovered you just can't work out very hard when the air is thin.
Ditto, I hypothesize, for swim training in hot soup. Maybe we would be better off sleeping in specially designed hot tubs to get the heat adaptations passively, then swim practices in more temperate waters where we are not too heat-sapped to swim fast.
