Sauna Time- Coach Ben’s Experience
I’m always interested in trying new techniques or introducing new technologies into my
training regime. I was introduced to endurance exercise around the year 2000 when
things like heart rate monitors were really starting to emerge. On top of that, cycling is
what hooked me on endurance training in the first place, where tech like heart rate,
GPS, power meters, etc. where already relatively common. Needless to say, I’m often
an early adopter of useful (and sometimes not useful) additions to my training. A lot of
this mentality comes from my desire to identify and gain those incremental
improvements. Growing up, Peyton Manning was my favorite football player. As he
would say, he wasn’t the most athletically gifted player, but he was always willing to
outwork his competitors. That really stuck with me, especially with my lack of early
success as an athlete. The way I see it is that with a busy life, a full-time job, and two
kids, there are only so many miles I can squeeze in. There are also only so many miles
we can squeeze in before we become injured, and we all know the key to successful
running is consistency and injury avoidance. That’s why I have always entertained the
idea of seeking natural additions to my training and racing routine that can help me
improve.
For those that don’t know me, I started marathoning in 2021 and have continued to be
pleasantly surprised by my growth and improvement at the distance. Last year I ran the
Boston Marathon in 2:44, accomplishing my A+ home run goal of sub-2:45. My uncle
has always been Gadomski family athlete extraordinaire, and he ran his personal best
marathon in 2:36, years ago. I recall being amazed on the eve of my first marathon
when he told me the story of running that amazing time. This year I wanted to go for his
record, but I knew it wouldn’t be easy.
As part of my training prep, I did a thorough assessment of my weaknesses as a runner,
and my ability to tolerate heat made it to the top. I have always tolerated heat poorly
and am a big-time sweater. My friends and family often comment on how much I drink
during the day. This has been a problem at times during marathons for a few reasons.
Perhaps most importantly, you can’t choose the weather on race day. I believe what
makes the marathon distance so beautiful is that you spend months preparing for a
single day, and there are variables, like weather, that you can’t control. Things may go
perfectly, and things may go badly. At the end of the day, you must reconcile what
happened, even if your training went perfectly but the weather didn’t cooperate. I’ve
found I have grown the most from my most disappointing races, even though I much
prefer the hero moment of executing the goal plan.
During my marathon build in 2023 for Boston, I followed the advanced Hanson’s plan
straight out of the book. Every Thursday was the big workout, an ever-increasing
Marathon Pace run. For six straight weeks, the Colorado weather dumped snow on us
Wednesday evening, so I did these workouts on the treadmill. The first two were
miserable. It was hot. I had to slow down. I felt discouraged. But then something
interesting happened. When I returned to the finally beautiful Colorado weather to do
these workouts outside, I was actually faster! Now there are a few reasons why this may
be, but I think a lot of it has to do with suffering through the heat on the treadmill. This
winter I noticed a lot of discussion around heat training by the professionals preparing
for the Olympic Trials in Orlando. CJ Albertson gained a lot of attention by installing
chicken heating lamps above his treadmill. That’s a bit extreme for me, but other
athletes discussed using saunas to prepare themselves. Now that didn’t sound half bad!
There is a fair amount of research to support the benefit of heat training for athletic
performance, and many of us that have trained through the summer heat can attest to
fast race times once the cooler fall weather arrives. The reason that we suffer in the
heat is that our bodies must divert blood from our muscles out to the skin for cooling. In
fact, only about 20% of our energy goes to propulsion while 80% goes to cooling. Our
bodies adapt to time spent in the heat by increasing blood plasma volume and changing
our sweat rates. This allows for better cooling without starving our muscles as much.
Figure 1. Heat adaptations of the body (Sports Med 2007. 37(8):669-682 (2007).
Here are a few interesting studies I turned up in my review of the literature.
Experienced cyclists who trained for 100 minutes per day for 10 days on a
stationary bike in hot temps (40°C with 50% humidity) demonstrated a 5%
improvement in V02max and between 6-8% improvement in time trial
performance in both hot and cold temperatures.
o J Appl Physiol; 109(4):1140-7 Oct. 2010;
doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00495.2010
Elite rowers that trained in 40°C temperatures for 5 days demonstrated a 1%
improvement. Note that these were elite athletes where a 1% improvement is
huge.
o Eur J Appl Physiol. 2012 May;112(5):1827-37. doi:10.1007/s00421-011-
2153-3
Finnish men (n=2,315 total, average age = 21 years) demonstrated a 40%
reduction in risk of heart disease death when sitting in the sauna four times or
more per week.
o JAMA Intern Med. 2015 Apr;175(4):542-8. doi:
0.1001/jamainternmed.2014.8187
o Similar results were found when using the hot tub 4-5 times per week.
That sounds enjoyable!
J Physiol. 2016 Sep 15;594(18):5329-42. doi:10.1113/JP272453
o These two studies indicate that there may be some serious cardiac
benefits involved. Researchers believe this to be a result of increased
arterial dilation during blood flow when heat acclimation occurs. Generally
speaking, it’s bad when our arteries build up plague and become stiffer
and can’t dilate.
Some studies have not shown a benefit in athletic performance from heat
training. This may be due to lack of sufficient stress stimulus on the body. In other
words, the heat was not hot enough or participants were not exposed to the heat
long enough.
With these things in mind, I decided to try sauna training this Spring during my Boston
buildup. I bought an inexpensive steam sauna off Amazon. It’s essentially a small tent
with a water boiler that I can sit in down in my basement. I started off easy, trying 10
minutes on high heat and eventually working my way up to 25 minutes at the most after
about six weeks. I will admit, 25 minutes of this was (is) uncormfortable, to say the least.
I tried to do this about five time per week, avoiding it the day before my hard workouts.
Now, there were a lot of variables that went into my performance at Boston this year, but
I do think the sauna played a role. Without a doubt, the biggest key to my success was
the running of course! I worked with Luke as my coach for the past year. His guidance
definitely helped me improve a ton. But here’s where I think the sauna time came into
play. This April in Boston, there was one hot day. Guess which one? Yeah, Marathon
Monday! It certainly wasn’t the worst weather Boston has seen, not by a long shot. But it
was warmer than ideal. And I wanted ideal weather so I could chase my home run A+
goal! The peak temperature that day was 76F, and I think I finished when the
temperature was around 72F. It was also completely sunny with a very slight tailwind
(helpful for running faster, not helpful for cooling). I started in Wave 1, Corral 2 under the
sun and remember how warm it was at 10am. I dumped water on my head at every aid
station to try to stay ahead of it. By the top of Heartbreak Hill and definitely by the Citgo
Sign with a mile to go, I remember wondering where everyone went. The runners had
thinned out and I found myself running alone at times. Don’t get me wrong, the race was
not easy and hydration was critical. I almost had to deal with cramping, but the cramps
stayed away long enough for me to finish. Where the heat hurt a lot of runners, I did
okay. Would I have finished faster if it was 50F? Yes, definitely. Did the 70 degree
weather ruin my race? Nope! In fact, I finished 251 st overall in a time of 2:35:38!
Now I sit in the sauna most days for about 20 minutes. I even find myself looking
forward to it during my runs! Yesterday I did a fartlek workout in 88°F weather and
wasn’t too bothered by it except the sweat in my eyes. Now, is sitting in a sauna a
silver bullet to running faster? No, absolutely not. There is no such thing. But I think
it has helped me be more comfortable in the heat. As always, building consistent
mileage, staying injury free, eating the correct diet, and getting plenty of high-
quality sleep are the lowest hanging fruit we have as athletes. All the other
gimmicks are only possibilities once you’ve taken care of those essentials. But if
you’re interested in giving it a go, here are some of my suggestions.
- Start with a little and work your way up until you know what to expect.
I started with 10 minutes at a time, once a day. Just like running, build cautiously
and patiently. - Don’t overdo it.
Whether it is running stress, work stress, family stress, or heat stress from sitting
in a sauna, it is all stress to your body. Remember that you want to show up to
your race healthy and motivated. Don’t ruin that by overcooking yourself in the
heat. - Hydrate. A lot.
There are some mixed theories on when to hydrate for max benefits in the heat.
Personally, I like to consider the total picture and remember that my sleep and
workouts are the most important components to my training. I’m not willing to
sacrifice those. I try to make sure I’m decently hydrated before the sauna, drink a
lot while I’m sitting in it, and then work really hard to rehydrate afterwards before
it’s bedtime. This takes me to my next point. - Don’t sauna right before bed.
I like to make sure I’m hydrated pretty well before bed. I don’t do the sauna at
night if I don’t have sufficient time afterwards to re-hydrate. - Don’t sauna right after a taxing workout.
I was sick twice during my Boston buildup this year. Both times came after I sat in
the sauna after completing a hard workout. I remember the first instance clearly.
We had our first warm Colorado day, I did a long workout with hill repeats in the
sun, came home very dehydrated, then sat in the sauna. The workout, plus the
heat, plus the dehydration was too much for my body. Sick with a sore throat
before bed. No good at all.
I always advise everyone to approach these types of additions cautiously, and perhaps
a little skeptically. Everyone is different, but if you find something that
