Dr. Stacy Sims

I've been a competitive athlete most of my life. So I would, I race bikes professionally. I did Ironman, I did XTERRA, and I'd have teammates who would ask me questions of how am I fueling? How am I going to perform my best? So we'd take those questions into the lab.

So we were looking at how do we optimally fuel or how do we optimally acclimatize the heat when we're at a point in our menstrual cycle where we don't have as much heat tolerance. So that we see when progesterone comes up after ovulation or core temperature comes up, we don't have as much heat tolerance. So how do we adjust for that?

So we were looking at how do we optimally fuel or how do we optimally acclimatize the heat when we're at a point in our menstrual cycle where we don't have as much heat tolerance. So that we see when progesterone comes up after ovulation or core temperature comes up, we don't have as much heat tolerance. So how do we adjust for that?

So there are a lot of questions that would come through just by the nature of being surrounded by competitive athletes and being a competitive athlete. So we look at things like, we know now that when you want to do... acclimatization to the heat.

So there are a lot of questions that would come through just by the nature of being surrounded by competitive athletes and being a competitive athlete. So we look at things like, we know now that when you want to do... acclimatization to the heat.

And I bring this up because if I live in New Zealand in the wintertime and I'm trying to train for something like Kona, that happens in Hawaii, and we max out at 10 degrees Celsius in the winter, but we have to face 40 degrees Celsius to race Ironman. And we get into a sauna and we want to accommodate for that heat. We know that men can go seven days in a row and be fine to then race in the heat.

And I bring this up because if I live in New Zealand in the wintertime and I'm trying to train for something like Kona, that happens in Hawaii, and we max out at 10 degrees Celsius in the winter, but we have to face 40 degrees Celsius to race Ironman. And we get into a sauna and we want to accommodate for that heat. We know that men can go seven days in a row and be fine to then race in the heat.

But for women, it depends on which phase of the menstrual cycle. And if you are going in the high hormone phase, then we say, okay, well, you don't need a primer. You can just go in and do nine days in a row.

But for women, it depends on which phase of the menstrual cycle. And if you are going in the high hormone phase, then we say, okay, well, you don't need a primer. You can just go in and do nine days in a row.

But if you start in the low hormone phase, you actually have to go into the sauna for five minutes, come back out, and then go back in and do that during the low hormone phase for nine days in a row.

But if you start in the low hormone phase, you actually have to go into the sauna for five minutes, come back out, and then go back in and do that during the low hormone phase for nine days in a row.

So there are different nuances in the way that your body responds to the heat and is able to accommodate for those heat shifts versus a man can just go in and accommodate for that and be ready for the race.

So there are different nuances in the way that your body responds to the heat and is able to accommodate for those heat shifts versus a man can just go in and accommodate for that and be ready for the race.

Oh, gosh.

Oh, gosh.

It's pretty varied.

It's pretty varied.

Exercise physiology and metabolism.

Exercise physiology and metabolism.

And then got into ultra running when I was doing my master's at Springfield. And then I started getting into more Ironman distance stuff before I started my PhD.