Torbjorn Sindballe's White Clothing at Ironman Hawaii
9 Hour
44 Minute
AM
Paul C sent me an email this morning regarding Torbjorn Sindballe's running attire at yesterday's 2007 Ironman Hawaii race:
Did you see Sinballe's run outfit? ... As a bigger guy, I'm sure his outfit was to help lower his core temp. Any thoughts on why long sleves would help...?
I saw that. Matt W and I chatted about it on the phone last night too. On the bike he had arm coolers and on the run he had, well, everything... pulled up socks, white shorts, long sleeve shirt. There are two possible cooling effects.
The first is the reflection of the sun's energy. By being lighter than his skin tone the white color absorbs less energy and keeps him cooler. Quantifying this effect would be tricky without some real science, numbers and data.
The second cooling effect comes from having water and/or ice near the skin. This will extend the cooling effect of the cooler water against the skin. On the bike, and to a lesser degree on the run, there's an evaporative effect.
The big question in my mind is whether these cooling effects are greater than the simple warming effect of an extra layer near the skin. This is why mom told us to add a layer on cold days and why we pull blankets over our bodies when we sleep.
Note that to maximize the sun reflection and minimize the simple warming effect you'd want something ultra-thin but opaque like silk that wouldn't hold in heat. But if the evaporative cooling is the bigger component then your fabric needs to have some "meat" to it so that it can hold water... or else you'll be wetting your stuff every 30 seconds.
And of course, if it's too thick it'll hold in more heat than it avoids.
In this post about the Badwater ultramarathon Dean Karnazes says:
I’ve also found that much of the high-tech running gear I typically wear seems to be the wrong fabric for Badwater temperatures. Having a garment that wicks away moisture is great up to a point, but when temperatures crest 100 degrees, the evaporative cooling effect of such material is disappointingly transient. What I’ve found to remain coolest longest is thick canvas or terrycloth. These fabrics soak up water and retain dampness for greater periods. The tradeoff is that they’re heavy.
So obviously there's an upper weight limit. And Badwater is a bit more extreme than an Ironman in terms of temperature (120 degrees) and distance (135 miles) (but not pace :))!
I found sunprecautions.com which seems to offer some products with SPF chemicals embedded into the fibers. Another good way to reflect energy from the sun.
I'm also thinking something like Under Armour's UA Heatgear Longsleeve Tee may work... thin... white... moisture transporting.
Just some ideas. May play with it myself. Hope this helps somebody out. With Paul C on course at Ironman Florida we're almost guaranteed 90 degrees!
The 15 Mile Half Marathon