Hot ... Cold

Today I had the pleasure of participating in a heat chamber time trial at UVic. Most of the stats are hidden from the athletes participating in order to keep it "blind." Here's what I was able to figure out from today's TT:

Temperature - 25 C
Humidity - 60 % (Not supposed to know these, but it was fairly obvious)

We couldn't see speed, time, Heart Rate, power, or cadence but, I could see the distance traveled. Three hours earlier I had swallowed a pill which measures core body temperature. This was unknown to me, but monitored by the experimenters.

My strategy was go out hard and get right into the race. After all it's only 20Km, and will be over quickly. Every 2K I got out of the saddle and pumped the legs as if there were a hill, just to keep things interesting.

I was in a good rhythm, going hard with 5K to go. I thought, "Ok, start thinking about picking it up, then with 2K left, sprint for the line."

At 18.5Km I was told, "Stephen, time to stop." My core temperature was 39.5 +. I have a feeling athletes routinely get their temperature this high during hard work, but in Canada, this is the ethical limit for studies. Too bad because I was almost finished.

I threw on the ice vest and spun on the bike for 20 minutes, then hopped in the ice tank for 10. 8 degrees is COLD! These techniques are used for recovery, leaving me ready to rock for BC XC Champs tomorrow.

Swim this morning included some new challenging drills I will describe later.

Other news is that Papaya got a major makeover yesterday. She has new cables, housing, brake pads and rides better than ever. I can't wait for cross riding thisSunday, and racing next weekend up in Nanaimo.

The Weekend on the Rocks recording of Dave Matthews Band playing #41 is soo chill. Definitely one of the best.

Soleed Ruben, Soleed.