Endurance Innovation

32 - Thermal Stress Management with Paul Laursen

Christmas comes early for Andrew, as we welcome Dr Paul Laursen back to E.I. to talk all about managing thermal stress in training and racing.

3:30 the sources of heat stress and its effects
10:45 the heat ‘bucket’
12:30 the bucket overflowing example
12:45 factors contributing to overheating
19:00 how Andrew filled his bucket at IM Cozumel
23:00 summary of Paul’s research into managing heat stress
25:45 why ingested ice drinks / slushies are so effective at cooling
30:00 the Floe bottle
33:15 slushie machines at races?
35:00 Paul’s study using slushie drinks vs cold water allowed subjects to run an average of 10 minutes longer in a time to exhaustion run test.
40:30 slushie drinks used to great effect in Qatar at a UCI TT championship. Details here.
42:30 the psychological effects of an ice mouth rinse vs actual ingestion
46:15 cooling strategies using ice cubes
48:30 the psychological benefits of agency
50:15 heat adaptation training: critical component is time at a high core temperature
55:00 training quality prioritized over heat training!
56:30 non-responders to heat adaptation training
58:00 hot conditions demand changes to race plans!

Also check out our earlier episode on training in the heat.