Day 5 - Sweat Test

This was a big day.  Probably the hardest I’ve had since running the half marathon trail race in Sutton, Quebec (if you haven’t done it go try it!).

First thing in the morning was another 90min swim.  I began my day like any other, eat, pack, and commute .  The swim was again at the Commonwealth Center.  I was greeted by our tester, James, who was going to be monitoring us later at the Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence (PISE).  For the sweat test, which I’ll go over later, it required everyone taking part to swallow a thermometer disguised as a purple pill.  You could almost feel it going down as it was quite hard to swallow.  Magali Tisserye joked that it was a tracking beacon so the coaches would always know where we were.

The testing interested me so I started talking to James about what the test required.  He said that we were to sit on our trainers for 3 hours and drink nothing but a liter of gatorade.  He asked if that was reasonable.  I told him that although I know this is a test, I can blow through 2000 calories depending on how hard the workout is.  If were doing anything but soft pedaling I’m going to hit the wall in the third hour.  My suggestion was that if we all were given the same gels, thus keeping the parameters the same, we might all survive.  James and the coaches talked about it and they came to an agreement.  One gel  and 1L of gatorade per hour.  Little victory.

We had to get through the swim first though.  The warm up was a mix of 50s/100s and drills, totaling about 1000ms.  The main set was 3×500, 50 easy and something else which I can’t quite remember.  My lack of memory is probably due to how hard I pushed myself during the workout.  I don’t think I’ve ever pushed so hard in a swim!  At one point I actually couldn’t get my arms to turn over.  The engine that is my body just stopped.  Thankfully it was just for a second.  My lats burned from pushing thorough the water. 

Coach: Don’t glide so much at the front of your stroke.  Me: I can’t move because my lats hurt so much.  Coach: At least you doing it right.  Get going.  Me: Aye aye.

Thats basically my swim summary for the week.  Go like crazy, try not to die, and keep going.

Afterwards I had a nice 90min break which gave me lots of time to get over to PISE.  I took my time communting and when I got there, started cramming in food till the start of the test.  I got to watch the men’s curling match (on TV) between Canada and Norge.  Good game as we won but the Norge players stole the show with their flashy pants.

Test time.  The point of the test was to measure our sodium loss during the workout.  This was gathered by patches taped to our forearms.  We were required to do a pre/post weight for hydration loss.  Pee in a cup prior to the test and measure how much if you peed during the test. Lactate and heart rates were also taken at regular intervals as well.  You remember that pill I had to swallow? Our body temperature was also measured throughout the test.  We were a human science project.

So instead of a leisure ride, Lance Watson (previous coach of Simon Whitfield) had us work the entire workout in Zone 2 to low zone 3.  We did long sets of 20mins in low gears then switch to high cadence then back down.  This would be a semi hard workout on a normal day.  If I could get through the calorie deficit then I knew I’d be ok.  So on we pedaled.

The first hour went by.  I was getting pricked and prodded throughout.  Everyone was amazed at the puddle that started to gather underneath me.  I’m a huge sweater, it’s kind of gross actually.  Almost embarrassing.

What was interesting during the test was my temperature kept dropping.  Not just a bit, but a whole 2 degrees by the time I was done!  Based on the average person, I was on the verge of hypothermia at close to 35 degrees Celsius!  Crazy as we were inside at room temperature.  

So the whole Gatorade/1 gel thing really started to bug everyone in the last hour.  The first mixture tasted like syrup.  I’m sure a lot of you know what I mean when you take a drink of poorly mixed Gatorade and it makes your stomach turn.  Well that’s all we had to sip…

During the test a photographer from Triathlete magazine came in, taking pictures of everyone.  Even me!  I told her to take a shot of my huge puddle.  Hopefully it will make the cover.

Hour 3 ended and we all did our post weight.  I was the “biggest loser”, sweating 4 pounds off.  This while taking in a liter of fluid per hour.  Work that out for an Ironman and I’ll lose over 10% of my body weight! 

So thats it.  We all slowly left the sweat room for our homestays.  What better way to end the day then ride another 30mins home.  

Thanks to everyone who followed along this week.  I got a lot of encouraging emails which is great.  My intention for writing this was more for the athletes who consider stepping up to the the top level; getting an inside perspective of what it’s like to train like a pro.  If you think you have what it takes, try doing a stint out west.

Happy Trainin

Cliff 

I know I haven’t included a lot of pictures but the truth is, I took mostly scenic shots (landscape, not athletes).  But here is a good link which Dan Smith, Lifesport coach, took of the sweat test.

http://picasaweb.google.com/dpsmith63/LifeSportProCampWinter2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCIrCuZmmwq3NzQE#