Heat Training – The Heat Ramp Test

It’s certainly something that has gained a fair bit of attention over recent years. I actually bought a Core Sensor quite a while ago. But for one reason and another I didn’t end up paying enough attention to get the most out of it.

Like any area of training, you are only going to get something out of it if you pay it full attention, test, measure, apply what you are learning. It’s a decent amount of effort.

Well, since I’ve just had my offseason and some pretty wet weather here in Switzerland…I decided to go through the process and see how I got on.

The Core Sensor is really easy to fit onto your HRM strap. All you have to then is connect it up to the App. Just remember to also add you HRM onto the App…otherwise it doesn’t work as well…I made that mistake first time!!

Where to Start

Once you are all set up the place to start is the ‘Heat Ramp Test‘ (actually…if you haven’t already, the place to start is a lot of reading!).

Assuming you have read up on how to do the test on the Core website, it’s time to get sweaty…and trust me…you will!!

On the right is my heat ramp test from earlier this week. As suggested I gradually increased the intensity so that core temp rises relatively slowly and you get see what’s going on.

Once you hit 38 degrees, you note the power and HR (220 Watts and 165 bpm). Then, you maintain the HR at the same level (165 bpm) and stop the test when at the same HR your power has dropped by 20%…this was a surprisingly short time!!

My Core temp was 38.46 degrees when I stopped the test…this then allows you to calculate your core temp training zones. Apparently, I’m not dealing with the heat that well!

Heat Ramp Test

My Workout looked like this.

I wore a thin long sleeve undervest and didn’t use my fans.

5 mins easy

5 mins at 140 Watts

5 mins at 160 Watts

5 mins at 180 Watts

5 mins at 210 Watts

5 mins at 220 Watts

It’s Very Sweaty!!

Seems obvious, but the level is beyond what I anticipated!

And I’m assuming, because your core temp has got up fairly high, you do continue to sweat for quite a while after…so budget time in your day to cool down.

It’s recommended you don’t try to quickly cool down, as adaptations come from the amount of time your core temp is elevated.

What I Learned

Apparently not Great in the Heat!

It’s interesting to know how you handle the heat. I’ve never felt I was particularly bad in the heat. But I was feeling pretty uncomfortable just beyond 38 degrees, and my power went down really fast.

Will be interesting to see how it changes with some heat training.

It is Uncomfortable

Again, I did expect it, but it’s still a fairly strange feeling.

It’s also a pretty strange feeling having your heart beating away so hard when you are doing power that would normally be a warm-up!!

Obviously, if you feel unwell or have any issues, you should stop.