To get ready for Australia’s hot conditions, the squad were put through rigorous heat training by CORE at our training camp, and continued it through the winter at home.
Donning forensic scientist-type suits and ingesting an internal thermometer, the six turned up the heat atop their Wahoo KICKRs to prepare for the heatwave-type conditions currently affecting Adelaide.
“This year, in Australia, temperatures have already been reaching almost record-breaking highs as we see in cricket matches there,” explains Head of Performance Callum McQueen. “Heat training is an essential part of our performance development as we prepare. In working with CORE, we are setting individualized heat training programs to help the body adapt to heat, allowing the athletes to perform at optimal levels regardless of the conditions.”
As the athletes trained and sweated into their heat suits, McQueen and Aline Barre, Endurance Performance Lead at CORE, monitored closely.
“We monitor the body’s heat strain both during heat adaptation sessions and during the racing to adapt our recovery techniques and review our performance,” explains McQueen. “It’s important to collect both subjective and objective data, because behind each analysis is also a human, and it’s important to take this into account. Then, on the ground, our performance team monitors climate conditions during initial training to optimize physical and nutritional strategies”
Through this incredibly sweaty work, the athlete’s skin temperatures get close to what they would hit outside in real hot weather. But the controlled conditions made for a more realistic Australian setting, whereas on the bike, other factors like wind chill come into effect.
“CORE helped me a lot in my preparation,” says Nina Buijsman. “With the snowy Netherlands, I did quite a lot of indoor sessions on the KICKR. With the CORE sensor, I could see when I was in the right zone to have the best heat acclimatisation added to that experience.”
Buijsman also supplemented her on-bike training with personal sessions.
“I also saw how much sessions in the sauna helped me,” she explains. “It’s important because it was cold in the Netherlands, and to go from 0 degrees to around 30, your body is not prepared for that. If you’re not ready, you spend more energy cooling your body down. When you need all of that energy to push the watts, it really makes the difference.”
By embracing the heat long before they felt it, the squad arrived in Adelaide not just ready to survive the conditions, but to thrive in them. Cool heads, calibrated bodies, and every watt saved for when it matters most.
To learn more about CORE, head to corebodytemp.com
