Heat Training
75 min
Medium intensity
The standard heat-adaptation session: a stepped ramp to threshold to raise core temperature, then 45 minutes easy in the heat zone, fully overdressed and without ventilation. Hydrate and weigh before and after.
CORE Body Temperature Sensor
Partner
Heat Training
75 min
Medium
6 / 10
Intermediate
Indoors
The session
The workout
Written as a share of critical power, so it fits every rider. In Vekta it becomes your watts, with the W′ cost shown before you ride.
CORE Body Temperature Sensor
Why this workout
The breakdown
Inside the workout
The standard heat-adaptation session: warm up and ramp towards threshold to raise core temperature, then sit easy in the heat zone for forty-five minutes, which is where the adaptations, plasma volume above all, are made. Ideal, as CORE say, for watching a race.
Fully overdressed in layers with no ventilation and no open windows. The ramp runs 80, 90 and 100% of CP in five-minute steps, and the power then drops to 50% because the stimulus from here is temperature, not watts. Sweat rate is measured by nude weight before and after; one to two litres an hour keeps dehydration low enough for the adaptation to happen.
With a CORE sensor the session is analysed on the Heat Strain Index stream in Vekta, and the target becomes a core temperature held for a duration rather than a guess about how hot it feels.
Five to ten sessions over two weeks build the adaptation; once or twice a week keeps it. Stop if you feel unwell, always.
Heat Training
Stimulus
Intermediate
Workout level
Indoors
Best ridden
Indoor and e-racing,
DISCIPLINE
WHAT YOU NEED
The stimulus
Heat Training, explained
Controlled sessions at a raised core temperature, to adapt to heat and grow plasma volume.
What it is
Indoor or hot-weather sessions ridden to a core-temperature target rather than a power target, often with a CORE sensor: the intensity is adjusted to reach and hold a set temperature for a set time.
Why it matters
Heat adaptation raises plasma volume, lowers heart rate at a given power and improves performance in the heat and, for most riders, in temperate conditions too. It is one of the few adaptations available in ten to fourteen days.
These are uncomfortable rather than hard: the power is moderate and the sensation is the heat. Hydrate before, weigh yourself after, and stop if you feel unwell. The sessions here are written by the people who make the sensor.
Prescribe by core temperature and duration, not by power. The Heat Strain Index stream in Vekta shows the athlete's response in the session and across a block.
Vekta reads the CORE sensor as a stream alongside power and heart rate, so the session is analysed against the temperature target it was written for.
Common questions
Do I need a core temperature sensor?
How many sessions to adapt?
Is heat training safe?
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