CORE body temp sensor

Equipment
21

I’ve been really enjoying seeing under the hood (bonnet). I pretty much demanded a buddy of mine also get one and we have been enjoying doing indoor workouts (chicago) and talking about the effects of fans vs no fans, humidity, heat, etc.

Some insights: Core temp takes a while to ramp up, and a while to also come back down. Right as you get off the bike from a workout, core temp will still increase for a little while, sometimes faster than when riding. I didn’t expect that.

We’ve taken this writeup, and been doing workouts entirely uncooled, and sometimes purposely warmed up. I bought a thermo-hygrometer so I could see the actual conditions and have been keeping the humidity up with a couple of ultrasonic humidifiers. Amazon.com

I think I have been able to find a core temp above which my power really falls off. I’ve attached a couple of screenshots for a sample 10 minute interval on consecutive days. One done while not hot, one while at around 101f. You can see the difference.304 255

I’ve found that the heat and humidity doesn’t bother me nearly as much. The value of this in Chicago in January is of course debatable, but it is fun to try different things and learn what’s going on while getting through the cold season inside.

WKO5 has a coretemp dashboard, and you can add coretemp in just about any graph WKO generates. I’ve been adding screenshots to my rides so I can look back at them later. If anyone wants to take a poke at the rides with screenshots, my Strava is Strava Cyclist Profile | Patrick McNally

The device itself is really well done. You never notice it. One thing you should source is a strong refrigerator magnet. To erase the history stored inside the Core, you swipe the magnetic charger against the back of the device itself. If you happen to forget to do that and are suited up to ride, and you want a nice iOS app graph of your ride without past history, you will need to strip down and erase the history with the charger UNLESS you have that fridge magnet. With it, you can erase the history through baselayer and jersey and whatever else you’re wearing.

Highly recommended device. I’m enjoying having it and having a truly new metric. It’s been a long time since there was data completely new to understand and integrate.

Some podcasts have covered it

10:00 in
https://overcast.fm/+SJWHYYYOs

Around 44:30

Entire thing
https://overcast.fm/+SJWHvtwvM

10:00 or so

this too

This is a good one too

Feel free to message or ask away

1 Like
22

https://corebodytemp.com/pages/heat-training-for-sporting-performance#03 forgot the link

23

I got mine a couple of months ago…have yet to be able to get it show up on my Garmin, so I had kinda forgotten about it.

Will dust it off again this week and see if I can figure it out.

24

The IQ data field just worked without tinkering on my 1030. There is an updated version dated Jan 3. Do you know how to assign/display the field once you’ve installed it?

25

Yeah, it is on my screen, but nothing comes up, even though the Sensor page showing it paired.

I’m going to remove everything and just start over and see what happens.

26

Reusing an old thread. @chad, saw you experimenting with the CORE sensor on some of your Strava rides. Is this for your personal interest or part of AI/ML integration?

27

Its on sale now:

Still not sure how I’d use the info. Now if it was fed into the AI maybe…

28

Anyone (still) using this sensor? Just got one a few days ago, “poor man’s altitude training” and some Waterloo experiences in hot races caught me. However, I’m a little bit puzzled by the first results.

1 Like
29

Reviving a really old thread as my ride this weekend in the “heat” (heat for living in San Francisco that is) and my lingering affects got me thinking about getting a Core sensor.

Questions:

  • How are people finding this?
  • What are you using to analyze / look at the data? I use WKO5, so would this pull in the data?
  • I’m about to receive my Edge 1040, what data field are you using to view / capture the Core Info?
  • And the biggie: would you buy this again?
  • For those in the US: where did you buy your Core sensor? I can only find it either on the Core Website or The Feed
30

I find it useless, not practical and I would not buy it again.

5 Likes
31

Agree. I’ve had mine >12 months and was fascinated at first. But really all you get is a temp # to associate with what you’re doing. If you want to heat acclimate, ride inside with no fan in z1-z2 and increase time spent over weeks - slowly the power should increase for the same HR. Sitting in a hot tub ~110 degrees Fahrenheit has also assisted with my perception of the heat when I go out on the bike or run. Having the core sensor provided no real additional benefit.

For reference, I live on SE US coast and the heat/humidity combination is pretty bad from mid May through mid October. I wanted it to be a game changer for me, but it wasn’t.

2 Likes
32

Thanks. Good to know before I plunk down $$$$ to get one

33

I’m surprised by those comments - obviously not discounting them, but I don’t agree with them. I was part of a study (https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.14814/phy2.14849) that tested performance after heat training. I had a very strong response to the heat training.

I bought the core temp sensor soon afterwards and began monitoring core temp during all my rides and runs.

I have not gone about simulating the heat training block because it is very hard to get a room hot enough - but what I do instead is now train without a fan until I hit the heat zone which is appropriate for me. When I hit the right temperature I put the fan on and moderate the fan to stay in the right temperature zone. For me this is around 38.5 degrees during my inside training rides.

This is quite hot really and for recovery rides etc I don’t bother because you can’t get your temp high enough; but it works well for SS and above.

Outside rides and runs is when I really want to perform (not get dropped!). I have found that when my core temp goes above 38.3 it is easy to really suffer. If I get above 38.5 then I’m in trouble.

I use the readings to control my clothing choices, hydration intake, etc. It is just one more thing to guide what you do on the bike - open your vest, remove your skull cap, what ever it is, it can make a meaningful difference to your core temp.

Can you prepare yourself to ride in hotter conditions - absolutely. Does it make you faster - it certainly can, and I have science to prove it :slight_smile:

Will it make you 5w/kg, not likely unless you are already 4.9 and need a little extra to tip over the edge :rofl:

Obviously I’d buy it again, but here is maybe my biggest takeaway. I’ve found training indoors with fans, and open windows, like I used to; my core temp was quite a bit lower than in important races on the open road. In other words doing intervals inside does from a power perspective provide the same loads as outside, but for me, my body got hotter outside. Training with fewer fans and monitoring temperature I now find I perform better outside because I’m more prepared for the environment that really matters - outside.

Just my 2 cents

4 Likes
34

Would you care to elaborate. I recently listened to an interview with Matt Hayman’s coach on the benefits of heat training blocks (indoor) and the use of devices like this to get your heat zones right.

35

I’d be really interested in getting one of these, but £240 GBP is a bit much.

I have, over the last year, done some indoor testing into ambient temp, intensity and fluid loss to try to establish how my fluid loss varies based on conditions, and I think this could add to that.

In addition, as I get into a winter of long Z2 rides on the turbo, I am seeing some cardiac drift (which I am trying to minimise). I’m trying to play around with ambient temp, airflow, as well as hydration, feeding, etc. It would be great to see if there is a strong(er) correlation to my core body temp rising and cardiac drift (so I could do something about it).

36

They are expensive but from my experience they really work with repeatable results. Ambient temperature is not much of an input from my experience. My room temp can change by about 20 degrees c from winter to summer. But because you get used to hotter weather in summer (my non scientific explanation) my core temp isn’t affected nearly as much. For what you are doing you really want a core temperature measure. Sadly the only ‘cheap’ options aren’t very comfortable or something you’d willingly do for each session!

1 Like
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@sryke @pvolb
Any chance these will be in the ‘pay it forward’ equipment thread soon?? Asking for a friend :innocent:

1 Like
38

This seems like the primary use case for this device. Various athletes seemed to be talking about heat training prior to the Olympics in Tokyo.

So unless one is really willing to ride in a hot room on a trainer, it’s probably not worth the cost of the device. One could also do the heat training without buying the device.

39

Just like you can get fit and fast without a power meter… but is that the best way….

The real issue is they are very expensive- no avoiding that but this type of tech should get cheaper with time.

1 Like
40

This is going to be a marginal gain though. I think most of us could find a heat training protocol and just do it and get 99% of the benefits. My understanding is that getting hot enough is the biggest challenge. One probably needs a sauna - unventilated trainer ride + sauna.

I really want a Moxy sensor but I’m not sure it’s worth the $800-1000 as I’m certainly not an elite looking for that last 2% improvement. I think it would be fun to use to find thresholds but I can still come close enough with other methods.