This may seem like a very strange question but hear me out. I have heard on many of the podcasts that cooling is very important but…
Today i completed “The chimneys” workout. Perceived effort was was 2-moderate. So maybe the progression level Is slightly low for threshold? I have 2 x 18” industrial floor fans, One at the front left pointing at my face/ torso and another to my rear right pointing at my back. During the workout I never at one point felt hot, not even slightly, but as soon as I stopped pedalling, I noticed i was slightly chilly and the skin on my back was physically cold to the touch.
Should i be concerned about this? I know when i do a “harder” workout it may be just fine but is being cold straight after a workout bad for recovery/ health?
I wouldn’t think so. They have discussed on the podcast how ice baths may blunt the stimulus and thus perhaps the adaptation, but couldn’t imagine just cool air being enough to do anything. I think you’re lucky you have such good cooling.
Fwiw,
I live in Utah and will open our patio doors when I ride indoors during the winter, and when it’s really cold out my knees will get cold and a bit achy if I’m not careful or ride too long. And as soon as I stop an interval or get a drink i start shivering a bit… so that’s probably too cold
Wow, I’m not getting that cold for sure! That makes me think even more that there is a point where it is too cold. Comparing your cold to mine I would probably think I’m going to be just right, although the question of how cold is to cold is definitely interesting to me.
I notice differences summer vs winter training in my unfinished basement. 2 lasko fans pointing to my chest and 1 at back. Usually chest is a bit red during the winter, goes away after 5 minutes. I am quicker to feel cold the hours after a workout. Assumed it’s normal.
Your point about feeling the cold after workouts rings a bell to me. Especially when I have to nip to the shops after a workout, when I would usually feel fine in a t-shirt i usually put a hoodie on. I’ve never thought about that before just took it as my body being tired.
I’ve done a fair bit of skiing myself. For me if anything gets cold it would be my hands but very occasionally I have ended up shivering. I would say that feels completely different to what I felt last night. I did feel cold but my skin felt so much colder than it should have. when skiing I would put my hands up my jacket to get them warm whereas I was putting my hands on my back to warm my back up.
From a bit of reading it is core temperature that matters most, is this what you mean by elevated body temperature for vo2max improvements?
There’s definitely a point where you’ll see a reduction in performance due to the cold, but in my experience is that it’s well below what you would experience indoors, especially if you feel comfortable during the workout. (FWIW, I usually slow down a bit below -15c when I’m running and on colder open water swims, and I’m pretty sensitive to the cold, so I wouldn’t think fans would be a massive issue)
It’s also highly individual and something you can adapt to to a degree, so unless you’re seeing your own capabilities being affected below a certain temperature I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
On the health side of things: not a doctor so speak to one if you’re concerned, but bodies are in general fairly resilient to a wide variety of temperatures (within reason), and if your core temperature is getting so low it’s detrimental you’ll probably know about it. So probably don’t sit there freezing your ass off, but otherwise you’re probably good.
Not sure I’d rate it as a concern but it seems like it’d be more cooling than necessary. I usually lower the fan speed in the winter depending on both temperature and the type of workout.
If you’re not dripping sweat you can lower the fan speed without losing that much in the way of heat transfer.
