Comrades Study Follow-up
Cands / 
One Comment / 
November 10th, 2009 / 
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During the Comrades this year I took part in a study done by the Sports Science Institute which involved trying to figure out what the main factors were in causing heat stroke. Before the race I had to swallow a temperature tablet and then carry about 1kg of equipment with me on the race including a little computer to record my core as well as skin temperatures. I also had to give urine and blood samples before and after the race as well as all the usual VO2 max test and fat composition which was done a few weeks prior to that – so as you can tell these guys were pretty serious about getting the information they needed.
As ‘payment’ for doing the study we were promised a full write-up on what our results showed – which I got a few weeks ago. I was a little disappointed in that the report wasn’t really what I was expecting. It had our results and then what the norm is with regards to body fat, VO2 max and fitness – but when it came to the really interesting stuff like my body temperature in relation to my heart rate and hydration levels, all I got was a graph…
I’ve included the graphs below, if anyone would like to take a stab at exactly what they mean then please give me a shout. The only other information I really found useful was that I could improve on my VO2 max result and strive for less body fat…
Heart Rate over the duration of the race
Core Temperature over the duration of the race
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Candice the only comment I can make about those graphs is that they show your heart rate and core temperature rapidly rising from the time when you are at rest to the time when you have settled into a constant rhythm. At that stage if you plot an average value over time it will be a parallel line to the x-axis (or running horizontally). If it had continued to go upwards my guess is that you would not be alive today !! Lol ! What is quite interesting for me is that the core temperature reaches a max value shortly after the start and then comes back down again but never exceeds that value.
It might be interesting to hear what Tim Noakes says about it. Try contacting him.
regards
Philip