Mount Maunganui heat chamber prepares athletes for muggy conditions in Tokyo

From left to right: Anna Taylor and Nicole Murray using the heat chamber inside the Adams Centre for High Performance. Photo / George Novak

Kiwi athletes are spending hours training in heat chambers without water, fans or pre-cooling methods to prepare for humid conditions predicted at the Tokyo Olympics.

The University of Waikato's Mount Maunganui "state-of-the-art" heat chamber is set to 35C and 80 per cent humidity for training sessions. This can feel like 48C.

Athletes can lose 1.5-2kg of sweat per hour in the chamber while training on erg bikes.

Olympic teams including rowing, rugby sevens and triathlon have made use of the Bay facilities in the lead up to Tokyo.

And this week Paralympic hopefuls have been sweating it out daily inside the heat chamber.

The New Zealand para-cyclers are gearing up to compete at the Paralympic Games kicking off at the end of August.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, athletes have not been able to train or compete overseas in warmer conditions as they might have in the past.

Head coach Stu MacDonald told the Bay of Plenty Times training sessions in the heat chamber would make it easier for the athletes to cope with high temperatures in Japan.

"The main thing is the athletes taking confidence in being physically prepared enough to be their best," he said.

However, MacDonald reiterated the importance of building up the intensity of training gradually.

"The last time we were in a heat chamber we just did too much too soon. The athletes were toast for weeks afterwards."

He was grateful the majority of the team "responded well" to humidity.

The athletes had also been spending time in saunas, taking hot showers and jumping in a 40C spa after workouts to prepare.

"They will take confidence from spending a couple of weeks in here. The more you do now the bigger impact you are going to have on the ground."

Nicole Murray. Photo / George Novak

Para-cycling athlete Nicole Murray said training in the "sticky" heat chamber helped decrease her anxiety about competing in the hot climate.

"It is good to get some training under your belt, to know you are going to be a little bit better prepared for that environment," she said.

"You can't prepare yourself for the way that it feels any other way. Your head feels like it going to explode."

Walking out of the heat chamber dripping in sweat after a training session was inevitable, she said.

"It gets really, really slippery in here. You don't want to fall into someone's sweat puddle.

"But part of that is just because the humidity is condensing on you - all of your clothes will be damp."

Working out in the chamber was a more of "mind game" than training outdoors, she said.

"You have little things that get you through - even just making sure your fingers are apart so you have air running between them."

University of Waikato sports scientist and senior lecturer Martyn Beaven said they would try to "maximise the training stress" for athletes spending short periods of time in the chamber.

"In general it is a case of no water, no cooling beforehand and no fans. This is the exact opposite of what we would if they were going out to play," he said.

"We are trying to maximise the training stress and get as much adaption as possible."

Team physiologists and university researchers monitored the athletes' performance and vital signs, including their core temperature, heart rate, sweat rate and thermal comfort.

Nausea and disorientation were just some of the symptoms athletes experienced if they overtrained.

Athletes Nicole Murray and Stephen Hills are training for the Tokyo Paralympics. Physiologist Jako Becker completes temperature checks. Photo / George Novak

"We try and keep a pretty close eye on what is going on. If they hit 40 degrees then they get pulled out straight away," he said.

Beaven believed a huge positive for athletes training in the heat chamber was preparing mentally for the hot conditions.

"So much of it is psychological. They know what to expect, they know that they can push themselves in those conditions."

Waikato University researcher Steven Finlayson said the chamber meant coaches could see how athletes handle the stress. Strategies could then be put in place to manage this, he said.

The data gathered during heat chamber sessions help researchers, coaches and physiologists plan cooling strategies to beat the heat. Ice slushies and wearing ice vests before competition to lower core temperature were just some of the methods used.

The para cyclists selected to the NZ Paralympic Team will be publicly announced at midday today.

The Tokyo Paralympic Games run from Tuesday, August 24 to Sunday, September 5 2021.